Kicking off the 2026 UK festival season was So Long, Good Friday, a highly anticipated showcase of genre-bending music located in Liverpool’s own Baltic Triangle. With headliners such as Fat Dog and Brigitte Calls Me Baby, the newcomer festival was sure to be one to remember.
Sprawled across multiple venue spaces (Camp and Furnace, District, Hangar 34 and Lost Art), So Long, Good Friday gave voice to upcoming artists predominantly from the Northwest. Faced with a decline in grassroots venues, artists from the North especially need opportunities like So Long, Good Friday to perform and expand their audience- which Liverpool is renowned for, like the annual festival, Sound City.
Kicking off my day in Hangar 34 with Pevova, the female-fronted six-piece band, played a set that I could only describe as blissfully haunting. The mix of dream-pop style with alt-rock influences is something unique to the Northern music scene, truly setting the band apart from the heavily indie-rock upcoming artists.
Across Jamaica Street, East Exchange’s alternative rock sound boomed outside Camp and Furnace. Having split the venue into two stages, ‘Camp’ and ‘Furnace’, the Liverpudlian-based band took centre stage on ‘Camp’. Despite being an early act of the day, the room was nearly at capacity with eager festivalgoers anticipating hit tracks such as the soon-to-be-released, fall.
Next came one of my favourite acts of the day, Silverwingkiller played an eclectic set worthy of the main stage, ‘Furnace’. The Manchester duo set the energy for the rest of the day with their electronic fusion of both English and Chinese styles. The dynamic performances of the pair’s vocals, DJ-ing and drumming transcended across the crowd- proving why their music and presence is growing in the UK music sphere.
Just a short while down the road, was the most unique venue of the festival – Lost Art, a small skate shop hidden away in the city’s Baltic Triangle. The first act to perform a set here was Gravy, the rising Leeds-based indie-rock band, reminiscent of Fontaines DC and The Stone Roses. Despite having technical difficulties with microphones and audio, the quartet proceeded to play an intimate yet immersive set including songs like Mindseye.
The young band managed to reach full capacity for their show, forcing the skate-shop venue to use a one-in-one-out system. The boys’ set even brought attention of local passersby peering in through the shoe-adorned windows to catch a glimpse of this up-and-coming band.
No stranger to Liverpool stages, back in Camp and Furnace Monks were due to grace the stage. Adorned in matching fur sherpa-style hats, and formal wear, Monks were seemingly similar to both the musical and fashion styles of The Dare. Their techno, synth-infused tracks proved to be popular with not only the audience, but also myself- with the band having now gained a new fan. The Liverpool band ultimately showcased what the city has to offer for fans of indie/electronic pop, and as standouts for the rising genre, with a personal favourite of mine now being their 2024 song, Aquarius.
As the crowd began to accumulate into Camp and Furnace for the final few performances, Opus Kink proved to be a fan-favourite for many. The diverse instrumentals featured in their music such as brass, synths and typical rock-band instruments gave the Brighton band a unique sound. It was clear plenty members of the crowd were die-hard fans already, echoing each lyric back to lead singer, Angus Rogers. It was surprising to find out the band’s debut album, The Sweet Goodbye, was only being released this coming July as the group’s strong stage presence and eclectic audience rivalled festival headliner, Fat Dog.
Yet before Fat Dog, closed the festival, I managed to catch some of The Orielles and Brigitte Calls Me Baby’s set over in Camp and Hangar 34. It was truly a shame that the scheduling changed so that the headliner’s set times clashed, as the crowd for Brigitte Calls Me Baby was far smaller than what they deserved.
On the cusp of their headline North American tour, the five-piece band still managed to play a strong set despite the unfortunate circumstances. Similar for The Orielles, the band’s set was overlooked due to the overwhelming number of festivalgoers attending Opus Kink’s set instead. Regardless, their ‘experimental indie-rock’ tracks were well-seasoned and allowed for a further diverse line-up contrasting to the high-energy ‘headbanger’ acts they were sandwiched between.
As it reached 10pm, the atmosphere in Camp and Furnace was palpable as the majority of festivalgoers crammed into the 2400 capacity venue. Many members of the crowd even wore rubber dog-masks that eventually got swung into mosh-pits once the band arrived on stage.
It didn’t take long for Fat Dog’s Joe Love to descend from the stage and sprawl across the barrier belting tracks such as Vigilante and crab with the crowd. It’s rare that a band/artist can rile up an audience like Fat Dog did- the union of Liverpool concert-goer energy and the group’s raw electro-punk style was something unbeatable.
Whilst a big focus of the festival was its wide-array of music, it was great to see a plethora of fans, casual-listeners and the curious general public taking over the city area for So Long Good Friday, supporting local food-vendors, bars and bringing life into the often over-looked Baltic scene. Despite having only been its first year, the sheer demand and response to the festival have led to talks of a renewal for 2027, hopefully boasting an equally as electric line-up as this year’s.
Arlo McCarthy
