Live Review + Gallery | Sŵn Festival 2025

Sŵn Festival 2025

Multiple Venues, Cardiff

16th-18th October 2025

Photography by Matt Wellham

George Ward

Freelance journalist and online editor for CLUNK. Can be found out and about in Bristol, finding cheap records or having a pint on King Street.

We headed to Sŵn Festival, exploring Cardiff’s many independent venues and one of the most packed lineups of the year

Multi-venue festivals are a funny old thing. Balancing multiple venues, set times and genres must be a complete nightmare to organise, and this nightmare is sometimes felt by festival-goers. For Sŵn Festival, however, this was absolutely not the case. With venues from pub basements to 1,000 capacity rooms and an expertly curated, diverse lineup, it delivers everything you could ask for from a city festival; professionally run but driven by community.

After arriving in the city on Friday, we headed to Clwb Ifor Bach, a venue which we would become extremely familiar with by the end of the weekend. Prima Queen, stars of our CLUNK Zine 003, were up first, delivering a slick set, complete with tight harmonies and catchy choruses. Watching Prima Queen live makes you really appreciate just how well the duo works together, with their performance flowing beautifully and the connection between them magnetic. Their live set, as well as their music, is an ode to their friendship – a common theme for the festival.

After a grungy but polished set from KEO, we were ready for a bit of a change of pace, heading to St. John’s Church for a stunningly intimate performance from folk musician Clara Mann. Accompanied only by her guitar, Mann’s voice is reminiscent of Laura Marling, with a unique texture, subtle melodies and beautiful lyrics. In an anecdote, Mann shared that she wrote one of the songs after she told her friend that she was struggling, to which her friend told her that this was funny, as she had just had a dream about them together, thriving. “It felt amazing for someone else to imagine good things for me even when I couldn’t,” she shared.

Man/Woman/Chainsaw are a band popping up all over festival lineups over the last year. Having caught them a couple times now, I can safely say that this is the best the band have ever sounded, having refined their sound, tightened their chemistry and embraced sentimentality more into their songwriting. As always, the highlight comes from Clio Harwood‘s violin; I guarantee you’ve never seen someone play the instrument like this, with as much punk energy as any of the guitars on stage.

Having chatted to Cardiff band Casual Smart earlier that day, we were really excited to see the young band in action, down in the lovely cosy basement of Jacob’s. Clear local favourites, the band drew in an impressive crowd, despite having only a handful of singles out in the world. Instantly, you can see why. When the band play, from the keys slammed haphazardly to the shared yelled vocals to the sax, Casual Smart are the kind of band that makes you want to start your own band; they’re having that much fun. On closer ‘cranes,’ the lyrics jump to life when heard live, with each loveable and honest observation delivered with refreshing sincerity. We couldn’t recommend them more and we can’t wait to see what’s ahead.

On Saturday, we popped into Porters to catch a secret set from the lovely Bug Club before heading back to church for Naima Bock. Accompanied by longtime collaborator and caroline violinist Oliver Hamilton, Bock‘s performance was gentle, fitting right at home in the delicate walls of the church, surely an intimidating venue to tackle. The pair have been playing together since Bock’s first album and you can absolutely tell; every vocal trill is harmonised beautifully and hints of caroline come through in Hamilton’s brief distorted violin moments. Whether with a full band, a duo or solo, Naima Bock is not someone you should miss next time she’s in your city. Look out for our interview soon.

wing!, the instrumental hip-hop project who won the Green Man Rising competition this year, were another act we were lucky to meet. Their debut EP ‘Missed It Just The Once,’ has been one of our favourites this year, and hearing it come to life is something else. The live drums really bring the breaks to life, while synth and bass fully immerse you in the foggy atmosphere of the tracks, much like Boards Of Canada.

Squid are always a pleasure to catch live and, despite possibly being my most seen band ever, they never fail to bring something new to the stage. Now pulling from all three of their albums, their set is tight, no-nonsense and professional, from the playful jitteriness of ‘The Cleaner,’ to the ominous, evil-drenched ‘Crispy Skin’. While we miss setlist staples such as ‘Narrator,’ a setlist this varied really showcases just how varied Squid can be, and just how much they’ve developed over the years.

Though Squid were technically the headliners, the act that really summed up our Saturday were Getdown Services. As the not-so-secret secret set in Porters that afternoon, it was so much fun to be back in a Getdown crowd, packed of course, with a queue down the street, but small enough a venue to feel just like it did a couple of years ago in a Bristol pub. However, just a few hours later, when Getdown Services stepped onto the huge Tramshed stage, soundtracked by Star Wars, it’s hard to imagine just how excited this massive crowd were.

Seeing this many people rush to see the duo was the highlight of our whole weekend; it’s hard to think of a more deserving band to have had the amount of success that Getdown Services have had this year. The real joy of this set was seeing that absolutely nothing has changed. Josh still rips on guitar, the duo still taunt the crowd, Ben still did a little dance before ripping off his shirt and slamming it on the stage. After a cover of Stereophonics’ ‘Dakota’ and claiming it should be the Welsh national anthem, the duo were quickly shot down by every Welsh member of the crowd belting their real national anthem towards the stage.

One lovely moment came when Josh played ‘I Wish It Didn’t Bother Me,’ alone on stage with his electric guitar. After dedicating the song to his non-binary sibling and telling people who disagree with their gender to fuck off, his performance was a sincere change of pace, before the energy was ramped straight back up for ‘Caesar’ and ‘Dog Dribble’.

There is a frustration at festivals like Sŵn that it’s simply impossible to catch every small act, with buzz around sets you’ve missed inevitably leading to a fear you’ve missed out. But at the same time, this is the real beauty of this festival. Just knowing how many bands were in Cardiff last weekend, experimenting with genre, playing their first festival or just smashing out some indie bangers, is such an exciting thought and exactly the reason that festivals likes this are so important. We’ll be back.