In partnership with Bilbao BBK Live.
Words: Lisa Wright
Bilbao BBK Live 2026 knows how to scratch all your musical itches. Looking for erotically-charged, meticulously-crafted club pop or timeless, joyous hits given a clever on-stage makeover? Look no further than FKA Twigs and David Byrne on day one. Want a slice of ultimate catharsis via the best break-up album of the decade, or to throw yourself around in the pit and thrash it out? Lily Allen and IDLES have got your back on Saturday’s closing night.
However, the Basque Country weekender’s turbo-charged Friday bill? Well, that was a time for all-out entertainment via quite probably the two most charismatic performers that the UK and Ireland have produced in the last 40 years.
If CMAT is, in star power wattage terms, the natural successor to the night’s headliner Robbie Williams, then there were plenty of other thrills to be found on the scenic slope of Mount Cometas too. From a late night rave with Aurora and The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands – aka TOMORA – to some balmy afternoon blues courtesy of Alabama Shakes, here’s all the action from day two of Bilbao BBK Live’s epic 20th anniversary year.
Robert Peter Williams – the most successful British artist in UK chart history, with a recent, record-breaking 16th Number One album to his name – is obsessed with the idea of entertainment. “Is this entertainment?” he questioned, getting the absolutely rammed main stage crowd to sing back a series of call and response riffs. Maybe this might be, he implicitly suggested, as the cocksure swagger of ‘Rock DJ’ pointed towards a fake newspaper headline on stage asking “Is Robbie the greatest entertainer?” A dancer ripped it off to reveal a second headline underneath: “Of course he fucking is!”
These were two moments in the wild ride of Robbie’s Friday night headline set – easily the biggest audience draw of the weekend so far – that underlined the Stoke star’s raison d’etre. But really, the whole of Williams’ gloriously uninhibited 90-minute extravaganza was a love letter to pure showmanship. In his own words, which he delivered – naturally – whilst sitting at a piano, wearing a giant pink feather boa and eating a banana before playing a cover of ‘New York, New York’: “If you’re still trying to be cool, stop it, it’s exhausting. You look like a fucking wanker.”
Instead, Robbie went all-in on getting the crowd as revved up as possible via the sort of relentless bag of tricks that exemplified the singer’s unique place in UK pop – part stadium-sized juggernaut, part cheeky Butlins entertainer. Has anyone ever played more covers during a festival headline than this? Quite possibly not. As well as ‘New York, New York’ and a bit of his old muckers Take That’s ‘Relight My Fire’, Bilbao got a medley of hits from Depeche Mode to The Beatles to introduce his band, plus a rendition of ‘My Way’, dedicated to his dad.
The family presence was out in full force, with a photo album slideshow during ‘Love My Life’ and an appearance from eldest daughter Teddy during ‘Angels’. Older, reformed Robbie the family man has a tendency to veer into Live Laugh Love territory, but the presence of Robbie the superstar was still there for all to see. When the hits came, they were inarguable: ‘She’s The One’, ‘Feel’, ‘Millenium’. “You’d better be fucking good because I am phenomenal,” Robbie declared at the start of the set – he wasn’t wrong.
“Usually it’s just DJs at this time, but not tonight baby!” announced Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, midway through her 1.30am set on the Repsol stage. “You wanted to see some Irish country rock’n’roll. Let’s scare all of the people who went to see Soulwax instead of CMAT!”
The Belgian electronic duo might be a more traditional after hours festival option, but there was not a person present at CMAT’s glorious Friday finale that would argue against her being the only sensible choice. If you like your pop stars bursting with sincerity, hilarity, the sort of insatiable energy that could win over quite literally any crowd and an increasing canon of undeniable anthems to boot, then no-one’s doing it quite like the self-titled Dunboyne Diana right now.
Kicking off with the swirling climax of ‘The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station’ before dropping into early single ‘I Don’t Really Care For You’, Thompson – three albums in, with a level of international stardom that’s increasing by the hour – has proper hits these days. Where, just last summer, a game-changing Glastonbury performance was the moment to push an underground star into the mainstream light, last night the front section of the crowd at Bilbao BBK Live 2026 knew every word.
The names that naturally emerged throughout the set acted as a neat reminder of how beloved CMAT has become. “Thank you Olivia Rodrigo, she’s my best friend!” the singer joked ahead of ‘When A Good Man Cries’ – a reference to the American superstar’s recent BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge cover. Later, Thompson declared that “The A in CMAT stands for ‘And through it all…’” leading the crowd in a singalong of ‘Angels’ before Robbie Williams himself ran onto the stage to say hello.
Throughout, the singer was a whirlwind of energy and talent, popping out campy choreography sections with her band on ‘Have Fun!’, pouring her heart out on ‘Euro-Country’, and descending into the crowd to storm a line through the middle during a final, incendiary ‘Stay For Something’. Now that’s how you end a festival night.
Fresh from announcing their first album in 11 years, ‘I Must Be Dreaming’, earlier this week, Alabama Shakes’ confident late afternoon set on the main stage was a reminder of why the Alabama trio are still a force to be reckoned with. Old hits ‘Hold On’ and ‘I Ain’t The Same’ showcased the raw power of Brittany Howard’s vocal that first shot them to fame at the start of the 2010s, while recent single ‘American Dream’ – a protest song denouncing the current Trump administration – provided a fiery window into their forthcoming third LP.
Belle and Sebastian might not be an obvious warm-up act for Robbie, but over on the San Miguel stage the ‘90s stalwarts’ endlessly charming indie hits were a winning choice with hooks to spare. Performing as Spain’s World Cup quarter final match against Belgium played out, even a sizable amount of audience members keeping one eye on their phones didn’t dampen the good vibes emanating from a porkpie-hatted Stuart Murdoch and co as they served up an early ‘Funny Little Frog’. ‘I Want The World To Stop’ was a midset highlight, while Murdoch – backed by glimmering lights spelling out the band’s name – descended into the crowd to serenade them in the show’s final third.
Still less than a year since their fully-fledged beginnings as a live band, TOMORA – the collaborative project between Norwegian singer Aurora and Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers – looked like they were still firmly in the excitable honeymoon phase of their existence during their midnight set. Performing dressed all in white, with a second vocalist and musician dressed identically, Aurora’s sci-fi presence was the perfect foil for Rowlands’ mindwarping electronic creations. With screens showing acid-soaked pink cats, tulip-headed alien creatures and contorting cells under a microscope, the effect was of a rave on another planet. Aurora and her doppelganger spent half the set bouncing up and down like pogoing robots; the likes of ‘I Drink The Light’ and ‘Ring The Alarm’ had the crowd letting loose just as hard. “We all know the world is a bit messed up now because of all the crazy people leading us into this,” Aurora declared at the end. “But when we look at all of your beautiful faces, we see there is so much good. Thank you for being gorgeous.”
Bilbao BBK Live 2026 continues tonight (July 11), rounding out its final day with performances from Lily Allen, IDLES, Horsegiirl and Interpol.
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