Musicport 2025 - Saturday | Yorkshire Coast Gigs

Musicport: 25th Anniversary 2025 – Saturday

26th October 2025

Whitby Pavillion

It’s a cold Saturday morning on the Yorkshire coast, as I board the bus from Scarborough to Whitby; wild, blowy and grey. This is not the weather you normally want for a festival – but I am off to Musicport.

For those of you who haven’t yet attended some or all of this community-focused, world music event, Musicport offers a vibrant and welcoming platform for cultural exchange, community, and exceptional music, all nestled under the roof of Whitby pavillion.

Celebrating its quarter century, Musicport began in 2000. Originally intended as a one off event to mark the Millenium, founders Jim and Sue McLaughlin expanded their event programme from their bookshop-come-cafe and concert venue in Robin Hoods Bay, to what was, back then, a single performance space at the Pavillion. Demand, and the festival, quickly grew, and now it boasts 3 stages alongside chillout zones, spaces for food and drink, and a beautifully curated selection of craft, music and cultural stalls.

As I only have the one day, (and a bus to catch back in the evening) I intend to get in as much as possible and part of the enjoyment in the way the festival is housed is that you can run between spaces and acts quickly and easily. When I arrive, I’m greeted by a cheerful and friendly team, who wristband me and point me in several different directions, depending on where I want to get started. I head for the North Sea stage, hosting the Open Mic and a number of the aforementioned stalls. The atmosphere is upbeat as I enter to a 7-piece brass band in full swing. The Homecoming Brass Band describe themselves as ‘African influenced music, played by a New Orleans influenced brass band’, and they instantly shift me into the festival mood – tight enough to be musically excellent, loose enough for a party atmosphere with a healthy dash of humorous performance, as the players riff off each other – all enjoying it as much as the audience are.

Open mic can sometimes be hit or miss, but Homecoming are so good I hang around for the next act, Sue Conroy, a folk troubadour, who received warm appreciation for her thoughtful, socially minded lyrics and earthy delivery – getting people singing along with self penned songs that feel familiar and close to home despite their originality.

It would be easy to stay all day with the local talent, but the festival has much to offer and so I head up to the main stage, the huge open space and stage decorated with prayer flags, bunting and projections, and skirted by traders. The packed room is already enthralled, as I enter, by Mostar Sevdah Reunion. The iteration on this occasion is a six part vocal group who, when I arrive, are performing a cappella Sevdah, 400 year old traditional music from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Growing out of the devastation of war in the early 90s, the bands line up has changed but their core mission – to bring the true variety and beauty of Balkan music to global audiences – endures. The music is haunting, rich and heartfelt – transcending language to a deeper understanding. This is made poignantly apparent towards the end of their set, as they introduce one of their final pieces, suggesting as they introduce it that ‘something magical’ may happen. They start to sing, and at first the words and melody are beautiful, but unrecognisable. Then suddenly, we catch the refrain of ‘will you go, lassie, go’, and in a moment the whole space is filled with voices singing the Scots Irish ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ in Bosnian, and English – a true moment of intercultural connection.

After heartfelt applause, the crowds disperse to other activities, and I scuttle to grab a seat for a front row view of the next act, and to soak up the atmosphere. Kids are darting about laughing, and people around me are talking about what they’ve just experienced and what they hope to catch over the weekend. Parents and families are camped out in front of the seating, enjoying refreshments. While the acts aren’t generally geared towards kids, there is a warm family atmosphere and folks of all generations are having a good time.

The family inclusion isn’t limited to the audience either, as the next act, O’Hooley and Tidow, acknowledge their young son Flynn (in the audience with literal bells on) as they head towards the final dates of their ‘So Long For Now’ tour. After 15 years of family music, including appearances at Glastonbury, Folk Award nominations, and working with Sally Wainwright for the BBC’s Gentleman Jack, the duo are pursuing other adventures, and so the set is bitter-sweet. Their songwriting is homely in a gritty, northern way that Yorkshire can really do well – full of imagery and storytelling wrapped up in the kind of on stage synchronicity that really shows up at its best in family ensembles. The stories are the stories of their life, and the lives of others here in the north and it feels like a real privilege to be able to catch them here as part of such a brilliant line up.

It’s time for a food break, so I head out to The Little Somboon Box, a pan asian street food truck who are super helpful with providing something that works for dietary requirements. They hand me a light up buzzer that will go off when my order is ready, and send me off to get out of the buffeting winds in the Blundabus, a wonderfully quirky pop-up space in the form of a double decker bus that is part bar, part jam hang out, complete with upright piano. I grab a drink, and pop upstairs, where the seats have been stripped out in favour of cushioned booths and benches and listen to an unidentified musician noodling away melodically on a guitar. Various percussive instruments are strewn about and I am reliably informed that later the space will be crammed with people playing into the night. When the buzzer goes off the food is exceptional, and I eat in the main entrance hall to the pavilion, which hosts the all day DJ, and is decked out with banners of previous festivals,each with its own theme. As I eat, I reflect that nowhere is there any sense of consumerism, this is a festival with real heart, the music, performers, even the catering feel like it’s been thoughtfully selected to provide an authentic people orientated experience which can sometimes be lacking in festival settings. Almost uniquely there is no ‘filler’, this is wholly the real deal.

Suitably refreshed, I head back to the main stage. Sura Susso and Debasmita Bhattacaharys Melodies Across Continents, presenting as a 5 piece multicultural ensemble have the room swaying and bobbing hypnotically, to a combination of African, Indian and Welsh traditions, weaving together to create music that is unique in sound and scope. The music is in turn melodic and lilting, and driven and uplifting, the spotlight shifting from sitar, to cello, to kora, to exceptional percussion. The pieces are long. They could have been longer and been happily received. By now the light outside is starting to fade and the stage is a deep warm nest of light and colour, and people are starting to dance.

When they finish I head for a change of pace, to the Lobster Lounge. This small stage/chillout space houses short film screenings, talks, demonstrations, panel discussions and comedy, woven through with solo musicians, and the best cup of chai tea I’ve ever had. I drink it scalding hot as I watch Rob Mackay, sound artist and composer based at Newcastle University, as he presents a short talk ‘Following The Flight Of The Monarchs’, a fascinating project that combines livestream soundscapes from the 3000 mile migration routes of Monarch Butterflies, between Canada and Mexico. He introduces the project, inspiring in its ambition and scope, including the work of artists, conservationists, and scientists and ends with a performance combining the streamed soundscapes, projections of the butterflies and improvised real time composition using flute and computer. The result is a beautiful combination of the natural, and the technological, united through music and shared with an audience and is both thought provoking and curiously relaxing.

I’m running short on time, and so I head to the theatre, where Maddie Morris is just starting their set. By turn, they are charming, earnest, funny and sincere – simple introductions for socially aligned songwriting from their latest EP Joy and Resistance. Winner of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, it’s easy to see why, and their deft guitar playing, and stories from the very heart of the front line of activism hold the audience rapt, through fresh velvety vocals grown from deep folk roots. I hang around afterwards for a word (and some merch) but the queue to their table is so long I risk missing my bus home, so I head back to the main hall to finish my day with the Zawose Queens.

The hall is now in full sway, bobbing and weaving to the beats of the traditional-meets-electro music of Pendo and Leah Zawose. Claiming their place in the spotlight as lead vocalists and performers, they share what they describe as dance-inspired fusion. Hypnotic and compelling, their voices combine with traditional instruments and rhythms as they sing in their native kigogo, music from their debut album Maisha. I allow myself a quick dance before I have to tear myself away.

As I leave I pass the Blunderbus, now lit with festoons and glowing from within with music and laughter (and not a small amount of condensation!). I can’t help but think wistfully that this is the bus I wish I was boarding rather than the one home.

Since its founders took a step back in 2021 Musicport has been run by a team of volunteers, who were determined to see the festival continue, and as this is my first visit I can’t comment on how this 25th anniversary compares to years past– but I can tell you that Musicport is a festival with incredible heart and can surely only be a credit to its predecessors. Exceptional music from amazing acts, thoughtful organisation, brilliantly run, Musicport is a truly brilliant festival experience offering – quite literally as their strapline says – ‘The world, in Whitby’. I can’t recommend it enough. Next year I hope to come for longer. And I won’t be getting the bus.

Check out what’s coming up for the 2026 Festival here!