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GET ON FESTIVAL 2025: REVIEW -
GET ON FESTIVAL 2025: REVIEW -
DEVON'S SMALL FESTIVAL WITH A BIG HEART
DEVON'S SMALL FESTIVAL WITH A BIG HEART
Get On festival 2025 blends intimacy, music, and memory on the Great Fulford estate near Exeter, Devon. From the playful Le Grille stage to the Wine Cellar and Villa, every corner honours a friend’s favourite things, creating a festival that feels personal, nostalgic, and full of life. With a carefully curated programme and a crowd that truly engages with the music, it’s an experience that’s small in size but big in heart.
Credit - Eddy Hubble via Get On 2025.
We knew we were going to be in for a treat at Get On the moment we saw Le Grille. A grill-themed stage at a festival is unusual enough, but this one was fully committed: a giant barrel BBQ build, smoke drifting through lights, and a crowd already primed to lean into and embrace the silliness. It set the tone before we even arrived, a sign that Get On isn’t interested in being another generic small festival. It wants personality, memory, and community at the centre of everything it does.
Now in its third year, Get On was created in memory of a close friend Harry Brooksbank, who sadly passed away With the stages reflecting his favourite parts of life: the Wine Cellar, where Harry worked, and the Grill itself- as we heard that Harry loved to barbeque. The bar stage was called 'Brooks Bar' which was a chilled out and special area with a portrait of Harry behind the bar. There is an old idea that we, as humans, die twice: first when our body stops, and again when our name is no longer spoken. Here, the festival resists that second departure. Walking the grounds, seeing his tastes and personality honoured in such a joyful, living way, it felt both poignant and uplifting.
Set at Great Fulford estate, just outside Exeter, Get On sits between woodland and water, and for us it carried a nostalgic familiarity from growing up attending Wonderfields festival on the same estate. At times, it felt surreal to be back here, but that mix of memory and the present made it feel like sacred ground.
Once inside, the mood was welcoming and calm. The festival is small enough to feel connected, with enough pockets to explore that nothing felt too repetitive. At times the stages were slightly separated in a way that broke the flow, especially compared to compact festivals like Nowadaze, but the distances were manageable and each space carried its own identity well.
The Le Grille stage itself felt like the highlight. The theme worked because it was simple and fully realised. Smoke curled up into the beams, creating a warm haze over sets that moved through disco, acid, and techno house. The crowd felt loose and ready, head to toe in chef whites and aprons and tall toques, with none of the posturing that often creeps into larger events. It was the kind of stage where you could drop in at any point and instantly feel part of the energy.
Across the weekend, sets from Jenny Sparks, Dr Banana, Mia Koden, and new music from Sir Hiss stood out. Jenny Sparks and Dr Banana brought a playful, mischievous edge with wobbly bootlegs and tight mixing that kept the dancefloor light and on their toes. There was a clear sense that the crowd cared about the music – an audiophiles paradise. Conversations were often about sound systems, labels, or production quirks that felt both constructive and involving all round.
Credit - Eddy Hubble via Get On 2025.
After-hours were some of the weekend’s strongest moments as well. When the main stages finished, the atmosphere didn’t drop. Quiet systems carried on until early morning, with groups gathering by the lake or under the large stretch tent kitted out with sofas, armchairs, and even a chaise longue.
It felt safe, soft, and communal. People were friendly and open, and we ended up meeting Harry and Jack, two of the organisers, who subsequently played at our first ever Nobody is Watching event recently. It summed up the spirit of Get On: fluid, social, and built on genuine connection.
The food during the festival was unfortunately the weak point. The burger van in particular caused frustration with poor service and an early closure, which limited options across the site. At a festival this size, with only two traders, it had an impact. Hopefully next year we look forward to more vendors.
Get On still has plenty of room for growth; a bit more cohesion between stages and better food options would go a long way ahead of next year. But, its heart is clear, its community strong, and its vision rooted in memory, care, and creativity.
Being part of it felt like a team project that we got in on early with and the start of something very special, and it left the sense that the friend it honours lives on not only in memory but in the joy and energy of everyone present.
We’re already looking forward to Get On 2026, and first release tickets are on sale now!
All image credits to Eddy Hubble via Get On.
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