US rockers bring first festival to roaring close

COME TOGETHER SAW TWO TERRIFIC DAYS OF TOP PERFORMANCES

- By HELEN DALBY

NEWCASTLE'S first rock and pop music festival in four years concluded on Friday night with a fantastic headline set from Tennessee rock band Kings of Leon.

The US band lit up the Town Moor and rocked a ten thousand strong crowd with nearly two hours of anthems to close out the show on the 2025 Come Together Festival.

There had been a terrific two afternoons and evenings of music in Newcastle's special green space. Come Together opened on Wednesday with performances from local lad Andrew Cushin, South Shields' own Perrie Edwards, Kaiser Chiefs and "pop perfection" headliner Robbie Williams.

The final day performances began mid-afternoon with Chloe Slater, who was followed later on by The Cribs and The Snuts before The Reytons took the stage just after 6pm to see the crowd into the evening of entertainment.

With dry weather that was much warmer than Wednesday's chilly affair (at least until the homeward journey began as the heavens opened at 11pm), fans began arriving in throngs from late afternoon on Friday to enjoy every minute.

But before I get to the Kings of Leon, a Courteeners appreciation post, if I may. What a blistering 13-song set they delivered - the Manchester band were fantastic and could have headlined the festival on their own based on the rapturous reception they got.

It was the perfect way to get the crowd excited for the treat of seeing a big US rock band on our own Toon turf.

Particular highlights included an excellent cover of It Must Be Love as well as their own hit Not Nineteen Forever, which they dedicated to the Kings of Leon, before closing with What Took You So Long and thanking the Newcastle crowd for being “amazing”.