Summer Well

Summer Well is the indie festival at Domeniul Știrbey, in Buftea, the one by Livada. Gabriel Catană counts 2025 as edition 14, so the first falls in 2012. David Cobbald covers another weekend, in a text dated 16 August 2024, and he writes Bucharest. Both stand. In 2024 the grounds are the old estate, with a church, a bell tower, forest and a lake. Walking the loop, at a looking pace, takes an hour. The main stage closes an avenue of trees. At the other end, the afterparty stage, with a face of lights split in half. The Sunset stage sits across the lake. Cobbald gives a capacity of 35,000. Catană, for 2025, speaks of tens of thousands. In 2025 there are three stages: Main, Sunset and Electro Punk Club.

Cobbald's Friday opens quietly. Zimmer90, electronic indie, no title. Joesef, on the main stage, a 1950s style of heartbreak, a short crowd and a willing one. On the Sunset stage, Francis On My Mind sings in Romanian and in English. Nothing But Thieves close. Conor Mason comes through the speakers along the avenue, and the crowd sings every beat, with no single title. There are 34 sponsors. Persil has foam for children. CeraVe, a tent that scans skin. E.On, a Scalextric track powered by bicycle. Tobacco has stalls and marquees next to the DJs.

On Saturday the heat hits a high and people are on boards on the lake. Grandson speaks about addiction and wishes peace to anyone going through it. +SHE+ has hair to her knees and two shirtless men with guitars. Teezo Touchdown crosses the stage with the microphone inside a bouquet that hides his face. The crowd does not follow him. Tommy Cash, on the Sunset stage, cannot put his new video on the big screen. He comes out in a bunny-eared onesie, he moves, and the DJ who hypes him ends up partying with the people. Royal Blood close the main stage, the classics at the end, a minimal stage, no title. Victoria, of Måneskin, plays the afterparty music until late.

On Sunday STONE opens to a tired crowd. Paulina, on the Sunset stage, Romanian pop with folk. Two Door Cinema Club walk almost the whole of the 2010 album, Tourist History. When the speakers fail, the crowd shouts for them to start again. Keane close. Tom Chaplin says, laughing, that everyone here smokes. Cobbald leaves him as the best voice on the bill. There is no Keane title in that text.

From 8 to 10 August 2025, Catană is in Buftea. The photos are by Denisa Stoian. On Friday Ari Abdul opens the Main stage and says she is the first voice of that edition. She learns Te iubesc. Isabel LaRosa has technical faults, no title. Seafret lasts an hour, the crowd doubles, and they say they came to have a good time. Snow Patrol: the singer apologizes for not having reached Romania before and says this is only the beginning. The crowd sings Chasing Cars and Run through tears. The chorus of Shut Your Eyes starts as a whisper and rises. On Saturday, Saint Levant asks to be called Marwan, as among friends. It is his second time on the estate. There are Palestinian flags and a stretch about Palestine. He mixes his own pieces with the manea Made in Romania. Son Mieux goes past midnight: Tell Me More, Multicolor and Have a Little Faith. On Sunday Palaye Royale, about an hour, throw balloons and colace. They say they are fans of Empire of the Sun and step down into the crowd to watch them. After 45 minutes, Empire of the Sun: samurai costumes, saturated colours, no single title.

Bucharest is not Buftea. 35,000 is not the tens of thousands. Almost the whole of Tourist History is not a list of titles. Keane, Royal Blood, Nothing But Thieves, Zimmer90 and Seafret leave no song. The beginning the Snow Patrol singer promises is not a date. Edition 14 of 2025 is not another count. The video Tommy Cash could not play is not a song with a name.