Liverpool Sound City returned in May 2026 for its 19th year with returning acts, Keo and Jalen Ngonda as their weekend headliners.
The Liverpool-born festival is renowned for showcasing artists before their big break with the likes of The 1975, Florence + the Machine and, Catfish and the Bottlemen, having graced its stages.
The footprint of Sound City centred itself across a tight cluster of city venues—Grand Central Dome, Arts Club Theatre and Loft, The Shipping Forecast, The Jacaranda, Spanish Caravan, Kazimier Stockroom, and Tunnel (the basement space formerly known as EBGBs). The layout made movement between spaces easy, however some of the smaller venues struggled with the capacity demands of the festival-goers. On the flip side, this kind of tight programming does mean that all acts across the weekend played to healthy crowds of people.
This review brings together coverage from two contributors, with Clare Deane focusing on the Friday conference and early afternoon performances, and Arlo McCarthy covering the majority of the Saturday and Sunday live sets.
Friday – Sound City Conference
(Clare Deane)
Friday’s Sound City + Conference carried the festival’s more reflective, industry-facing energy—built around conversation.
Opening messages from Claire McColgan and Harry Doyle focused on Liverpool’s cultural strategy and longer-term ambitions, particularly around Music Month and investment in the city’s creative infrastructure. Dr. Jo Twist from the BPI followed with a broader national overview, touching on sustainability, industry change, and evolving support structures for artists. Kate Nash’s interview stood out for its honesty and humour, balancing independence, longevity, and the realities of sustaining a creative career.
Early Afternoon Performances
(Clare Deane)
Often the opening acts of festivals can get overlooked so here I’ll share a few words on some of the artists I was able to catch on Saturday and Sunday early afternoon.
Kicking off the festival proper, Marli opened at Spanish Caravan with a polished, heartfelt performance that felt assured. From there, Fletchr Fletchr provided a lock out at The Shipping Forecast and proved they’re ones to watch out for in the very near future. Back over at Spanish Caravan, Caiti and the Skylines impressed the packed in crowd.
Vida were a clear standout at the Arts Club. The Scottish band delivered a set full of songs that felt instantly familiar, even on first listen—catchy, melodic, and tightly written. There was an ease to their performance that made it all feel instinctive.
Sunday had a looser, more exploratory atmosphere, with artists often stretching into more dynamic or unexpected territory. xyzelle opened with smooth, soulful vocals before moving into sharp, precise rap flows. That contrast gave the set a real edge. inaekkum’s set over at The Shipping Forecast moved fluidly between shoegaze-leaning textures, laid-back grooves, and bright guitar-driven sections that resisted settling into any single style.
Saturday
(Arlo McCarthy)
Based on the performances of this year’s line-up, I can proudly say that the tradition will continue with plenty of the weekend’s showstoppers guaranteed to be headliners at the likes of Glastonbury and Reading & Leeds in the near future.
My first day at Liverpool Sound City kicked off with The Kasms in the beautiful Spanish Caravan- my personal favourite venue of the 10 used across the weekend. Despite not having played many live-shows, the indie-rock four piece packed out the Slater Street venue which truly became a “Sun Trap”- reminiscent of their third single. I can really see this band growing in the next year and hopefully performing on bigger and better stages at Sound City 2027.
Following The Kasms, I made my way to the biggest venue of the festival- Grand Central- to catch The North, Gurriers and The Kairos. The North have been on my radar for a while now having seen them support Seb Lowe and Arkayla, and this set did not disappoint.
Similarly, Gurriers’s afternoon headlining set was one I had high hopes for, due to their erratic and mosh-filled performances which often included band members leaving the stage to join fans in the crowd. Their set included fan favourites such as Des Goblin and the ever-engaging Approachable. Further, The Kairos were a late addition to the line-up listed as a ‘Special Guest’, and special they were, proving why they’re one of Liverpool’s fastest growing indie bands.
In-between those three, I had the privilege of seeing Girl In the Year Above, Courting, Dea Matrona, The Molotovs and Westside Cowboy in Arts Club Theatre. Arguably one of the strongest stage line-ups of the entire festival, Arts Club Theatre was consistently full of fans and energy, in particular for The Molotovs and Westside Cowboy.
Westside Cowboy has been the band on everyone’s lips after supporting Geese during their Getting Killed tour in early 2026. The Manchester-based four piece closed the Arts Club Theatre stage with the crowd belting lyrics and band-associated phrases- arguably proving that Westside Cowboy could potentially rise to be a 2027 headliner like Keo’s progression across the past year.
I must admit, I did try to catch the rising Bleech 9:3, who were playing a plausibly ‘too-small’ venue, The Tunnel, for their new-found growth. The band’s success was evident through the street long queue an hour before their set! Whilst I wish I could’ve caught them, the band I did instead, didn’t disappoint. The Molotovs unleashed mod-inflected rock with vigorous movements across the stage. Despite only being teenagers, the sibling duo, Mathew and Issy, have made waves in the rock genre due to their unique punk influences and sound- which was thoroughly enjoyed by both myself and the crowd at Sound City this year.
Closing my Saturday sets was Keo, an alternative rock group having previously performed at one of Sound City’s smallest venues, EBGBs (Tunnel), who now headlined the first day of the weekend. Across a sea of matching Kangol flat-caps, teenagers and adults alike screamed “So Come On My Love/At Least We Survived”, in Grand Central. Keo truly are one of the bands whose music truly speaks for itself, the heavy guitars and hard-hitting lyrics combined with a gritty, grunge style aesthetic, all symbolised by a singular flower logo. Their growth and scale were something I was eager to witness in 2025, and I’m so glad it resulted in their electrifying headliner slot at Sound City 2026.
Sunday
(Arlo McCarthy)
Sunday was proposed to be a more ‘soulful’ day compared to the sold-out Saturday prior, yet my day kicked off with a surprise street set from Sky Valley Mistress, who emerged from a hearse, evocative to their early surprise during The Hive’salbum signing last year in the same spot. Curious passersby stopped to record and listen to the duo’s performance which definitely set the tone for the day to follow.
Welly was the first of the Sunday acts I caught, in Kazimier Stockroom. Despite not knowing much about the band beforehand, a recommendation led me to their set. Kazimier Stockroom rapidly reached capacity as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons welcomed the band onstage. Their set couldn’t have been more of a contrast: their lead singer frequently hopping between stage and crowd, guitarist and bassist jumping and dancing between each other, and a general wide fan demographic present.
Kate Nash then set off the Grand Central stage as the Sunday ‘Afternoon Headliner’. It was evident that many of the festival attendees were most eager to witness her set, following an influx of fame from her song, Foundations. Kate Nash performed not only a set of hits and hidden gems but also used the stage to speak for important topical politics close to her and the audience’s hearts- upon introductions to songs. She proved that despite being different to the festival’s typical style of music, she could perform a hell-of-a-show whilst still remaining personal and vocal.
Sunday afternoon took me back to Arts Club Theatre for another huge line-up of acts: the upcoming Garage Flower; one of Liverpool’s best and biggest Permanent (Joy); indie-pop star Ben Ellis and huge indie-rockers The Rolling People. All four acts kept Arts Club packed and passionate across the evening and night, singing to established fans and interested newcomers.
A key performance out of the four for me was Permanent (Joy)’s. Having already seen the band five times both headlining and supporting since their early Blondes days, this set was on par, if not better than previous performances. Permanent (Joy) have a skill to blend 90s guitar riffs with modern indie lyricism- similar to the styles of Fontaines DC and Inhaler. Furthermore, I don’t believe I’ve seen a lead singer utilise both a megaphone and a tambourine within the timespan of 2 songs- a testament to the band’s unique sound. These guys are definitely one to keep on your radar!
Concluding my Liverpool Sound City 2026 experience was Edinburgh-born singer, songwriter and instrumentalist Brooke Combe, as well as the phenomenal R&B/soul artist Jalen Ngonda. It truly was a shame that Brooke Combe’s set was cut short- a statement agreed with by plenty of eager festival-goers whose highlight of the festival was her set. Seemingly having shifted from prior indie-style to a familiar and personal genre of soul, Brooke Combe was really in her element performing on the Grand Central stage encouraging the balcony and floor crowd to dance and engage in “La-la-las”.
Jalen Ngonda was a surprise to me, despite not particularly being a huge fan of R&B music, his soulful vocals and multitalented piano playing was a beautiful combination, which paired well with the iconic venue he closed the weekend festival at.
Sound City 2026 featured such an iconic line-up with artists to please and interest everybody. Its use of renowned Liverpool venues introducing indie’s freshest and biggest artists is a compliment to itself. We can only hope that 2027 brings an equally as electric set of acts, another wave of devoted fans and an overall great weekend to welcome the UK festival season.
