Our Mutual Friend, Suggestions 27/11/25
15 December 2025
GALA is a strangely comforting festival to me, as I’m sure it is to others who’ve spent a decent chunk of their lives walking distance from Peckham Rye Park. It attracts a loyal crowd – you’re going to encounter the same faces year after year, especially on a Saturday when most are off work.
This was my first year not in a large group, which felt slightly alien, and I stand by that likely being the best way to enjoy yourself. Most people here are in eclectic, eccentric and impeccably dressed friend groups, but there’s also a growing movement of people finding new friends to go with. Sometimes people are hesitant about DJ-heavy, dance music festivals due to a fear of being the oldest there but users like Slaypril on TikTok are doing their best to dispel this anxiety. She started a group for those over 25 who aren’t yet ready to give up partying and recounts in one of her videos how she found a beautiful community of people feeling the same at GALA. The crowd we experienced was much more akin to one at The Cause than Ministry of Sound if that means anything to you.
We walked in and were immediately met with Amaliah, a tiny figure on the enormous Main Stage. She captivated the growing crowd though, starting with a few early attendants sitting closely swaying along and finishing with a large audience almost spanning the entire length of the stage.
Before we arrived, we’d been keen to spend time at the Pleasure Dome, a large geometric tent situated right at the centre of the site. The lineup here was very fun and very queer but unfortunately, after the first few hours there always seemed to be a large queue when we walked by – rightly so, but no less annoying. If we weren’t so keen to catch as much as we could we may have waited it out, and from what we heard inside it would’ve been worth it.
DJ Fart in the Club was a highlight, as usual. It will never not be entertaining to see the confusion on people’s faces when one of their friends loudly announces that she’s playing. Her backdrop featured a Palestinian flag – like most festivals so far this year, GALA’s Pro-Palestine message was clear from flags on stage to scrawled messages on tents. dreamlike feminine quality.
One key highlight was the Sunflower tent, offering a starkly different vibe to most of the rest of the festival with its sparkly balloons and vinyl DJs. Their lineup was announced partway through the day on a scrawled piece of A4, including two surprise sets by Floating Points and Giles Peterson – a regular name at UK festivals this year. We camped out here a few times, catching Mafalda’s B2B. It was a refreshing break in between heavier sets especially as the night went on.
Avalon Emerson closed out, keeping her foot on the ball by featuring remixes of up-and-coming French darling Oklou. The crowd were captivated, a sea of grinning faces and bodies in motion.
GALA 2025 was a lovely celebration of the 10-year anniversary of one of the best London festivals still going. It manages to feel fun and fresh, intimate and casual – a crowd-pleaser, and rightly so. We look forward to year eleven!
