Sŵn Festival announces first names for 2026 lineup.

By Hard of Hearing on June 10, 2026

The beloved Cardiff festival continues to grow in stature, heavyweight leading names topping a densely packed bill.

Sŵn 2025 by Ren Faulkner | Words: Lloyd Bolton

Sŵn Festival returns this October and from this week’s initial lineup announcement, it looks set to be a cracker. We have been big fans of the Cardiff multi-venue festival, which has consistently been populated with some established favourites along with exciting crops of newcomers to the festival circuit. Adding to the charm is a great set of venues spread over a very manageable walking distance around the city. Running once more in its recently expanded three-day format, this year’s festival runs from 15^th to 17^th October, bringing together some major headliners and some judiciously selected acts still on the rise.

Leading the line are some major names in British alternative music right now, including the spellbinding live sensation Dove Ellis, the continuously evolving Orielles, some of the year’s most exciting comebacks in HMLTD and Dana Margolin (formerly of Porridge Radio) and other longstanding HoH favourites like Cardinals, Modern Woman, Blood Wizard, Honeyglaze and Personal Trainer. The festival’s increasing draw of high-profile acts speaks of the growing reputation of Sŵn among Britain’s wealth of small city festivals.

Adding to this list are some of the more recent acts to catch our attention, including decided live favourites such as Bathing Suits, Little Grandad, Wyatt and Tony Bontana. There is also, unsurprisingly, a host of great Welsh talent on show, including Pys Melyn, Tai Haf Heb Drigolyn and Cerys Hafana. Added to all of that are some more recent gems of the live circuit, including Foot Foot, Shaking Hand and Glasshouse Red Spider Mite, Theatre, Makeshift Art Bar and Cowboy Hunters.

With more acts set to be announced, this is set to make for an outstanding edition of one of our favourite festivals on the calendar. Full lineup info, updates and tickets available at https://swnfest.seetickets.com/search/all