Kelburn Garden Party 2026: First names revealed

With summer festival season now in sight and lineups starting to be announced the length and breadth of the country, the wait is finally over for the one we're most excited for – Kelburn Garden Party. Set in the gorgeous grounds of the 13th-century Kelburn Castle, with its Neverending Glen, stunning waterfall and whole host of stages, the first wave of Kelburn Garden Party's 16th iteration is finally here and it's shaping up to be a banger.

Taking place this year from 2 to 6 July, Emma-Jean Thackray heads up the live offering alongside London musical wordsmith and Optimo affiliate Joshua Idehen. Perhaps best known for his viral hit Mum Does the Washing, Idehen will bring his brand new record I Know You’re Hurting, Everyone Is Hurting, Everyone Is Trying, You Have Got To Try (due 6 Mar via Heavenly) to the Glen this summer. Dance-forward, ghillie suit-wearing post-punks Snapped Ankles will also bring the party with an impressive dancefloor-bothering back catalogue, including last year’s Hard Times Furious Dancing, and Isle of Eigg’s Pictish Trail will bring his wonky lo-fi pop to Kelburn for his first appearance at the festival. 

The DJ lineup is equally stacked with Sao Paolo house, bass and baile funk DJ BADSISTA, high-speed dance aficionado SHERELLE, boundary-pushing DJ and producer Leon Vynehall and left-field electronic producer Wallace with a full Subculture takeover of the Landing Stage on Friday night featuring a rare, to quote Charli xcx, ‘back to back to back to back’ between Domenic Cappello, Harri, Stevie Cox and Telford, with the night headlined by pioneering French DJ and producer Jen Cardini.

SOAPBOX and Indoor Foxes headline The Skinny’s Pyramid Stage

Since 2018, we’ve been pulling together our own lineup within a lineup of Scottish and Scotland-based talent for KGP’s iconic Pyramid Stage – some of our past picks, including Bemz, Bikini Body, Sean Focus and Acolyte, return to play other stages this year. While our pals at Sneaky Pete’s are taking the reins for The Pyramid Stage's opening night on the Thursday, we’ve got a packed programme across the rest of the weekend. In the first wave of our lineup, Glasgow's confrontational political punks SOAPBOX are set to bring their thrillingly raucous energy to the stage, while Edinburgh’s Indoor Foxes will have you bopping and screaming along with her iconic brand of melody-driven, don’t-give-a-fuck, grungey indie-pop. 

So far the rest of our lineup includes alt-indie from Tina Sandwich and Conscious Pilot, surf-rock and punk from Maz and the Phantasms, infectious synthpop from Majesty Palm, weird and wonky pop from Gurry Wurry, soothing neo-soul from Azamiah frontwoman INDIA BLUE, a mix of ambient and industrial noise from sound artist Samwooddooowmas, folk from Hawick singer-songwriter Miwa Nagato-Apthorp, “apocalyptic campfire-prog” from Rubie and Glasgow electronica, house and pop producer CUZINO, joined by phenomenal vocalist Nwanneka for a set that we’re sure will be a highlight of the weekend. Watch this space for the rest of our lineup, which we'll announce in the coming weeks.

Beyond *gestures* all of that, you’ll also find a brand new comedy addition to this year’s lineup courtesy of Gilded Balloon, plus two brand new micro-venues waiting to be explored this July as Scotland’s second biggest camping festival continues to grow. Plus, there'll be the usual art installations and secret performances waiting to be discovered and devoured over the course of the weekend.

---

Kelburn Garden Party takes place at Kelburn Castle, near Largs, 2-6 Jul; discover more from the first wave of this year’s lineup and secure your tickets now over at kelburngardenparty.com