In 2023 the band Pleasure Island and friends held the inaugural Penny Lane Weekender, a three day multi venue music festival, on the only lane the entire world knows by name.
Now in it’s fourth year, we talk to Sean from Pleasure Island, who has continued with the festival as the programmer, with the responsibility for scouting and selecting the bands that take part each year. We catch up with for a review of the last festival and what to look forward to in 2026.
So Sean how are you?
I’m very good thanks, happy to announce the first of our acts and get everyone excited for the weekender. I still can’t believe we’re preparing for another one already… Whatever happened to the winter?!
It will surely be back with us soon. How was the 2025 festival?
It was chaotic fun, we got to welcome even more festival goers which was amazing… We also had our first Japanese band which is the furthest we’ve ever booked a band from. They had a great time camped out in Toxteth for the weekend, then hanging around with us all at the festival.
How did they find it?
Well they managed to get through enough beer for sure, drove off with all of Sunday’s beer too! We’ve had a couple more Japanese bands over since the festival, so it’s great the festival is making these connections.
The offering is becoming more varied with each year, who else came onboard?
Synth Lark have taken over the programming of the electronic stage, we had help from Africa Oyé to provide their emerging talent. The queer community were very kind, helping out with a thoughtful coming out party for me on the Sunday evening… Teena especially was a complete star.
I was having to fill in on another stage at the same time, so her performance had to be extended so I had time to get over, then she finished with “Don’t Look Back in Anger” which blew the roof off the place…
How was it?
Perfect! it’s basically the straight version of “It’s raining men” so we all had a good laugh.
My brother was up from London and he was highly amused. He was a bit confused as to why I didn’t just head to the Lisbon for a pint like everyone else? The problem is I’m always snowed under, so thought I’ll just move the regulars from the Lisbon down the road for an evening… I mean who’s going to hate playing a music festival?
It’s an important community for you?
Of course, my brother’s been a big gay thing for ages. All the communities who play the festival are important: the Goths, the Punks, Psych fans, Electro nerds, Trans Artists etc as it’s a festival built on love and plenty of mental breakdowns.
How did your brain cope?
It sort of held out, but I did wind up in hospital, which goes to show no good deed goes unpunished. The aim for 2025 was to get the festival set up so it could operate without me in the event I became unwell… which ended up happening and we got to test it for real, which was a bit unfair as it’s not what everyone signed up for. Seems we survived and we’re going to do it again anyway.
Are you alright now?
Very good thanks, just an occupational hazard and the price you have to pay from time to time if you want to do something interesting. People are overly sympathetic. Professional footballers get their legs broken, society accepts this. Chefs cut their fingers and set themselves on fire. You might go a little crazy trying to put a music festival as it’s got lots of moving parts.
Pleasure Island are finally putting out some music?
Yes our debut EP, which we are launching in September over at Future Yard. We’re drip feeding out the singles, first one up is Cocaine Daddy, out now. Then you get another one every 6 weeks until September…
Dare we ask what it’s about?
Erm, you can… it’s about funerals and some of the daft shit I’ve seen at them. Everyone get’s a free pass when one happens, so you sometimes witness strange stuff that normally doesn’t go down in day to day life. It’s like how you can get pissed in the morning at an airport, funerals are an alternative universe. The EP goes to a lot of dark places, but we try and come back from them with something interesting we’ve observed.
Anything else?
Yeah big shout out to Sam and Al over at the Motor Museum, all the festival team of course deserve a medal… oh yeah, got myself a cool Nier 2B cosplay outfit for the launch… It’s sleigh!
Penny Lane Weekender 2026
7 – 9 August
Various Venues
Tickets
Follow @pennylaneweekender and @pleasureislandliverpool on Instagram for updates.
