Manchester Folk Festival returns to Band on the Wall
Manchester Folk Festival arrives with John Bramwell, Sheelanagig, Fanny Lumsden, Skinny Lister and more at Band on the Wall!
After a record-breaking spring edition, “the UK’s leading urban folk festival” (Mark Radcliffe) makes its much-anticipated return from Thursday 19 to Saturday 21 March 2026.
Taking place across the Northern Quarter and Ancoats’ most iconic venues, Band on the Wall will once again serve as the bustling festival hub, hosting three days of the finest contemporary and traditional folk, roots and acoustic music England has to offer.
Alongside spotlighting emerging folk-influenced artists in The Copper Bar, the festival features unmissable headline performances from John Bramwell, Sheelanagig, Fanny Lumsden and Skinny Lister.
Sheelanagig will kick off proceedings on Thursday 19 March, bringing their foot-stomping, roof-raising, high-energy live folk to the stage. Celebrating twenty years together, the quintet puts the groove into European folk music, from medieval times to the present, with impeccable technique and exhilarating dance medleys.
From folk clubs to Download Festival, UK folk-punk stalwarts Skinny Lister have sparked pogoing mosh pits and shared stages with Dropkick Murphys, Frank Turner and Flogging Molly. They bring that same spirit to Band on the Wall on Friday 20 March, following a run of adrenaline-fuelled releases since their breakthrough album Forge and Flagon.
From growing up on a sheep farm in Western New South Wales to making her UK debut at Glastonbury Festival, Fanny Lumsden’s journey shows no sign of slowing. The two-time ARIA, nine-time Golden Guitar and three-time AIR Award–winning artist – described by The Australian as “one of the genre’s most esteemed performers” – appears on Saturday 21 March.
Final tickets for John Bramwell, formerly of beloved Mercury Prize–nominated Mancunian band I Am Kloot, are moving fast ahead of what promises to be an uplifting festival highlight, also on Saturday 21 March.
The ever-popular Late Night Festival Club keeps the energy high into the early hours, with sets from The Pegwells, Good Habits, Club Débris and Frankie Archer.
David Eagle of The Young’uns closes the festival with his now-legendary Pick and Mix DJ set, where folk and pop collide – from sea shanties meeting The Prodigy to The Unthanks experimenting with death metal.
Individual tickets for these headline concerts and many more, plus final remaining three-day festival wristbands and Saturday Festival Day Tickets, are now available.
“Manchester – this is some f*cking folk festival!” – Billy Bragg
Performances will unfold in some of Manchester’s most beloved spaces including Hallé St Peter’s, New Century Hall, The Stoller Hall, Night & Day, The Castle Hotel and more.
This year’s lineup includes Fairport Convention, Seth Lakeman, The Magic Numbers, The Young’uns, Angeline Morrison, Shovel Dance Collective, Daudi Matsiko, Brown Horse, Rachel Sermanni & Joshua Burnside, El Pony Pisador, McGoldrick, McCusker & Doyle and many more.