REVIEW | REFLECTIONS ON CROSS THE TRACKS 2025

Photo cred­it: @garryjonesphotography

It’s May Day Bank Hol­i­day, and once again South London’s Brock­well Park played host to Cross the Tracks — London’s annu­al cel­eb­ra­tion of jazz, soul, and funk. This year’s line-up leaned more UK-heavy than pre­vi­ous edi­tions, with soul sing­er Michael Kiwa­nuka and jazz trail blazers Ezra Col­lect­ive top­ping the bill. But while the sounds inside the gates were smooth and soul­ful, this year’s fest­iv­al unfol­ded under a cloud of controversy.

The ten­sion around Brock­well Park has been build­ing for years, but in 2025, it reached boil­ing point. Com­munity-led cam­paign group Pro­tect Brock­well Park won a High Court case against Lam­beth Coun­cil, with the judge rul­ing that allow­ing major fest­ivals for more than 28 days annu­ally was “irra­tion­al” and “unlaw­ful.” The case high­lighted long-stand­ing con­cerns: eco­lo­gic­al dam­age, restric­ted pub­lic access, and the creep­ing com­mer­cial­isa­tion of pub­lic space.

Des­pite the rul­ing, Cross the Tracks went ahead under a revised events permit—but not without push­back. Protests, peti­tions, and vis­ible frus­tra­tion from loc­al res­id­ents served as a stark remind­er that, for many, the cul­tur­al gains come at too high a cost.

And yet, once inside the gates, the music told a dif­fer­ent story.

The day opened with a ground­ing, roots-heavy set from Aba Shanti‑I, whose thun­der­ous dub rhythms set a spir­itu­al tone. Min­im­al in present­a­tion but massive in pres­ence, he proved once again why he’s a pil­lar of UK sound­sys­tem culture.

Jordan Rakei and band. Photo cred­it: @khaliphotography

Next up was altern­at­ive R&B sing­er and multi-instru­ment­al­ist Jordan Rakei, deliv­er­ing what was, for me, the standout solo per­form­ance of the day. Backed by a full band, Rakei’s set glided between soul, jazz, and ambi­ent elec­tron­ic tex­tures. I’ve had a few of his songs scattered across my playl­ists, but hear­ing them live gave me a whole new level of appreciation.

Ezra Col­lect­ive: @garryjonesphotography

But the best draw of the day, and the most elec­tri­fy­ing act by far, was Ezra Col­lect­ive. Over the past few years, this Lon­don five-piece has become one of the most excit­ing forces in UK music—bringing jazz out of the con­ser­vatoires and into clubs, parks, and the hearts of a new generation.

They paid a mov­ing trib­ute to the late Angie Stone, who passed earli­er this year, with the crowd belt­ing out “Wish I Didn’t Miss You” bar for bar. From there, they tore through a genre-bend­ing med­ley mix­ing old-school gar­age “A Little Bit of Luck” with Afro-Cuban rhythms on “Body Lan­guage.” At one point, the entire crowd was dan­cing salsa like a Havana street party. In a city where crowds are often too con­cerned with get­ting the best video for their social media, this felt like the oppos­ite sweaty, com­mun­al, and totally in the moment. It was part car­ni­val, part church ser­mon, part block party.

Else­where, Touch­ing Bass delivered a typ­ic­ally eclect­ic set, blend­ing broken beat, soul, and house with warmth and ease. Alex Rita, one half of the duo, even brought her baby on stage for a quick boo­gie for prob­ably the sweetest moment of the fest­iv­al. Free Nation­als, step­ping out from Ander­son .Paak’s orbit, brought pol­ished West Coast funk to the main stage. But des­pite a sol­id dis­co­graphy, their per­form­ance felt a little flat in comparison.

Clos­ing the night was Michael Kiwa­nuka. A Mer­cury Prize-win­ner with an unmis­tak­able voice and intro­spect­ive soul-rock sound, Kiwa­nuka is undoubtedly one of the UK’s finest song­writers. But fol­low­ing the sheer energy of Ezra Col­lect­ive, his slower, more con­tem­plat­ive set felt muted and I don’t think he quite worked as the festival’s clos­ing act. 

Photo Cred­it: Luke Dyson

There are import­ant ques­tions still to be asked about London’s cul­ture scene, pub­lic land, and the lim­its of gentri­fic­a­tion. It’s a shame that Cross the Tracks—a fest­iv­al that con­sist­ently deliv­ers on diversity across race, gender, and class—has been caught in the crosshairs. Tick­ets remain access­ible (around £60, with cheap­er early birds), and the eth­os of the fest­iv­al feels rooted in com­munity, not cor­por­ate greed.

But in a city where pub­lic spaces are increas­ingly privat­ised, the future of fest­ivals like this remains uncer­tain. For now, Cross the Tracks 2025 gave us a day of unfor­get­table music, let’s see if they will return to Brock­well Park for 2026. 

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Maya Elese

Edit­or / Author at No Bounds

Mul­ti­lin­gual Lon­don born, bred & based print & broad­cast journ­al­ist, presenter, DJ & cul­tur­al pro­du­cer with a par­tic­u­lar love for glob­al afro-dia­spor­ic cul­tures. @mayaelese on everythang.

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