The Sunny Hill Festival took over Kosovo with its organiser, UK-born Kosovo Albanian pop star Dua Lipa, returning as headline attraction after a one-year absence – and receiving citizenship too.
Kosovo Albanian international pop star Dua Lipa returned as headliner on the first day of the Sunny Hill Festival, organised by her family in her hometown, Prishtina, with her “Radical Optimism” world tour.
In-between performances, Lipa talked to the audience in her mother tongue, thanking them for the support since 2016 “in my first concert” in Prishtina. “Since then, we have had six editions of the festival,” she recalled on Friday evening, counting also that solo concert in the early stages of her career as the event that started the now-international festival.
Dua Lipa at Sunny Hill Festival in Prishtina, August 1, 2025. Photo: BIRN/Denis Sllovinja
“Kosova ka lezet dhe kështu i tregojmë botës [Kosovo has its charm, that’s how we can show the world],” she said excitedly in Albanian.
One day earlier, Lipa made international headlines after receiving a Kosovo passport by presidential decree.
For the second year in a row, the festival was held in the village of Bernice, on the outskirts of Prishtina.
In 2024, Lipa’s father, the founder of the festival, Dukagjin, told BIRN that the 17-hectare site provided by the municipality of Prishtina for 99 years would help the festival to grow. Dua Lipa did not perform in 2024, but only attended.
Dua Lipa at Sunny Hill Festival in Prishtina, August 1, 2025. Photo: BIRN/Denis Sllovinja
Previous editions of the festival were held in the protected Germia park, which drew criticism about likely damage to nature.
In 2022, there were bureaucratic hurdles related to the festival’s site, and due to organising it in Albania as well. But Lipa said they now have an agreement with both local and central authorities addressing logistical and infrastructural issues. The municipality’s city buses offer free transport to and from the festival.
As in other countries on the tour, Lipa talked to members of the audience who were from Kosovo, Turkey, Belgium, Italy and Poland, and sang a local 1980s rock song with her father, who used to be the vocalist in a band.
Festival goers at the second day of the Sunny Hill Festival in Prishtina, August 2, 2025. Photo: BIRN/Ilirjana Hoti
“Sharing this night with you all, in the city that shaped me, surrounded by so much energy, joy, and pride… it’s hard to put into words what it means. Performing for you, and sharing the stage with my dad Dukagjin Lipa, was a moment I’ll never forget,” she wrote on Instagram afterwards.
On the second night of the festival, Shawn Mendes headlined and simultaneously opened his world tour. It was the first time that an international singer has opened their tour in Prishtina, where locals had few chances to see international singers on stage before the Sunny Hill Festival started.
“Prishtina thank you! You have a beautiful spirit,” Mendes told festivalgoers.
Shawn Mendes headlining the second night of the Sunny Hill Festival, August 2, 2025. Photo: BIRN
Amid an increase in tourism, with around 30,000 tickets sold, and reports that accommodation in the city was fully booked over the weekend, the city’s transport infrastructure came under strain, with all main roads leading to the festival’s site blocked.
The final day of the festival is the day of the DJs and was closed by Berlin-based South Korean Peggy Gou.