LIVE REVIEW: Tramlines Festival 2026

Sam Horsfield
18 hours ago
3 min read

Hundreds of people, us amongst them, were staggering through Hillsborough on Friday night. Our legs and backs already sore, ears ringing a little, we marched to the next place despite the cool that had taken the air, replacing the amber sun’s heat. The trams had been too full for us to attempt climbing into. Instead, we took upon ourselves the hike back to the city centre, to the late bars of West Street, so that we could keep dancing. We sounded like a zombie mob, all of us saying with exhausted breaths the same thing… all of us raving about Fatboy Slim.

His headline set on the first day of Tramlines had been electrifying. Without a microphone, Norman Cook communicated to the crowd solely through music. It was a non-stop, ninety minute rave of driving drumbeats, witty sample chops, and trippy, psychedelic visuals, subtly combining pop culture references with subliminal political messages. It was an explosive end to an exciting opening day of the Sheffield festival.

The main stage had seen acts such as The Coral, The Kaiser Chiefs, and The Vaccines, all of whom soundtracked the day perfectly. Meanwhile, the torch bearers of the current Indie scene took to smaller stages, with bands such as Westside Cowboy, Radio Free Alice, and Keo. The latter had cooked up quite a fuss amongst young attendees. A posse of Kangol cap-wearing youths had infiltrated the usual bucket-hat-headed horde, marking their fandom of the latest princes of the Grunge revival.

The slow crawl into town was worth it. After such a great day, nobody wanted the party to end, and live music continued in the many bars and pubs in the centre, bound to be busy and keeping the volume high. Whenever we got home, it was with heavy heads and the promise of a headache, but also the promise of yet another great day to come.

Saturday saw the weather take a turn, the hot sun replaced by grey clouds, waiting to break. Small mists of rain fell throughout the day, but we were not prepared to let it stand in our way. Britpop icons Sleeper and Inspiral Carpets took to their various stages on the Saturday afternoon, but headliners Courteeners took the show. Only a few years since their last Tramlines headline, their coming-of-age bangers had the ocean of heads bouncing, beneath red and blue clouds of flare smoke, colourful fogs of allegiance, as though they were eschewing reality, and declaring their home amongst the mosh pits.

The pubs of Hillsborough welcomed travellers on their way back into town. Caped in ponchos, with sunglasses and bizarre hats, the patrons of Saturday night must’ve appeared as strange aliens, looking to escape the weather.

Sunday saw the worst of the rain in the afternoon. Luckily, recent grassroots alumni Bleech 9:3 provided some warmth, a highlight of the weekend. The crowd spilled out of the tent, creating an outer layer of people standing on tiptoes, trying to squint and peer into the tent to get a glimpse of Bleech 9:3, hoping a slipstream would open, presenting a route inside. But no such pathway did. Nobody wanted to leave.

Their punkish grit and angst makes them captivating. Their songs often feel like a kind of rage personified, as Barry Quinlan’s vocals are screamed between deep breaths, sounding almost laboured, against Sam Duffy’s whining and distorted guitar riffs. All of this is underpinned by the thrashes of Luke O’Neill’s drumming, and the pounding thrums of James Quinlan’s bass. Although those unable to slip into the tent struggled to see them, the sheer volume of their tracks carried to the field outside.

Sheffield royalty Reverand and the Makers took to the main stage. Frontman and icon John McClure spoke in love notes to the Steel City, invoking a sense of pride in his audience, as the festival was nearing its final hours. Wet Leg delivered a huge main stage performance filled with punchy guitar lines and an infectious on-stage swagger that radiated with Rock and Roll charm.

By the Sunday evening, the rain had somewhat ceased, and final headliners Wolf Alice took to the stage. Monstrous guitar riffs, seeping with distortion, married with Ellie Rowsell’s incredible voice, carried across the entire festival grounds, marking the end of yet another successful Tramlines weekend for Sheffield.