Hall of Fame in Yenikapı: Istanbul Festival 2025
- Esil Korkmaz
- Aug 25
- 11 min read
The fourth Istanbul Festival, held from August 1 to 17 at Festivalpark Yenikapı, made headlines with its reasonably priced tickets, famous stars, spectacular performances, and surprise guest appearances.
Before talking about the performances, it’s important to mention the accessibility of the festival and the wide variety of activities within the area. The festival was relatively close to the Yenikapı Marmaray station, taking approximately 20 minutes on foot. This made it accessible through various modes of transportation, including buses, the Marmaray Railway Line, three different subway routes, IDO ferries, and the T1 tram. There were many placards along the way that directed attendees to the concert area, making it easy to find. Therefore, the accessibility of the festival with public transport was definitely noteworthy in the factors affecting its popularity, especially among teenagers and those without private vehicles. However, returning from the festival wasn’t as easy as reaching it. The subway departures for the M1A, M1B, M2, M4, M5, M6, M7, and M8 lines were extended to 00.30, except on August 4 and 11, while the last Marmaray departure was kept at 00.30. While the extensions were helpful, they proved to be insufficient, as most concerts ended after the last departure time. As a result, many audience members had to leave the festival early. For instance, on August 17, many attendees had to leave without seeing Blok3’s full performance, which ended around 1 a.m.
While the concerts ended late at night, the festival entrance opened at 16.00 every day, with the line moving quickly and the process of getting in being relatively easy by scanning the barcode on the digital ticket. As for safety, security first searched the attendees’ bags and then directed them to pass through metal detectors. Hence, the entrance to the festival was satisfactory and prevented long lines from accumulating under the summer heat.
The venue was approximately 673k square meters with a maximum capacity of 2.5 million people, which prevented the crowd from feeling constrained. The spacious area also allowed for the festival to have various activities and amenities like
workshops for children with activities such as painting, drawing, sculpting, and crafts; esports
tournaments with a gaming experience area to test game demos; influencer meetups; FIBA-certified 3x3 basketball tournaments; a PUBG dance competition; and a small amusement park with trampolines, bumper cars, and a ranger. The festival’s diverse range of activities allowed the guests to enjoy their time while waiting for the concerts to begin.
The rest of the festival area was filled with a large number of brand stalls and food stands. The stalls offered experiences filled with creative events, interactive games, special gifts, and surprises where visitors had the opportunity to engage directly with brands to gain information about products, try them out, and shop. Famous brands like
Şenpiliç, Mado, Dimes, and Heinz were also featured and were considered especially noteworthy with their fun games and prizes. Furthermore, the available food stands had much more variety compared to other festivals in Istanbul. The food options ranged from affordable to expensive, with full-on meals, snacks, sweet treats, coffee, and refreshing drinks. There were larger, international brands like Popeyes and Burger King, as well as more local ones like Pomas Friet and Komagene, offering known tastes, viral snacks, and even traditional foods. The wide range of options and short lines satisfied many of the guests. However, although there were seating areas in front of food stands, they weren’t enough for all of the attendees, so most had a hard time finding a place to sit while eating. Still, despite there being hundreds of stands, the space wasn’t crammed, allowing for a lot of open green places where people could just sit on the ground in traditional festival style.
Furthermore, small shops operated as supermarkets, offering a great option for those who wanted to stock up on some practical food options to have during the concert, as bringing provisions from outside festival grounds was prohibited. Contrary to most festivals, there were no alcoholic drinks sold, but there was a stand that offered mocktails. This decision was criticized by some of the guests, but was ultimately important in keeping the festival welcoming for all age groups. Although alcohol wasn’t sold inside, people who had been drinking outside were still allowed into the area, and some corner shops near Festivalpark even had limited deals to lure in more customers before the concerts began.
Besides food, water is essential in festivals, as heat and dehydration can easily cause fainting. While there were no free water fountains, they were sold in almost all food stands and markets for reasonable prices like 15 TL. However, while the lack of water fountains wasn’t a major problem during the day, it proved to be extremely problematic as time progressed. The days started out with every stand being fully stocked with water, but at night, when people were extremely thirsty from all the singing and dancing, it was hard to find ones that still had any left. Getting leftover bottles was extremely chaotic due to disorganized lines and exhausted people ready to fight for every bottle. Furthermore, the festival and concert areas were separated from each other by barriers, so in order to get anything during the concert, one first had to break through the crowd and find the entrance, as nothing was sold in the latter.
Other amenities like restrooms and prayer rooms were also present in the festival area. The entrance to the restrooms cost 5 TL by Istanbulkart, so it was necessary for guests to have the public transportation card with them. There were separate men's and women's restrooms, each equipped with both Western and Turkish toilets, to make a total of four restrooms. Toilets were relatively clean, but the inside of the restrooms was extremely stuffy, and it was hard to breathe, especially because of the heat and the crowd inside. However, the addition of multiple restrooms was seen as a positive.
The concert area itself was divided into different parts according to the tickets purchased and had separate entrances. There were four divisions in total: VIP, Stage Front A, Stage Front B, and General Entrance, from most to least expensive, with the VIP being 4,000 TL and the General Entrance being 500 TL. The divisions helped prevent the area from becoming too chaotic. However, it was still extremely crowded, and though most initially assumed that stage front A would be a good spot to get a view of the stage, it was hard to see anything if not in VIP, so most watched the performances from big LED screens posted around the podium. Nevertheless, the ticket prices were relatively affordable, especially for students, considering that tickets for other concerts in Istanbul are usually much more pricey. For instance, a single ticket’s price for the band Mor ve Ötesi during their show on 26 September in Küçükçiftlik Park ranged from 800 TL to 2,200 TL, even in the advantageous period.
Alongside its many advantages, mentioned above, what made the Istanbul Festival a hit were the performances and the countless stars that took the stage, turning the festival into a hall of fame. The first day of the festival feautred the new Turkish girl group Manifest, which rose to stardom in the last months and consists of 5 members: Esin Bahat, Lidya Pınar, Mina Solak, Sueda Uluca, Hilal Yelekçi, and Zeynep Sude Oktay. While the group is relatively new, they have already organized their own festival named “Manifestival” in Lifepark Istanbul, which made headlines. Thus, they have a significant fan base and performed to an audience of 50k people during the Istanbul festival, singing their hit songs like “Zamansızdık” or “Snap” while also executing challenging choreography.
On the same night, former NBA player Shaquille O'Neal, known by his stage name DJ Diesel, stunned everyone with his set, demonstrating his impressive musical talent in addition to his basketball career. The next day, Aleyna Tilki and Edis took the stage, performing duets as well as their own songs, transporting the audience to the late 2010s, when the two were at the height of their careers as major Turkish pop figures. The third day started out with Melike Şahin, known for her song “Tutuşmuş
Beraber,” and continued with Emre Fel, whose voice is compared to famous names of Anatolian rock like Cem Karaca, Barış Manço, and Erkin Koray. The concerts continued on August 5, with global popstar Jennifer Lopez performing for her new “Up All Night” tour to an audience of 45k people.
August 6 was the night for Alternative lovers as Dedublüman and Emir Can Iğrek performed their hits and gave everyone great guitar performances. The next day continued at the same pace with Manga and Adamlar, two timeless, iconic Turkish rock groups. Night 8 was just as unforgettable with Duman and Dolu Kadehi Ters Tut, who continued the trend and showcased both the old and new faces of the Turkish rock genre. It is needless to say that the audience accompanied almost every song while screaming, creating a great concert atmosphere. The rock performances came to an end on August 9 with Mor ve Ötesi and Madrigal, once again bringing together the old and new generations.
Gülşen and Buray took the stage on August 10, providing an upbeat pop performance followed by an acoustic number. The concerts continued at full speed on August 12, and were nicknamed “A Dreamy Night” because of the performance of six different artists: Cem Adrian, Gökhan Türkmen, Hande
Yener, Kubat, Melek Mosso, and Nükhet Duru. August 13 wasn’t any less special than the previous day, featuring performances from former Eurovision winner Sertab Erener, famous Turkish new-generation rapper Motive, and Mela Bedel, known for her song “Alayı Yalan.” Especially Motive made headlines with his stage entrance and presence. They were followed by Mabel Matiz, who revolutionized Turkish pop in the 2010s with his multidisciplinary approach, and Simge, known for her song “Aşkın Olayım” on August 14.
August 15 was one of the most iconic nights with rap performances from Sagopa Kajmer and Ati242, a staple of Turkish rap and favorite of the new generation. Ati started the concert with his hits like “Italy Forma” and “Yolu Yok,” gathering the teenagers and early adults of Istanbul to witness his energizing and intimate stage presence. Sagopa later took over as the rap genius he is and proved once again why he is considered to be the one who brought a new breath to the rap music culture in Türkiye. Yıldız Tilbe and Semicenk took the stage the next day, with Tilbe performing her Eastern-influenced ballads and Semicenk reminding the audience of Müslüm Gürses, the father of arabesque, because of the similarity in their voices.
The last day of the festival was the one talked about the most on social media. The concert was in the format of “Ebo Show.” İbrahim Tilaver, also known as Ebo, the founder of Lais Records, which represents artists like Uzi, Reynmen, Batuflex, Cashflow, and Era7capone, hosted the concert. He introduced the performers, energized the crowd between acts, organized surprises for both the audience and the artists, and addressed audience requests to ensure a memorable show. The night was set to feature only three performances from Poizi, Çakal, and Blok3, respectively. However, Ebo’s contribution turned it into a hall of fame featuring over 10 stars. The concert started one hour later than it was supposed to, but the following performances made up for the wait.
One of the new faces of Turkish rap, Poizi, put on an emotional and moving performance. He performed viral songs like “Y” and “Çıkar Biri Karşıma”; however, what excited the audience the most was his unexpected duet with Era7capone on their song “Sonbahar,” which had reached the top 1 on Spotify charts during the summer. Nevertheless, Ebo had a surprise in store for Poizi as well, bringing Murat Boz to the stage to perform their song "Yapar mısın?" The two won over the audience with their heartfelt performance, which united the voices of different generations.
Later, Ege Wav took the stage for a short performance and caused quite a stir when he threw shade at Manifest, the girl group who performed on the first day of the festival, through the lyrics in one of his songs that read, “I can’t even stand one girl yet, and there are six? I don’t listen to Manifest (Ben henüz bi’ tane kıza bile katlanamam altı tane kız mı? Dinlemiyorum Manifest’i.” After a break, Çakal took the stage with a dramatic entrance, arriving from the air on a platform carried by a crane.
He welcomed the whole of Istanbul above ground and sang an opening song while still in midair.
While on stage, he livened his act with dance performances and numerous hit songs, which everyone accompanied with screaming at the top of their
lungs. His outfit also became a topic of discussion by providing a fresh breath to the t-shirt and pants combo, followed by most male artists.
While his entrance and outfit were great surprises, what followed made the night unforgettable. Fatma Turgut took the stage as a guest to perform their heart-touching duet “Kalbe Zarar,” hyping up the tired audience. Like he did for Poizi, Ebo also had a surprise for Çakal. Since the beginning of his performance, the audience had been yelling for him to sing “Gözler,” originally a duet with Mavi. The song is especially controversial, as it has been previously removed from and added back to YouTube and Spotify because of an argument between Mavi and Çakal
regarding a mutual friend. However, August 17 was the night that this hostility came to an end when Ebo asked the audience whether they wanted to hear the song. Although Çakal stated that he couldn’t, Ebo insisted that he start singing. When the first couple of notes were heard and Çakal turned around, he saw Mavi on stage, with an outfit matching his own, revealing that Ebo had planned out everything beforehand. The crowd went wild at the sight of this historical moment for the new generation of Turkish rap. The two put on an outstanding performance with their captivating stage presence and the atmosphere created by the surprise. Although Mavi was criticized for being off-beat, the significance of the performance was more important than its quality for the audience, which is why it had such an impact, despite the rainy weather and the audience’s exhaustion.
After all these surprises, there were still two unannounced guests and a main singer left. Even though Ati had already performed three days ago on the same stage, he came back to sing his viral song “Italy Forma.” Mero was the last surprise of the
night, and he performed his viral song “Olabilir.” Later, Ebo announced that Mero and Ati were working on a duet together, and the duo sang their unreleased song for the first time to the audience at the Istanbul Festival. Blok3 was the last to come on stage, and he had quite an entrance. Before the concert began, Blok3 was seen arriving in the area in a helicopter, and right before he came on stage, a drone performance was put on, displaying his name in the sky, which changed according to the songs he performed. He put on an emotional performance in line with his “gentleman rapper” image, performing countless hits about love and yearning.
Overall, the fourth Istanbul Festival proved to be much more than just a series of concerts. It was a massive, accessible cultural event that blended diverse activities and unforgettable performances into one of the most memorable festivals hosted in the city. While there were logistical shortcomings such as transportation difficulties at the end of the concerts and water shortages at night, these issues were largely outweighed by the festival’s affordable ticket prices, varied food and brand experiences, and, above all, the impressive lineup of stars. By appealing to every age group, the festival created a unique space that united generations under the same energy. With its surprises, collaborations, and historic moments on stage, the Istanbul Festival not only highlighted the vibrancy of Türkiye’s music scene but also set a new standard for large-scale gatherings in the city.
Edited by: Leyla Hacıoğlu