Southend Lazydays return sees fans travel from USA

Thousands of music lovers flocked to the festival, in Priory Park over the weekend, with some travelling from as far as the USA. 

More than 9,000 people attended the festival, which saw headline performances from the likes of Soul II Soul, Pete Doherty and Example.

Community - The independent festival is now in its second year (Image: Steve Brading) With clean-up efforts still ongoing, the team behind the two-year-old event are already thinking about next year’s offering.

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Mike Bromfield is one of the organisers of Lazydays and said: “The whole weekend was brilliant and there was an amazing atmosphere throughout.

"We had an absolutely incredible turnout with more than 9,000 people from Essex and beyond attending across the weekend.

"I spoke to people who had flown in to Southend Airport from the Netherlands and the USA just to see our headliners."

Taking place at Southend's Priory Park from Friday until Sunday, attendance for the return of Lazydays more than tripled from last year's 2,500.

Celebratory - Residents and visitors flocked to Priory Park over the weekend (Image: Steve Brading) Mike said: "While we did have people coming from further afield, it was amazing to see so many Southend residents supporting an independent festival like ours. 

"It's really important to us that we're hearing from our guests about what they want from Lazydays and work is already ongoing ahead of next year.

"We're going to be delivering more of the same, and acting on the feedback we get to keep on improving the Lazydays offering. 

Mike also said that tickets for Lazydays 2026 would soon be available for purchase, and thanked this year's charity partner, Southend YMCA. 

In addition to fundraising for the charity in the weeks leading up to the festival, YMCA volunteers were on site across the weekend to drum up support for the vital organisation.

A spokesperson for Southend YMCA said: "As the official charity partner, Southend YMCA is grateful for Lazydays' support—the donations are helping us bring music, workshops, and opportunities to young people across Essex."

Atmosphere - The return of Lazydays saw 9,500 people attend across the weekend (Image: Steve Brading) While Mike is already thinking about how to build on this year's success to deliver an event more exciting 2026 festival, work to clean-up Priory Park continues this week. 

"We really love the park, so want to leave it in a better condition than when we found it," he said. 

"We've got an army of volunteers down there this week putting everything back the way it should be."