Y Not Festival reveal their headliners for 2026, alongside the first wave of what’s set to be a huge line-up. The nineteenth edition of the North’s prime festival is back from 30 July to 2 August. THE LIBERTINES will get the party started on Thursday, before a massive weekend of hits from headliners REYTONS, TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB and THE STREETS.
Artists announced today also include KAISER CHIEFS, THE VACCINES, HAPPY MONDAYS, SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR, THE ROYSTON CLUB, SCOUTING FOR GIRLS, ASH, REVEREND AND THE MAKERS, KEO and FREDDIE HALKON.
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Legendary Indie Rock band THE LIBERTINES are back on the festival circuit after their 2025 Glastonbury appearance, heading to Derbyshire to open Y Not 2026 for early-entry on Thursday 30th July. Formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Pete Doherty and Carl Barât, The Libertines quickly rose to prominence with their unique blend of raw garage rock and poetic lyrics, becoming a seminal force in the British music scene. After a hiatus, the band made a much-anticipated comeback, culminating in the release of their long-awaited fourth studio album, All Quiet On the Eastern Esplanade, in 2024. This critically acclaimed album, arriving more than two decades after their formation, showcased the band’s enduring songwriting prowess and rekindled their loyal fanbase’s excitement.
Indie juggernauts THE REYTONS are the stuff of Y Not legend. The band has featured on the lineup 5 times, rocking their way from their Saloon Bar debut in 2019 to a buzzy headline slot in 2026. The Reytons emerged in 2017 with a series of successful EPs, later reaching the UK Top 20 with their debut album Kids Off the Estate in 2021. The band reached for a more varied, dynamic sound on 2023’s What’s Rock And Roll?, which landed at Number 1 on the UK Albums Chart. Despite the hum of wider music industry interest that followed, the four-piece have chosen to stick to their DIY roots and dug in with their latest LP Ballad Of A Bystander.
Northern Ireland’s TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB mix guitar-driven post-punk hooks with dancey, electronic polish. They first gained attention with 2010’s Tourist History and singles like ‘Something Good Can Work’ and ‘Undercover Martyn.’ The band continued to evolve, landing in the Top 20 of the Billboard 200 with 2012’s Beacon and experimenting with esque disco and synth pop on 2016’s Gameshow. That album also hit the U.K. Top Ten and paved the way for 2019’s new wave-inspired False Alarm and 2022’s Keep On Smiling. They kept the ’80s dance vibes going with their 2023 single ‘Sure Enough.’
THE STREETS are set to headline Y Not on Sunday 2nd of August, promising an unforgettable close to the festival weekend. Get ready for Mike Skinner, the mastermind behind the iconic project, and his dynamic crew to deliver an electric set packed with era-defining anthems that have soundtracked a generation. Fans can expect to hear classics like the infectious Fit But You Know It and the poignant Dry Your Eyes. The Streets captured the voice of a generation with their landmark 2004 album A Grand Don’t Come For Free. Two decades on, their raw energy and nostalgic euphoria continue to captivate, ensuring an electric performance.
Formed in Leeds in 2000, KAISER CHIEFS are one of the leading bands of their generation. Fronted by the charismatic Ricky Wilson with Simon Rix on bass, Andrew ‘Whitey’ White on guitar, Nick ‘Peanut’ Baines on keyboards and drummer Vijay Mistry, the band have had a string of anthemic hits such as ‘Oh My God’, ‘I Predict A Riot’, ‘Everyday I Love You Less and Less’, ‘Never Miss A Beat’ and ‘Hole In My Soul.’
They have achieved top ten singles including the infamous number 1 hit ‘Ruby’, 3 Brit Awards, an Ivor Novello award for Album of the Year, toured with U2, Foo Fighters and Green Day and sold 8 million albums.
Combining infectious melodies and stadium-ready hooks, THE VACCINES have been fixtures of London’s indie rock scene since the 2011 release of their platinum-selling debut album, What Did You Expect from the Vaccines? The festival favorites continued to find success both at home and abroad with subsequent efforts Come of Age, English Graffiti, Combat Sports, Back in Love City, and Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations.
Formed in Salford, England, HAPPY MONDAYS were one of the most influential groups of the 80s and 90s. Led by frontman Shaun Ryder, the group fused the UK’s indie and emerging acid house scenes to help mint the genre-defying sound that would be termed ‘Madchester’ come the end of the decade. Whereas contemporaries such as The Stone Roses or Inspiral Carpets played indie music with a dance shuffle, The Mondays concocted a brew that was far more adventurous and potent. Everything from 70s funk, Detroit techno, psychedelia, hip-hop and even country music could be pulled into the group’s intoxicating grooves.
One of the biggest British pop artists to emerge in the 2000s, SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR soared to the top of the U.K. charts with her glossy, disco- and ’80s-synth-pop influenced dance sound. Initially gaining buzz as the lead singer of the jangly Brit-pop band theaudience, Ellis-Bextor established herself as a pop diva with her chart-topping anthem “Murder on the Dancefloor,” which helped take her 2001 debut, Read My Lips, to number two on the UK Albums Chart. She remained a chart favorite in the U.K. and Europe, hitting the top 20 with 2003’s Shoot from the Hip and 2011’s Trip the Light Fantastic, before rounding out her dance-pop period with 2011’s Make a Scene. While dance music remains a core aspect of her work, she has expanded her sound, collaborating on a series of folk and orchestral pop productions with acclaimed singer, songwriter, and producer Ed Harcourt, including 2014’s Wanderlust, 2016’s Familia, and 2023’s Hana. With 2025’s Perimenopop, Sophie Ellis-Bextor returns to her dance-pop roots.
Tailoring a brand of whimsical but uplifting indie rock, THE ROYSTON CLUB are a Wrexham, North Wales-formed quartet favoring melodic guitar lines and anthemic choruses, not unlike their contemporaries the Lathums. They formed in 2019, and a debut single ‘Shawshank’ – issued within a month – featured the sunny, reflective, faintly self-deprecating tone that they would make their own. This continued on The State I’m In, their 2020 debut EP, which was followed in late 2021 by Lying Here, Wasting Away. Their early 2023 singles, ‘Blisters’ and ‘Shallow Tragedy’, pointed to the muscular production achieved on that year’s full-length debut, the UK Top 20 album Shaking Hips & Crashing Cars. The group returned in 2025 with their sophomore effort, Songs for the Spine.
Get ready to sing along to all your favourite indie-pop anthems as SCOUTING FOR GIRLS grace the Y Not stage on Saturday, August 1st. With a career spanning two decades, the iconic band, famous for hits like ‘She’s So Lovely’, promises an unforgettable performance. Their journey to stardom began with their triple-platinum debut album in 2007, and they’ve been captivating audiences ever since. Fresh off the heels of their 15th-anniversary edition of the beloved album Everybody Wants To Be On TV, Scouting For Girls have also announced an extensive UK and Ireland headline tour for 2026, further solidifying their status as a powerhouse in the indie music scene.
Three decades into a career peppered with timeless indie-punk nuggets and wildly inventive gigging and releasing concepts, ASH show no sign of slowing down. Their 30 year career spans from “Girl From Mars” and the Chart topping debut album 1977 to the award winning singles from the seminal Free All Angels. Their 2025 album Ad Astra follows hot on the heels of Race The Night, the brilliant pandemic-inspired album that would become the band’s highest charting album in 20 years.
Since their formation in 2005, REVEREND AND THE MAKERS’ continual evolution has seen them cut across a creative spectrum, ranging from collective efforts to the frontman’s singular visions. On their seventh studio album, Heatwave In The Cold North, that sense of making something new, bold and heartfelt has arguably never been stronger.
Led by brothers Finn (vocals, guitar) and Conor Keogh (bass) and completed by drummer Oli Spackman and guitarist Jimmy Lanwern – KEO bridges the gap between 90’s grunge, shoegaze and alternative rock. The band note the influence of Jeff Buckley, Radiohead and The Smashing Pumpkins on their work, with further contemporary inspiration coming from acts including Wunderhorse and Fontaines D.C. Their music is characterized as an urgent, at times enraged blast of alternative rock, with vocalist Finn’s rasping delivery and his astute reflections on trust and toxic relationships all patiently built toward a cathartic release of emotion.
After leaping onto the scene as a fresh-faced 19-year-old in 2024, FREDDIE HALKON is quickly becoming one of the UK’s most exciting up-and-coming artists. Freddie transcends genres with a catalogue spanning traditional indie guitar anthems to acoustic, string-driven ballads, all with lyrics that cut through to the core. His breakout single, ‘Come Around Again’, captured the youthful summer vibe while showcasing his knack for writing songs that stick with you. ‘Girl In The Smoking Area’ once again showed the prowess, laden with hooks and themes surrounding jealousy.
The 2025 iteration of Y Not Festival welcomed an incredible range of artists. Headliners included electronic legends THE PRODIGY, fresh off their epic return to festivals at Glastonbury and ska-pop icons MADNESS, now announced for Boomtown 2026, and one of Britain’s best live acts, Scottish alternative rock group PRIMAL SCREAM, best known for their era-defining album Screamadelica. Elsewhere, THE LAST DINNER PARTY returned to Y Not after a triumphant Quarry Stage performance in 2023, now armed with their Mercury-nominated hit album, Prelude to Ecstasy. Also, indie rockers FRANZ FERDINAND, the BRIT-award winning group with huge hits including ‘Take Me Out’ and ‘Do You Want To’.
Plus critically acclaimed pop artist SIGRID, Britpop hitmakers SHED SEVEN, indie pop fan favourites HARD LIFE (formally known as Easy Life), beloved DJ ANNIE MAC, indie rock breakthrough THE KS, 00s rock crowd pleasers MAXIMO PARK and PIGEON DETECTIVES, rapper PROFESSOR GREEN, as well as THE HUNNA, RED RUM CLUB, VISTAS, THE TWANG, SEB LOWE and many more.
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