Tramlines 2026 was everything you could have expected and more. Classic sing-a-longs with Headliners Courteeners in 'Not Nineteen Forever' to the iconic 'A Thousand Miles' by Vanessa Carlton and enjoying a laugh with festival favourites The Lottery Winners as Thom forgets lyrics and demands a hot dog from a vendor.
Day one of festivals always feel exciting, but you could immediately feel a different buzz around the Hillsborough site on the Friday as thousands of fans walked around in their Fat Boy Slim shirts. But starting the day off over on The Leadmill stage was local artist Bethany Grace who captivated her crowd early on and it just brought a small sense of joy to the start of the day.
The Clause hammered home an incredible and lively set over on the Sarah Nulty stage and they're a band who will only climb higher on the bill, followed by an iconic band with The Vaccines who had the crowd bouncing and singing from the moment they hit the stage.
A new band for me was KEO who I'd heard a lot about but never managed to see them, well. Next time they definitely won't be on T'other stage, as the crowd flowed out of the tent and into the fields themselves. The band were so full of energy and their fans matched it all the way to the end of the set. Probably one of the highlights of the weekend.
Next up for me was legendary band Kaiser Chiefs, who with 20 years in the game know how to get a party going with their set full of absolutely bangers as the crowd sing back to every song and we even have a moment where Ricky climbs up the side of the stage. The man gets more wild and energetic every time I see them. A band I love to watch and will probably see many more times.
Headliner for day 1 was the infamous Fat Boy Slim. I'm not one for DJs, I don't get overly excited by them, I feel they are all very much the same. It's also nice to be proven wrong.
As much as a DJ set is everything you expect, Norman Cook has absolutely perfected the art in what he does. He has full control of every little thing and the crowd eat out the palm of his hands. He manages to superbly interact with the crowd and make it feel like it's an intimate show rather than a field in which you're stood among 30,000 people.
Day one was busy, crazy, super fun and just the start of an amazing weekend.
Day Two was the day I was most excited for as Courteeners were the days headliners, but the whole day was full of exciting bands.
My day started with local favourites and always a fun way to start a day Everly Pregnant Brothers, who Brought so much happiness to the stage but also brought a big crowd with them ready to sing-a-long with them.
Then another (relatively) local act, Freddie Halkon. I've watched Freddie for a while now and seen him on different sized stages through his career and he fully belongs on the main stage of festivals. The excitement in the crowd, the size of the crowd, how loud they were singing his songs back to him. You could see him smiling through the entire set and I couldn't be happier for him and the band as they just keep getting bigger and better.
One of the biggest highlights of my weekend was the next act, Rick Astley, having only seen him a few months prior in Lincoln I knew how the performance was going to go and it was so much more than I expected. He is a pure showman, knows how to interact with a crowd and you can see the fun he has while on stage. The crowd also went absolutely crazy for him which is never a shock, but it was a much younger crowd than anticipated. Rick Astley will forever be an icon and I'm loving seeing people treat him in such a way.
Blossoms are possibly one of the bands on the line-up that could VERY easily be a headline act and as they walked onto stage you could feel the shift in the air and it wasn't just for Gary being on stage.
Blossoms are a band that have slowly started to creep into everybody's playlists and everybody wants to see them and raves about their shows and I must admit, they were exciting and fun, They played their big hits and had the crowd in the palm of their hands. Later bringing back on Rick Astley, the set was one of the most fun ones of the weekend. I hope to catch them again but at their own headliner.
Now, through the day you could see that the crowd looked bigger, younger and excited. The Courteeners are indie legends and most people grew up with 'St Jude' and it was a staple in their playlists.
Liam and co certainly lived up to all hype that built through the day as they played through classics and newer hits and covering their entire discography to make sure nowhere was missed and every hit worth playing was performed.
The energy from the crowd was absolutely unreal and I did join it for a short time, but as I'm getting older I can't keep up with being shoved around, It was a hell of a performance and they certainly maintained their reputation for amazing shows.
