Lytham Festival, the north west's largest live music event, returned to the Lancashire coast this week for five nights, marking its fifteenth anniversary with a run of contrasting but equally compelling headline shows. Rain threatened the opening evenings — a familiar hazard at this seafront event — but neither Teddy Swims nor Alanis Morissette allowed the Lancashire weather to dampen proceedings, while night three brought a change of pace entirely as Michael Bublé swept into town.

Opening Night: Teddy Swims brings soul and swagger

The American vocal powerhouse, backed by his band Freak Freely, opened the anniversary festival in front of a 20,000-strong crowd. Swims rose to fame via cover versions posted on social media, a route that eventually led to a recording contract and his breakthrough hit, Lose Control, in 2023.

He arrived on stage in a long overcoat, seemingly forewarned of the wind and rain to come, but delivered anything but a wash-out. Over a two-hour set, the GRAMMY-nominated singer opened with The Door before Hammer to the Heart showcased his unmistakably soulful voice. The stage design, styled like a Californian apartment, provided a quirky backdrop, while his band proved integral to the night's energy. A duet with Devin Velez on Are You Even Real tapped into the football World Cup atmosphere sweeping the crowd, with Swims declaring, "Yo Lytham, it's coming home!" — a nod to the England team matched by a performance every bit as confident.

With a recording career still only three years old, there were understandably a few lulls — You've Got Another Thing Coming among them, offering a natural moment for a bar run — but at his peak, Swims's vocal brilliance was unquestionable. It takes real talent to sing a song called Funeral and make it sound so joyful.

A cover of Kings of Leon's Use Somebody suited his voice well, a nod to the influences that shaped him, while his evident gratitude toward the audience never felt like a performance in itself. He closed with the song that started it all, Lose Control, setting a formidable bar for the rest of the festival to match.

Night Two: Alanis Morissette puts Lytham in her pocket

If Swims represented the new guard, night two belonged to one of the defining voices of the 1990s. Alanis Morissette's 1995 album Jagged Little Pill sold 33 million copies and included You Oughta Know, a wrath-filled anthem that was inescapable at the time. Much of her songwriting from that era — dealing with sexism, power, gender inequality and emotional trauma — has lost none of its relevance three decades on.

Now enjoying something of a renaissance, the Canadian singer drew both the generation who discovered her in the nineties and a newer, younger audience to Lytham Green. Anticipation was heightened by history: her scheduled appearance at last year's festival was cancelled at the eleventh hour on safety grounds, after high winds and torrential rain forced organisers to call off the show even as fans had already taken their places.

This time, Morissette delivered in full. She opened with One Hand in My Pocket before leaning heavily into Jagged Little Pill, with You Learn and Ironic among the highlights, alongside an acoustic mini-set of Rest, Mary Jane and Perfect. Her set ran at full intensity throughout, expressive and emotionally direct; newcomers unfamiliar with her deeper cuts may have wondered what the fuss was about, but the die-hard fans in the crowd needed no convincing.

The big hits followed — Ironic, All I Really Want and You Oughta Know — each greeted with mass singalongs as Morissette turned her microphone to the audience, her voice still carrying that same mix of venom and release. An encore of Uninvited and Thank U rewarded a fanbase who had waited an extra year for the moment, in a set that was honest, occasionally raw, and ultimately liberating.

Night Three: Michael Bublé lights up Lytham

Just up the road in Blackpool, tribute acts will be channelling Michael Bublé all summer season; on Lytham Green, the Canadian superstar himself headlined the festival's third evening, another major coup for the organisers. Whatever a jazz purist might make of his crossover appeal, there is no arguing that Bublé has brought the genre to the masses on a scale few others have managed.

He delivered a 90-minute set in front of a 20,000-capacity crowd, opening with an iconic cover of Nina Simone's Feeling Good before Haven't Met You Yet, which featured a solo turn from lead trumpeter Jumaane Smith. Charismatic as ever, Bublé told the audience: "Lytham's too posh for me, you guys are all rich! I belong in Blackpool, I just do! For the first time in my life I stayed in a hotel below a rollercoaster!" He leaned into his affection for the town with a mass singalong to L-O-V-E, before moving through a run of hits including You Make Me Feel So Young, Everything and Home. Classic covers of Cry Me a River and Fly Me to the Moon delighted the crowd, and he closed with Elvis Presley's Always on My Mind as 20,000 phone lights turned Lytham Green into a sea of stars.

It is rare for an artist of his stature to mix so freely with an audience, but between songs Bublé was shaking hands, signing posters and posing for selfies with his largely female fanbase throughout the night. Across a set spanning soul, swing, country, pop and jazz, the sound from the stage — Bublé and his orchestra alike — was pitch-perfect, with every note and nuance audible, a quality too often lost in a live setting. Ronan Keating opened, overcoming a traffic delay on the way to the venue to deliver a set full of Irish charm and charisma, winning over plenty of new fans along the way and closing with Life Is a Rollercoaster for a thrilling start to the evening.

A festival off to a flying start

Three nights in, three very different artists, one clear message: Lytham Festival's fifteenth anniversary is shaping up to be one of its strongest yet. Swims brought soul, swagger and youthful energy; Morissette brought decades of songcraft and a crowd who had waited a year to hear it live; and Bublé brought old-school showmanship and genuine warmth to a sold-out Lytham Green. All three nights suggest the remaining shows on the bill will have their work cut out to match the standard set on the Lancashire coast this week.