Sŵn Festival 2026 Preview.

By Hard of Hearing on September 3, 2026

The Cardiff multi-venue festival is back this October with a stacked line-up featuring Westside Cowboy, The Orielles and more.

Words: Marty Hill | Sŵn 2025 by Charlie Harris

You’d be hard pushed to name any music discovery festival with a better track record than Sŵn of late. I ask you this: Has any other festival had Getdown Services tear the roof off a local brewery and hosted Mary in the Junkyard in the basement of an antiques shop? Most certainly not.

Fast-approaching their twentieth year, they have put together surely their strongest line-up to date for this year’s edition, which runs from 15^th to 17^th October. Dove Ellis, who may well become a Mercury Prize winner in the days after the festival, is one of the punchier names on this year’s poster. Westside Cowboy, The Orielles, Bar Italia, Truthpaste, Cardinals and Working Men’s Club are some of the other more established acts we are looking forward to catching.

The festival, quite rightly, has its finger firmly on the pulse of what’s happening in Wales and time should definitely be put aside to see plenty of more local bands; Cardiff’s own casual smart were the highlight of last year’s edition. Young punks SOLD FOR PARTS, Tascam wizards Tai Haf Heb Drigolyn and festival stalwarts Pys Melyn are amongst the most enticing picks in terms of local talent this year.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of representation from Manchester’s resurgent grassroots scene. Alt-country band Wyatt, ascendant garage rockers Pyncher and folk genius Tesni are well worth your time, as are long-term HoH favourites Shaking Hand. Leeds is perhaps best represented by the riotous Bathing Suits, who sound like a noise rock band making hyperpop music. They’re coming off a very fruitful festival season and won’t be so easy to catch for long. There’s also loads of intrigue around Gob Nation’s latest offering Spike, as well as Dana Margolin, formerly of Porridge Radio.

Arguably most exciting of all, though, is the fact that there are dozens of names unknown to us that we’ll inevitably be raving about afterwards. The venues booked for the festival range from dingy basements through to listed buildings, and that breadth is reflected in the festival’s programming.

For tickets and more info, head to https://swnfest.com/