BBC Radio 6 Music Festival 2026 to take place across Greater Manchester’s grassroot venues

BBC Radio 6 Music has announced that its annual live music festival will take place at independent venues across Greater Manchester from Wednesday 25 – Saturday 28 March.

This year the event will shine a well-deserved light on independent grassroots venues, extending its reach across Greater Manchester and celebrating its independent spirit. The festival will be at iconic live music spaces including Band on the Wall and YES, as well as - new for 2026 - the Eccles Town Hall Ballroom, and there will be new partnership events with local promoters FaT OuT and Homobloc.

Artists performing across the four days include Bloc Party, Courtney Barnett, The Horrors, Jacob Alon, Kelly Lee Owens (DJ set), Lynks, ‘Mandy, Indiana’, SILVERWINGKILLER, Sorry, Tiberius b, Wesley Joseph and Yard Act. Festival goers will also have the chance to see DJ sets from Beth Ditto & Nick Grimshaw, Emily Pilbeam & Nathan Shepherd, Lambrini Girls and Steve Lamacq as part of an Indie Forever club night. There will also be DJ sets from The Knife’s Olof Dreijer, Aiden Francis and Fig at a partnership event with Homobloc, and performances from Lauren Auder, Naima Bock and R.AGGS as part of a partnership event with FaT OuT.

Samantha Moy, Head of BBC Radio 6 Music says: “Independent grassroot venues are vital to the UK’s music ecosystem and at 6 Music, we’re proud to support what they do. So, it makes sense for the next evolution of the 6 Music Festival to take place in these special spaces, collaborating with new partners and celebrating Manchester’s incredible music legacy, as well as the next generation of artists.”

Nick Grimshaw says: “So excited to be back at the 6 Music Festival in Manchester. Bringing a whole host of excellent artists and showcasing them at grassroots venues - these independent spaces are increasingly under threat but are vital for culture and a space where artists are given the freedom to take risks, grow, and truly flourish. I can’t wait!”

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, says: "Greater Manchester’s music scene has always been driven by its grassroots venues and independent spirit. They’re vital to nurturing new talent and keeping our cultural life vibrant. It’s fantastic to see the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival celebrating those spaces and shining a spotlight on the creativity that continues to flourish right across our city region."

6 Music Festival Lineup 

Wednesday 25 March

BBC Introducing

• TTSSFU + Pyncher + Ellen Beth Abdi at Band on the Wall from 7pm

Thursday 26 March

• Kelly Lee Owens (DJ set) + Wesley Joseph at Band on the Wall from 7pm
• Mandy, Indiana + SILVERWINGKILLER at YES from 7pm

Friday 27 March

• Bloc Party + The Horrors at Band on the Wall from 7pm
• Yard Act + Sorry at YES from 7pm
• Indie Forever club night with Steve Lamacq, Beth Ditto + Nick Grimshaw, Emily Pilbeam + Nathan Shepherd, and Lambrini Girls at YES from midnight

Saturday 28 March

• Courtney Barnett + Jacob Alon at Band on the Wall from 7pm
• Lynks + Tiberius b at YES from 7pm
• 6 Music Festival and FaT OuT present Lauren Auder, Naima Bock and R.AGGS at Eccles Town Hall Ballroom from 3pm
• Homobloc presents 6 Music’s Festival’s Closing Party with Olof Dreijer at YES from 11.30pm

Listen on 6 Music

The 6 Music broadcast schedule is as follows:

Wednesday 25 March

• Chris Hawkins (5-7am), Nick Grimshaw (7-10am) and Craig Charles (1-4pm) broadcast their shows from MediaCityUK in Salford
• Huw Stephens (4-7pm), Deb Grant & Nathan Shepherd (7-9pm) and Emily Pilbeam (9-11pm) broadcast from Band on the Wall in Manchester

Thursday 26 March

Chris Hawkins (5-7am), Nick Grimshaw (7-10am), Lauren Laverne (10am-1pm), Craig Charles (1-4pm) and Huw Stephens (4-7pm) broadcast from MediaCityUK

Deb Grant & Nathan Shepherd from Band on the Wall with live music (7-9pm)

Mary Anne Hobbs and Femi Koleoso from Band on the Wall with live music (9pm-midnight)

Friday 27 March

Chris Hawkins (5-7am), Nick Grimshaw (7-10am), Lauren Laverne (10am-1pm), Craig Charles (1-4pm) and Huw Stephens (4-7pm) from MediaCityUK

Steve Lamacq from YES in Manchester with live music (7-9pm)

Nathan Shepherd & Emily Pilbeam from YES with live music (9pm-midnight)

Indie Forever club night DJ sets (12-3am)

Saturday 28 March

• AFRODEUTSCHE (6-8am), Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie (8-10am) and Deb Grant & Craig Charles (10am-1pm), Gilles Peterson and Zakia (1-4pm), Cerys Matthews and Huw Stephens (4-7pm) from MediaCityUK
• Nick Grimshaw and Beth Ditto from Band on the Wall with live music (7-9pm)
• Amy Lamé & AFRODEUTSCHE from MediaCityUK with live music (9-11pm)
• SHERELLE from MediaCityUK with DJ sets from Homobloc presents 6 Music Festival’s Closing Party (11pm-1am)

Sunday 29 March

• AFRODEUTCHE (6-8am), Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie (8-10am), Cerys Matthews (10am-1pm) reflect on the festival, broadcasting from MediaCItyUK
• Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour with a 6 Music Festival themed show (1-4pm)

BBC Radio Manchester will bring listeners highlights from BBC Introducing at Band on the Wall as part of a special Introducing in Manchester programme on Thursday 26 March at 8pm. Breakfast with Joe McGrath will continue to celebrate local talent featured at the festival on Friday 27 March from 6am.

All 6 Music and BBC Radio Manchester programmes will be available on BBC Sounds for 30 days after broadcast. Performances and DJ sets will be added to BBC Sounds during the festival. Available now is Indie at the 6 Music Festival – a compilation of highlight tracks performed at the event over the years.

In the lead up to the festival, Bloc Party (9-12 Feb), Courtney Barnett (16-19 Feb), Kelly Lee Owens (2-5 Mar), The Horrors (9-12 Mar), Jacob Alon (16-19 Mar) and Yard Act (23-26 Mar) will each present a four-part series of Artist in Residence each Monday – Thursday (11pm-midnight). Artist in Residence sees musicians invite listeners on a journey into their musical soul, with each episode based around a different theme or mood.

In addition, a new eight-part BBC Sounds podcast, The Rise and Fall of Madchester, presented by Steve Lamacq and Music & Cultural PR Creative, Alison Bell, will be available on BBC Sounds from 8am on Monday 16 March. The series captures the iconic Manchester music movement of the 80s and early 90s, following the rise of Factory Records and the Haçienda, the emergence of The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and New Order, and the moment guitar music and club culture collided. Drawing on the BBC’s extensive archive and featuring new interviews with artists, DJs and journalists, The Rise and Fall of Madchester celebrates the music of a city that reshaped British culture and still defines it.

Highlights from Band on the Wall and selected performances from YES will be available to watch on demand across the weekend and for 30 days after broadcast on BBC iPlayer and BBC Music’s YouTube channel.

Tickets to each event are sold separately and will be available from www.bbc.co.uk/6musicfestival at 10am on Thursday 12 February.

SH8

Quotes from artists

Kele Okereke of Bloc Party said: “We can’t wait to return to 6 Music Festival in March. We so rarely get to play these intimate shows anymore and we’ll be dropping a few surprises on the night too...”

Moving from hooky post-punk to ambitious genre mashing, and back again, Bloc Party’s artistic restlessness has served them well since the early 2000s. Led by impassioned frontman Kele Okereke, the band’s initial EPs played a pivotal role in shaping British indie rock for years to come. Their groundbreaking debut album Silent Alarm (2005) was followed by more albums and innovation - A Weekend in the City (2007), Intimacy (2008), Four (2011), Hymns (2016) and most recent record Alpha Games (2022). The band were awarded the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection in 2025.

Courtney Barnett said: "I'm really excited to play some new music at the 6 Music Festival!"

Grammy-nominated Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett is known for albums including Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit (2015), Tell Me How You Really Feel (2018) and Things Take Time, Take Time (2021). She will release her highly anticipated, fourth studio album, Creature of Habit, in March which features the recently released single, Site Unseen, featuring Waxahatchee.

The Horrors said: “The Horrors are super excited to play the 6 Music Festival in March. 6 Music is one of the last big radio stations championing underground music, and we appreciate their ongoing support. Get ready Manchester!”

After nearly 20 years making music, there are few bands who’ve created a canon as determinedly innovative and consistently critically acclaimed as The Horrors. The band emerged as zeitgeist-shaking garage-goths with their 2007 debut album, Strange House and have since roamed freely between genres, with albums including their Mercury Prize-nominated Primary Colours (2009), their NME Award-winning Skying (2011) and more. Their sixth studio album Night Life was released last year via Fiction Records and saw them shapeshift into a new form with a new sonic outlook.

Jacob Alon said: “I’m so gassed to be playing 6 Music Festival! It means so much after all of the support 6 has given my music. I really believe in this station and all it does for alternative music. Can't wait to give back some love through concert with yous.”

Scottish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jacob Alon released their debut album, In Limerence, in May 2025, which was subsequently nominated for the Mercury Prize and the Scottish Album of the Year. A 6 Music Artist of the Year 2025, they also received the BRITs Critic’s Choice award in January this year.

Kelly Lee Owens said: “Playing the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival in Manchester feels like a full-circle moment. Both 6 Music and the city have been fundamental to my journey, so celebrating that connection there will be beautiful.”

Welsh electronic musician and producer Kelly Lee Owens released her self-titled, debut album in 2017 to critical acclaim. This was followed by Inner Song (2020), LP.8 (2022) and Dreamstate (2024). She won the Welsh Music Prize in 2021.

Lynks said: "So excited to be playing the 6 Music Festival this March! The only things I consume more regularly than 6 Music are London tap water and MAYBE hot chicken flavour instant noodles. But as far as I’m aware, there isn’t yet a London Tap Water Festival or a Hot Chicken Flavour Instant Noodle Festival. And if there is they haven’t booked me. So, yeah - basically what I’m trying to say is there is not a single place I’m more excited to be than the 6 Music Festival this March in Manchester.”

Lynks is a cult sensation from London’s underground scene who has built a reputation as one of the UK’s most electrifying, genre-smashing performers whose riotous live shows have become the stuff of legend. Following their debut album Abomination (2024) they stepped into a bold new chapter with the release of their single, I Didn’t Come Here For Art in November last year.

Mandy, Indiana said: “We can’t wait to play material from our new album at the 6 Music Festival. 6 Music have supported us since early on and it’s great to be involved in this awesome event.”

Manchester/Berlin-based Mandy, Indiana formed in 2018 and are known for their raw, disruptive energy and performances that thrive on tension, catharsis, and physicality. They released their debut album, I’ve Seen a Way in 2023, and have just released their second, URGH (on Sacred Bones Records) which sees them push their vision to new extremes in a vital collision of rebellion, release and dancefloor transcendence.

SILVERWINGKILLER said: “We are absolutely delighted to be included on the lineup for BBC Radio 6 Music Festival. It’s an honour to be part of such an admirable festival, presented by the UK’s best hub to listen to and discover alternative music.”

Emerging from Manchester’s underground, SILVERWINGKILLER are a high-energy electronic two-piece carving out their own uncompromising corner of the UK music scene. They released their debut EP, TRIAD FUNDED in November last year.

Sorry said: “We first played 6 Music festival back in 2020 on the BBC Introducing stage in Camden. Three albums later, it’s great to be back on a bigger stage! Looking forward to seeing everyone in Manchester.”

London rock band Sorry are known for their critically acclaimed albums, 925 (2020) and Anywhere but Here (2022). They returned last year with their third album, COSPLAY - a bold reinvention that redraws the rules of what a rock band can be, and which blends pop culture references, self-sampling and fearless experimentation to create a surreal world.

Tiberius b said: "I’m looking forward to the 6 Music Festival. Performing is a holy and cathartic exercise for me. My inner monologue can be quite violent during the process, but ever since I was a kid I have yearned to communicate in this way.”

London-born, Cortes Island-raised artist Tiberius b (Frank Belcourt) crafts emotionally raw alt-pop that blends dreamy guitars with electronic textures. They’ve become known for their diaristic songwriting and genre-blurring sound - equal parts intimacy and experimentation. A unique and promising voice in the new alt-pop vanguard, Tiberius b released their debut album NEVERYTHING in 2025, to critical acclaim.

Wesley Joseph

Since his emergence with debut project ULTRAMARINE, Wesley Joseph has built a reputation as one of the UK’s most forward-thinking new artists. The release earned critical acclaim across the music and fashion. Follow-up GLOW only further cemented his reputation, hailed as a bold, world-building record that blurred the boundaries between alternative R&B, rap and soul, including the Ivor Novello-nominated single “COLD SUMMER”. Joseph has collaborated with the likes of A. K. Paul, Dave Okumu, Leon Vynehall, Joy Orbison, childhood friend Jorja Smith and Loyle Carner (he appeared on the Mercury Prize shortlisted “hugo” and supported on his arena tour throughout the UK). Beyond this, he has taken his captivating live show global, having embarked on his own sold out UK and North American headline dates. He will release his debut album, Forever Ends Someday, in April via Secretly Canadian.

Yard Act said: “We can't wait to play the 6 Music Festival in one of Manchester's finest independent venues, YES, the scene of some of our earliest shows way back in 2021."

Since first steering their golden rover into swift public acclaim back in 2020, Leeds quartet Yard Act have become one of the great indie success stories of the decade so far. With two top five albums, a Mercury Prize nomination, and countless shows and festival appearances spanning the globe, they’ve grown from their minimal post-punk roots into a truly muscular and expansive outfit. Currently working in the studio with producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen (known for his work with Beck, Nine Inch Nails, Wolf Alice) and with album three on the horizon, Yard Act look set to make 2026 their own.

Follow for more