The Great Escape announces 130+ new names for 2026 lineup.

By Hard of Hearing on February 4, 2026

With highlights including 1000 Rabbits, casual smart and Blue Bendy, the tastemaker festival is already shaping up to be a busy four days.

1000 Rabbits by Che Deedigan

With the year already well up and running with exciting new music, it is about time we turned our attention to The Great Escape, the event with Britain's single biggest concentration of new acts you need to get to know. The festival is reliably curated around key new acts on the verge of bigger things, featuring multiple showcase sets from artists across its four days, which this year run from 13^th to 16^th May. Joining the 'First Fifty', announced last year and featuring artists like big long sun, Little Grandad, Ain't and PISS are over 130 new names added this week.

Alongside the announcement of a marquee set from Peaches, highlights of the new lineup drop include 1000 Rabbits (fka Rabbitfoot), who graced our showcase last year, casual smart, purveyors of a poignant and perfect brand of bedroom indie, immersive folk artist Natalie Wildgoose, and other Hard of Hearing favourites including Lime Garden, Hemi Hemingway, Ninush, cowboyy and Truthpaste.

Natalie Wildgoose by Fearghal Conroy

Among these names are a few more established acts who are back on the live circuit, including Blue Bendy, Sunnbrella and Heartworms, as well as some new live favourites, from the punk hyperpop quartet Bathing Suits to the frayed pastoral indie of Alice Costelloe. This is to name only a handful of the acts from this announcement who are worth seeing, and this is judging by only about a quarter of the final lineup.

While the festival does further spotlight pop, jazz, R&B and hip-hop artists, its bread and butter remains the broad umbrella of alternative music, making it the best place to find new artists pushing the boundaries of pop formats. We'll keep you posted with all of the latest lineup news, and for full listings and tickets, you can head to https://greatescapefestival.com