Festivals and gigs. A listings calendar, plus previews, news, reviews, and photos
We just stumbled on this great little animated romp through the psychedelic ’70s free festival scene and spoke to it’s creator, Jude Montague, about the project. The free festivals of the 1970s were full of sensory experiences. I did manage to pop in to Glastonbury but the local one up north was Deeply Vale with…
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Brighton’s Chalk got the full‑blast treatment as HotWax wrapped up the UK leg of their UK/EU tour on home‑turf. Words: Peter Greenfield, Pics: (from the London leg of the tour) Sara-Louise Bowrey HotWax HotWax closed out the UK leg of their 22 date UK/EU tour in support of their acclaimed debut album, “Hot Shock” with…
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Camden Underworld, Thursday 5th February 2026 (words and pictures by Sara-Louise Bowrey) Camden Underworld is the kind of venue that doesn’t let you stay passive. It’s a room that demands sweat, noise, and something real happening right in front of you. On a cold Thursday night in January, it got exactly that. HotWax’s biggest London…
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The Great Escape Festival 2026 is already shaping up a weekend where your favourite playlist gets mugged in a back alley and replaced with something somewhat more relevant. This batch of artists is a snapshot of where “new music” actually lives right now: in the gaps between genres, in DIY corners, and in the moments…
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If rock’n’roll was a house party, it was the late 70s were that awkward moment arrived and someone carelessly spilled a drink on the stereo just as the neighbours started banging on the shared wall, and everyone realized that what they thought of as ‘grown-up’ music had gone just a wee bit bit beige. Then…
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Future Sounds, Real Tickets: Catch Our 2025 Festival Finds Live in 2026 Every festival season has that moment: you’re wandering between stages with a lukewarm pint and a “maybe we’ll just go home” posture… and then a band snaps the whole weekend into focus. A hook lands. A crowd lurches forward. You look at your…
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Bearded Theory 2026 Preview: Derbyshire’s Beloved Bank Holiday Break-Out Each spring, as fields across the UK thaw out and come to life, one festival noisily blossoms with an irresistible blend of music, community and creative spirit. Bearded Theory has grown from humble beginnings behind a village pub in 2008 to one of Britain’s most cherished…
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Brixton Academy 2026: bass pressure, guitar bite, and big-room catharsis If Brighton Dome’s diary is a beautifully curated mixtape, Brixton Academy’s upcoming run is a full-volume festival in a single room: drum & bass history lessons, electronic royalty, punk-ska chaos, indie icons doing victory laps (without turning into tribute acts), and one seriously heavy metal…
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Brighton Dome 2026: a run of gigs that covers shanties, synths, swagger and symphonies Brighton Dome’s upcoming diary reads like someone spilled a record collection down a staircase and decided to book the whole thing. There’s post-rock you can get lost in, dancefloor royalty, literate indie, big-voiced pop-soul, folk with a horn section the size…
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Green Door Store Continues Birthday Festivities with Another Standout Night Celebrations for the Green Door Store’s 15th birthday rolled on with a second free showcase, this time bringing three acts that spanned warmth, atmosphere and full‑throttle intensity. Little Grandad eased the room in with their tender indie‑Americana, Goodbye expanded the space with immersive vocal soundscapes,…
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Stroll through Hastings in any month of the year and you’ll find something happening—from chess masters locked in deep concentration to clownish pirates strutting along the promenade. The “town” is, of course, technically two towns in one borough. Hastings itself is a contrasting pair: an Old Town and a New Town sitting cheek-by-jowl, while just…
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Brighton’s beloved Green Door Store marked its 15th birthday with the first of four free celebratory events. Three acts, three completely different energies: the introspective grit of Lonnie Gunn, the jagged dance indie chaos of Lemonsuckr, and the shadow-soaked experimentalism of Silver Gore. [Words Peter Greenfield, Photos, Sara-Louise Bowrey, Video, John Bownas] Lonnie Gunn New…
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HotWax Set to Bring Hot Shock to the Stage on Major 2026 Tour Hastings rock trio HotWax are gearing up for a significant 22-date headline tour in January and February 2026, marking their biggest run yet in support of their acclaimed debut album, Hot Shock. Released in March 2025, the album has cemented the band’s…
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GuilFest is officially back from the dead and ready to reclaim its spot on the UK festival map, dropping a seriously bonkers lineup that mixes disco royalty with Scottish folk-punk legends. Set for Stoke Park in Guildford on July 4th and 5th, 2026, this is the moment the Surrey weekender regains its crown. Saturday night…
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Times might be tough, but festival culture is stretching confidently into 2026, and the sense of momentum is unmistakable. That forward motion is captured neatly by Screen Daily’s regularly updated global film festivals and markets calendar, which has become essential reading for anyone tracking the international cultural circuit. As dates for Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto…
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The 2026 festival calendar is shaping up with both nostalgia and new names. Sadly, one long-lived local tradition has ended as Grand Rapids’ Festival of the Arts closes after 55 years of performances, community workshops, art and music, marking a poignant moment for fans and volunteers who grew up with the event. From endings to…
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A night capturing the future of British alternative Words and Pictures by Sara-Louise Bowrey The Brighton Centre has seen more than its share of landmark shows, but this one carried a particular charge. With Imogen and the Knife stepping confidently into the support slot and the rapidly rising The Last Dinner Party headlining, it felt…
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Rockaway Beach has almost done it again – this winter’s edition is down to its final handful of tickets. The UK’s favourite indoors-in-January alternative weekender has pretty much sold out, but if you move fast there’s still a last-chance window to grab a room for you and family or friends and start the new year…
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Multiple Venues, Brighton Words by Sara-Louise Bowrey with some by Peter Greenfoeld, all pics by Sara… Brighton’s Mutations Festival returned in 2025 with two days of thrilling unpredictability — a wild, city-wide circuit of punk, noise, experimental catharsis, and quiet, introspective gems. Its real magic lies in the contrast: hushed, intimate moments in one venue,…
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Friday 28 November** words and pictures by Sara-Louise Bowrey A Night of Pure, Unhinged Joy Snapped Ankles didn’t just play The Piper on Friday night — they lit the place up from the moment they emerged in their trademark woodland get-ups. One second the room was buzzing with anticipation, the next it was a sweaty,…
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With only 25% of tickets left and installment plans available to soften the financial blow (your bank account can stop hyperventilating now), Truck Festival has a frankly outrageous set of artists lined up for 23–26 July 2026. If you needed an excuse to escape to Hill Farm next summer, consider this your cosmic sign. The…
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Brighton Centre – 16 NovemberWith Sofia Camara & Nadia Sheikh Words and pictures by Sara-Louise Bowrey Arriving at the Brighton Centre on 16th November, the loyalty of Bastille’s fanbase was impossible to miss. By early evening, fans snaked around the venue — some having queued since 9am, many following multiple dates of the tour. Among…
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Two consecutive nights in London and Brighton revealed Gary Numan at his most intense, most vulnerable, and most deeply connected to his audience. The Telekon 45th anniversary tour was always expected to carry weight — but with the loss of his younger brother only days ago, these shows became something more. There were moments when…
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Here’s a feral, loud-eyed, slightly-unhinged review of the new PWEI album — loose, human, with typical PWEI energy. I’ve tried to let it breathe, snarl and punch as close to the band’s spirit as I can manage, adding a little swagger and sneer for good measure. Author: John Bownas PWEI’s Delete Everything: Smash the Reset,…
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Brighton’s Chalk hosted two of the UK’s most inventive acts: Mercury Prize winners English Teacher, fusing art‑rock intensity with poetic lyricism, and The Orielles, blending indie rock with disco grooves and cosmic textures. Together they brought sonic brightness to a dimly lit Chalk stage, balancing invention with emotion and showcasing confident evolution. Words: Peter Greenfield.…
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The mark of a truly great support act is when they feel less like a booking agent’s afterthought and more like a carefully selected running mate. Birmingham’s two-piece powerhouse GANS (Euan Woodman and Tom Rhodes) felt utterly essential to the night’s proceedings at the Electric Ballroom, injecting a vital, abrasive energy that perfectly primed the…
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🎟️ Victorious Festival 2026: Tickets On Sale — Here’s Why You Should Be First In Line Ready your sunnies and seaside vibes — Victorious Festival is back for 2026, and this year’s lineup promises big-time headliners, throwback energy and summer festival magic by the sea. With festival passes now live, it’s time to secure your…
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300 events across 12 stages, including more than 180 music acts, performances, and parties and over 100 debates and talks, taking place from 22nd-25th May 2026. TICKETS HERE. If you think festivals are only about headliners and halfway-drunk singalongs, think again. HowTheLightGetsIn is back — and for 2026 the world’s biggest philosophy + music festival…
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Liverpool’s inner-city new music takeover Sound City is back next May — and the first wave of artists is already looking huge. If you like your festivals loud, sweaty, genre-clashing and buzzing with tomorrow’s breakthrough acts, get this one in the diary now. Leading the charge? Westside Cowboy, the Manchester four-piece riding an unstoppable wave…
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Two of New Wave’s most influential and genre-defining acts, The B-52s and DEVO, will unite for a pair of co-headline UK arena dates in June 2026, bringing their acclaimed Cosmic De-Evolution Tour across the Atlantic for a rare double-bill appearance. UK Dates Special guests The Rezillos and Lene Lovich are confirmed to open the shows,…
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KNEECAP Announces Biggest Ever Headline Show: London’s Crystal Palace Park to Host Spectacular 2026 Irish Music Gathering! Possibly the most talked-about group in the world, West Belfast and Derry’s revolutionary hip-hop trio Kneecap, have announced their biggest headline show yet, taking over Crystal Palace Park in London on Saturday, June 27, 2026. The monumental date…
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Big Reference and Aircooled support a sweat-drenched, one-night eruption presented by Hastings Fat Tuesday Words and pictures by Sara-Louise Bowrey A One-Off Built for Chaos — and Hastings Got the Call Hastings was handed a rare and riotous privilege: Babyshambles’ first live show in 11 years. The battleground was the White Rock Theatre Studio —…
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🎉 Celebrating Two Decades of Fearless Creativity: Latitude’s 20th Anniversary First Release Lineup Revealed Latitude Festival is marking its 20th anniversary from July 23 to 26, 2026, at Henham Park, Suffolk, celebrating two decades of pioneering the blend of music with philosophy, poetry, theatre, and dance. A Boundary-Pushing Headliner Trio The landmark edition boasts a…
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Future Sounds: Our 2025 Festival Discoveries Here’s our pick of the next wave of artists ready to break out into wider circles from this year’s UK festival stages. The UK’s festival scene is bubbling with new talent that’s too good to ignore. Our 2025 playlist spotlights the bands and solo artists who turned our heads…
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Chalk Venue, Brighton 24/10/25 – words and pictures by Sara-Louise Bowrey Gogol Bordello + Puzzled Panther + Split Dogs Live at Chalk, Brighton — Friday Night Anarchy Brighton’s Chalk felt less like a music venue and more like a pressure cooker set to “high energy” on Friday night, playing host to a triple-shot of glorious…
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Together Again Festival 2026: New Tickets Released Get ready, families and festival-lovers alike — Together Again Festival is returning to Cheshire next summer, and second-release tickets are now available. Set across three days from 24 to 26 July 2026 on the grounds of the historic Bolesworth Castle, the festival promises something for everyone — live…
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The festival scene continues to evolve with significant developments, including the debut of Japanese idol group ASP at Japan Matsuri, a successful Heal Festival despite rain, and the triumph of ArcTanGent for experimental music. While Tomorrowland faced a tragic incident, Glasgow Cathedral Festival shined brightly. Additionally, Blink-182 delighted fans with surprise reunions and SXSW London announced its 2026 return, promising vibrant cultural experiences.
From Danny Boyle’s Festival of Britain revival to kite shows, Austen tributes, esports, and beer fests — catch this week’s biggest festival stories.
A round-up of today’s festival news stories Coachella 2026 headliners revealedCoachella 2026 will be headlined by Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, and Karol G, each claiming a top billing for the first time at the festival. It runs across two weekends, April 10-12 and April 17-19 in Indio, California. Alongside the big names are The xx,…
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“The diversity of the line ups was exceptional … we are privileged and lucky we are to be faced with those choices!” — Brighton Source on Mutations 2024 (brightonsource.co.uk) High-voltage creativity, genre-blurring line-ups and an atmosphere of discovery…that’s what is promised by Brighton’s Mutations Festival 2025. So mark your calendars… because the much-loved event is…
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