There’s something delightfully disorienting about watching a pop star catapult from support act to centre stage in just two short years. Sabrina Carpenter did exactly that. In 2023, she was the sweet, slightly mysterious opening act for Blackpink at BST Hyde Park. Fast-forward to July 2025, and she returned to the very same park with two sold-out headline nights of her own. Think less warm-up, more main event—with fireworks, a platform that glides above thousands, and a glittering red leotard to remind you who’s running the show.
If Hyde Park had a roof, Sabrina Carpenter would have blown it off.
The Saturday crowd didn’t care that the sun was hiding. The queues were long, the humidity persistent, and there were umbrellas (and hair ties) everywhere—but the energy? Impeccable. She opened with Busy Woman, stomping onto her signature white stage that looked more Manhattan nightclub than festival turf. The glitzy ‘SC’ signage above her pulsed like a luxury perfume ad, while her 12-person dance crew added pure Broadway-meets-pop flair.
Somewhere between Good Graces and Slim Pickins, Sabrina tossed back a shot delivered on a silver tray (cue a thousand TikToks). Intermittent 1950s-style commercials flickered on the big screens, giving the whole show a sort of retro-luxury kitsch—part Lana Del Rey, part Barbiecore. When she introduced Sharpest Tool as “a song that is very important to me,” it was one of the night’s rare quieter moments, a pivot from polished performance to pop therapy.
But in true Sabrina fashion, the mood whiplashed—in the best way—just minutes later. Introducing her new single Manchild, she teased the famously mercurial London crowd: “When I heard I was going to play Hyde Park… the first thing I did was look at the weather app. Because you guys are shady here.” That segued—naturally—into a full-throttle cover of It’s Raining Men, complete with thunderclaps and a healthy wink to the heavens.
And if that wasn’t theatrical enough, a mid-show outfit change brought out a sparkly black slip dress and matching bra, as Sabrina performed Bed Chem atop a circular bed draped in white satin. Fans screamed. Phones rose. Pink handcuffs were tossed to the crowd. A dedication for Juno. A whispered Please, Please, Please. And then—just as she had inched into pop superstardom—she literally levitated. Hovering above the crowd on a crane-operated platform, Sabrina looked down and declared, “Smile! You’re on camera!” before launching into Don’t Smile with intimate eye contact that no doubt birthed a hundred parasocial relationships.
By the time she reached Espresso, drink in hand, fireworks erupted behind her. “The louder you scream, the more I drink,” she said, espresso glass raised. And scream they did.
The Line-up: From Clairo’s Cinematic Set to Amber Mark’s Dancefloor Sermon
Carpenter may have been the headliner, but BST Hyde Park was anything but a one-woman show.
Before the glitter cannons and crane lifts, Clairo—everyone’s favourite Gen-Z introvert—took the stage with a show that felt more arthouse than arena. Accompanied by a band that moonlighted as a mini orchestra (sax, flute, organs—the works), she glided through Glasses, Softly and Flaming Hot with moody precision. “This is really sexy, it’s crazy!” she laughed mid-set. For Clairo, it was practically a mic drop.
Beabadoobee delivered a typically cool-girl performance, dressed in a tee with the word “SEX” in bubblegum pink. “I wore this top especially for Sabrina,” she teased, drawing 65,000 people into her hazy, grunge-pop orbit with Perfect Pair, Charlie Brown, and Real Man. Consider the crossover crowd: Swifties, 1975 fans, and every indie kid who's ever shopped Depop.
Amber Mark, meanwhile, brought the tempo up—way up. Part preacher, part dancefloor saviour, she worked the crowd like a veteran, belting out Mixer, Sink In, and Foreign Things with enough confidence to make anyone believe the Grammy’s actually mean something again.
The Understated Stars of the Rainbow Stage
Elsewhere, the Rainbow Stage became the weekend’s low-key goldmine. Luvcat, dressed in her signature leopard print, brought smoky jazz vocals and an undercurrent of gothic drama that somehow felt appropriate even in the middle of a London field. It felt a bit like stumbling into a speakeasy after getting lost in Shoreditch.
SOFY—who was quick to clarify her only similarity to Carpenter was her height—proved otherwise. Her set, including Floating Forever and togethertogether, radiated effortless, shoulder-shimmying cool.
Sola kicked things off with jazzy vocals and rich keyboard textures, while DellaXOZ—Bolton-born and Tumblr-coded—delivered a Gen-Z fever dream of a set, complete with tracks from The Della Variant and Dellairium. Earlier in the day, rising indie duo The Two Lips and the ethereal IDER set the tone.
A Third Year at BST Hyde Park, A First-Class Experience
This marks my third consecutive summer at BST Hyde Park, which feels increasingly like a pilgrimage for the fashion-forward, playlist-obsessed set. From Blackpink’s epic girl-power showcase in 2023 to this year’s short-and-sweet revolution led by Sabrina, the festival has quietly become one of the most style-savvy, emotionally satisfying events on the British calendar.
