The lineup has been split into three separate stages – the Hall, the Theatre, and The Bar. On the official Portals website, they describe the different settings within the Hackney event space: “This stunning venue includes the large Hall space for the biggest artists with state-of-the-art sound and lighting, a breathtaking converted Theatre for expansive and visually striking artists, and the intimate Bar stage for exciting up-and-coming artists.”

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The festival announced a second wave of acts in November, including the likes of French math-rock group Totorro and Chinese post-punkers Fazi, already joining experimental rockers such as Brontide, Mouse On The Keys and Cats and Cats and Cats. Now, they have confirmed their two headliners – with Missouri group FOXING joining for the Saturday, and alt-rock fusion artist Julie Christmas taking the top slot on Sunday, in an exclusive UK performance.

Upon sharing the stage splits, the festival reminded concert goers to remember that “the Hall never clashes with either of the other stages.” – so only the Theatre and the Bar stages will be running at the same time.

The festival started out as a one-day event in 2018 at The Dome & Boston Music Room in Tufnell Park, North London. Since then, it has become one of the most significant showcases of post rock, math rock and underground contemporary UK music. Some past performers include Mono, If These Trees Could Talk, Lite, Bossk and ASIWYFA, who will be returning to the stage at this years edition.

In an Insta post, the festival shared their excitement for the return of ASIWYFA, aka As I Watched You From Afar: “We’re over the moon to have one of our all time favourites back again, after their stunning headline performance at our ’23 edition. They will again play a headline length set. You know you want it.

This time they are fresh off their incredible 2024 album ‘Megafauna’ which received glowing reviews and is a triumphant collection of music that draws influences from across the band’s 20 years career.”

The festival also previewed headliner Julie Christmas, her most recent release and her current band on their official website: ‘Ridiculous and Full of Blood’, a heart-on-sleeve chapter-by-chapter storybook of the conflicting elements of her own character, is the most comprehensive declaration of this musician’s talents yet, spanning from alt-pop to post-metal with a staggering array of talent onboard. Guitarist/ vocalist Johannes Persson (Cult of Luna), drummer Chris Enriquez (Spotlights), bassist/ producer Andrew Schneider, guitarist John LaMacchia (Candiria) and keyboardist extraordinaire Tom Tierney were all paramount in bringing these new, genre-smashing tunes to life.

All lineup details, event information and tickets can be found on the Portals Website, here.

Taking place in Hackney, London on the 24th & 25th May 2025, ‘Portals’ is a one-of-a-kind festival where no music is too experimental, too eclectic, or too idiosyncratic.

A weekend full of genres including post-rock, prog-rock, math-rock, psych, shoegaze, metal and everything in between… it really is a festival full of diversity and bravery. Check out the official aftermovie from last years event to get a true feel of the festival.

The event will be hosted by EartH in Hackney, the venue holds three stages full of colour and atmosphere. As described in a blog post by echoesanddust.com: “The 1,200 capacity Hall at the bottom; the seated 680 capacity theatre, in all its shabby-chic art deco glory; and the 300 capacity Bar in-between.

“So immerse yourself in the Hall’s powerful sound system, hang out on the roof terrace, recline on the tiered wooden decks of the Theatre, and grab a beer and t-shirt from the Bar.”

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The line-up for this year follows on from every previous edition, promising a weekend full of exciting, eclectic and experimental music. 

American indie rock band, Foxing, will headline the Saturday with a 2025 London exclusive performance. They will be joined on the opening day by Kalanda, Brontide, Long Distance Calling and many more.

Post-rock band Foxing released their magnum opus in 2015, ‘Dealer‘. The album went on to be ranked at number 2 on AbsolutePunks top albums of 2015. They’ll be sure to bring their mixture of emo, indie-rock, and post-rock to London this summer.

Sunday will be co-headlined by the aforementioned Northern Irish group, And So I Watch You From Afar, as well as Brooklyn born musician Julie Christmas, who will be giving a UK exclusive performance to the festival-goers.

Belfast-based And So I Watch You From Afar are an instrumental rock band known for blending post-rock, progressive-rock, math-rock and more. To date they have released seven albums with their last EP, ‘Megafauna’, coming out last August. The four-piece band will be sure to bring their Irish energy to Hackney in May.

Bands such as Waldo’s Gift, mouse on the keys, TOTORRO and EXXASENS will also be performing on the Sunday in Hackney.

If for some reason you’re still undecided about heading to Hackney towards the end of May, head over to their website here where you’ll be able to find more details including the full line-up, ticket information and details on how to get to and access the venue.

It is worth noting that the majority of the festival is wheelchair accessible, with the EartH Hall and Theatre having lifts and stairclimbers, although the EartH Bar does not have any stair-free access.

Head over to www.portalsrock.com/festival right now to find out more information, where there is also the chance to sign up as a volunteer for the weekend!

As stated on the festivals Instagram: “If you’re coming, now is the time to buy a ticket!!”

You can head to this website to buy tickets to the unique event, https://link.dice.fm/PortalsFest2025. Tickets are available now with day tickets costing £60 and access to the full weekend costing only £99, although you can choose to pay £150 for the full weekend whilst also offering a donation to Portals to help them continue running these great events.