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Created from a partnership forged between Somerset County Cricket Club, who play their games at the ground, and award-winning live events company Full Fat 360, Somerset Sounds aims to develop a new annual live experience for the South West of England. The Cooper Associates County Ground has previously hosted shows from the likes of Elton John, Lionel Ritchie and Rod Stewart, but this will be a big rise in its profile as a music hotspot. In a statement published by local news site SomersetLive, Full Fat 360 founder Oli Bartlam says “The Cooper Associates County Ground already has an incredible legacy of hosting world-class live entertainment, and Somerset Sounds is the next ambitious step in that evolution.”

While the South West is seeing a resurgence in its live music scene through schemes like Powderham Castle’s summer events near Exeter and alternative music gathering Burn It Down in Torbay, both in Devon, this marks a new ambitious move forward for Taunton, where most of the largest cultural happenings tend to gravitate towards nearby Glastonbury or Bristol. Bartlam touches on this in the rest of his statement, saying “Taunton and the wider region have a massive appetite for major live music, and this partnership allows us to establish the region as a destination on the national touring circuit. We’re thrilled to be working with Somerset County Cricket Club to bring international acts to this iconic venue and build an event series the entire South West can be proud of. Summer 2027 is only the beginning.”

SomersetLive report that Somerset County Cricket Club is already a major part of Taunton’s economy, in 2025 providing over 200 jobs and bringing over £20 million to the city. Jamie Cox, CEO of the club said of the project “Somerset Sounds represents an important step in the evolution of the Club and the Cooper Associates County Ground. Cricket will always be at the heart of who we are, but we have a much wider ambition for the venue and for the role it can play within Somerset. We want to create experiences that bring new audiences to Taunton from across the South West and beyond, while generating meaningful economic and cultural benefits for the County.”

Somerset Sounds was first announced yesterday, September 10, with a set of brand new social media accounts. So far, the latest information is a post on Instagram which claims their “first artist reveal is just around the corner”. You can sign up here for the latest reveals as they break before the festival makes its debut in August 2027.

The excitement for these shows was palpable, with flurries of posts in the months leading up of fans asking for spare tickets or desperately looking to score cheap tickets as resale prices racked up to over 10x the original face value. Fans poured into Stepney from all over the world to see the sold out shows, with some travelling from Europe and others even as far as Australia and Taiwan. A perfect example of the fan excitement and commitment was one fan, who appears as @maarcjan on Instagram, who designed and gave out posters to the first 100 in line for the show. Whom at the end of night two was rightfully personally thanked by Geese bassist Dominic DiGesu and was handed the set-list of the show.

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Night one of the two-show stint featured a standard setlist for Geese at this point of their tour, with a bonus of the rare feature of ‘Undoer’ from their previous project ‘3D Country’. Frontman Cameron Winter played the Oasis cover of ‘Help’ by the Beatles through his phone during ‘2122’ which has evolved into a staple portion of the show; often dedicated to a short cover of a track before devolving back into the chaotic chorus of the song. Check out the full set-list for the night below:

‘Husbands’
‘2122’ (Featuring Oasis’ cover of ‘Help’ by the Beatles)
‘100 Horses’
‘Getting Killed’
‘Half Real’
‘Undoer’
‘Crusades’
‘Gravity Blues’
‘Cobra’
‘Cowboy Nudes’
‘I See Myself’
‘Bow Down’
‘Au Pays du Cocaine’
‘Taxes’
Encore: ‘Trinidad’

On the contrary night two featured a wildly different set-list, a great bonus for those fortunate enough to catch both nights. Skipping out on usual mainstays ‘Husbands’ and ‘Half Real’ from the tour’s namesake album ‘Getting Killed’ in favour of ‘Rain Dance’ and ‘Disco’ from their debut album ‘Projector’. Both of which had only been played once before on this year of the tour in Glasgow. As well as the infrequently featured ‘Space Race’ from their 2023 EP ‘4D Country’. They also performed a fragment of ‘Up The Junction’ by legendary east London local band Squeeze during their breakdown in the middle of ‘2122’. Check out the full set-list for the night below:

‘Long Island City Here I Come’
‘Getting Killed’
‘Islands of Men’
‘Space Race’
‘2122’ (Featuring a fragment of ‘Up the Junction’ by Squeeze)
‘Crusades’
‘Cowboy Nudes’
‘100 Horses’
‘Rain Dance’
‘Disco’
‘Cobra’
‘Bow Down’
‘Au Pays du Cocaine’
‘Taxes’
Encore: ‘Trinidad’

These nights followed a plethora of shows and huge festival  appearances, such as Reading and Leeds, from Geese throughout the UK. Marking the last stops of the UK and EU tour before they finished the leg as the secret headliner for End of Road festival on the 3rd of September

Florence, an expert performer at this stage of her career, plays incredibly into this energy as showcased during ‘Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up).’ In which she requested sacrificial offerings to be lifted up on another’s shoulders. Throughout the show she played hits from throughout her expansive catalogue, from her original hits such as ‘Shake It Out’ to new found fan favourites like ‘One of the Greats.’

A particularly moving moment of the show was during ‘Sympathy Magic’ as Florence approached the front row she sang “come on, give me everything you’ve got, what else?” An incredibly powerful, hopeful mantra to fight onward after being through so much. Something that clearly connected with the crowd, as their sobs could be heard lightly through the microphone as Florence walked through giving an embrace to those in need.

Her sense of humour also shone through as she lamented how popular ‘Buckle’ had become with the fans and that she thought she was “too old to be writing songs about people not texting me back any more.” Jokingly blaming the audience for connecting so heavily with the song forcing her to perform it for the rest of her life.

Though it was during the explosive final song performance of ‘Dog Days are Over’ that Florence’s star power and command of the crowd really shone. As she heeded the crowd to put their phones down, stating that “Filming this song will stop you from experiencing this song… and is that not why you came?” With the crowd dutifully following through, creating an electric atmosphere as everyone was able to fully witness a legendary performer in her element and be present in the moment for an incredible show.

As his manager, Sharon first devised Ozzfest in 1996 when legendary English metal singer Ozzy was spurned by the US festival circuit, creating a vehicle for him to perform as well as a large multi-city heavy metal event programme. The inaugural year saw Ozzy head up a bill alongside legendary acts like Slayer, Danzig and Sepultura across two shows in Phoenix, Arizona and San Bernardino, California.

From there, Ozzfest expanded into an empire, hosting a travelling run across the US, as well as shows in the UK, Europe and Japan. Ozzfest England debuted in 1998 at the Milton Keynes Bowl with a monster line-up including both Ozzy Osbourne and his group Black Sabbath, as well as Foo Fighters and Pantera. After returning in 2001 and 2002, Ozzfest did not come back to the UK again before the US festival as we know it stopped operating in 2018.

Last July, Ozzy Osbourne celebrated his career with one big final show named Back to the Beginning before retiring due to ill health. The event was held in his home city of Birmingham at the Villa Park football stadium with an attendance of 45,000 and millions of viewers online, and featured an all-star support bill before Ozzy played both his last set with Black Sabbath and his last solo performance. Three weeks later, he sadly passed away aged 76 from a heart attack in his home, surrounded by his family.

Following Ozzy’s passing and the triumphant success of Back to the Beginning, earlier this year Sharon Osbourne announced plans to bring Ozzfest back with the late Ozzy’s blessing, 30 years after its inception. NME reported this March that Sharon was looking to bring the event back to the UK with a proposal to use Villa Park again, saying “We wanna do two days in Aston Villa and then come to America.” In a conversation with her son Jack, she also added “We’ve got to find a lot of young, new talent, because that’s what’s your dad would want.”

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In August, Sharon spoke to Metal Hammer about the concrete plans for Ozzfest, though there was uncertainty on the number of days it would cover – she said “It’s going to be at Villa Park again. Whether it’ll be two nights, that’s up for the fans to tell me.” This Monday, August 17, Ozzfest’s social media accounts broke the news that Ozzfest 2027 was booked in for Villa Park, with further information to come. The post shared an aerial shot taken of the football ground during Back to the Beginning, with the staging from the event clearly visible. Also speaking to Metal Hammer, Sharon was cautious when discussing potential acts for the event – “Of course we’re speaking to people. I can’t let that out yet, but it’ll be soon.”

While the wait for further developments on the return of Ozzfest to both the UK and US begins, the West Midlands continue to remember one of their most famous artists actively. Birmingham celebrated Ozzy Osbourne’s life and legacy this July with the first ever ‘Ozzy Day’, which saw events, activities and performances across the city in honour of the first anniversary of his passing.

American singer-songwriter Bridgers returned to the musical fold this year, following whirlwind successes in 2023 with her second album ‘Punisher’, as well as the debut release of ‘The Record’ with her group boygenius. In the 2024 awards season, boygenius won a BRIT for Best International Group and 3 Grammys, with Bridgers bagging a fourth Grammy for her appearance on SZA’s track ‘Ghost In The Machine’. Following the releases, boygenius went on hiatus and Bridgers took a break through to 2026.

After a run of surprise live ‘no phones’ shows this May, Bridgers premiered new songs before announcing her third album ‘Lost Weekend’, due to be released on August 14. Before the release, several live event runs were announced for this year, including a series of intimate album release shows, listening parties at planetariums around the world, and The Lost Tour 2026 for North America and Europe from September to December. The artist has continued to perform all concerts with a ban on recording devices, encouraging audiences to enjoy the shows without distraction.

Following the release of ‘Lost Weekend’ last week, Phoebe Bridgers had travelled to the UK and performed the opening night of the British release shows at London’s Union Chapel on Monday August 17, also the singer’s 32nd birthday. However, ahead of her show at Kingston’s Circuit venue this evening, Wednesday August 19, she posted on her Instagram Story to announce she was dealing with a bout of appendicitis and would need to cancel all remaining UK shows on the tour. Her brief statement opens with “I got appendicitis for my birthday”, going on to say “Everything in the UK this week will have to move but I’ll make it up to you!!!!”

Banquet Records, who were promoting tonight’s Kingston show, have posted to say they are in contact with the artist’s global management teams to reorganise the event. Bridgers was due to play two further nights this week at Chalk in Brighton on August 20 and Bristol’s Electric on August 21, but fans can hopefully expect rescheduled dates for these too.

Depending on Bridgers’ recovery, the North American leg of The Lost Tour opens in Indianapolis on September 15 and runs until October 31. Following that, she’ll touch down in Dublin on November 23, playing Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and London before heading over to mainland Europe. Tickets appear to be sold out on Bridgers’ official store, but some may be available here. Phoebe Bridgers’ 2026 album ‘Lost Weekend’ is out now via Dead Oceans.

The first iteration of Latitude was held at the Henham Park site near Southwold, Suffolk in 2006, with a billing that included Snow Patrol, The Zutons, Mogwai and Paolo Nutini. As it’s grown into a major festival, it’s hosted massive acts like Florence + The Machine, Pet Shop Boys, The 1975 and The Killers. The 20th anniversary event ran last weekend with around 40,000 attendees from July 23 to 26, and had  former Talking Heads’ maverick leader David Byrne, current US chart-topper Teddy Swims and loveable Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi as its main attractions.

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This past Sunday, Melvin Benn, the founder and organiser of Latitude and Managing Director of Festival Republic, made the announcement that the festival had extended its lease at Henham Park for a further 20 years. He broke the news during an on-stage discussion with Professor George McKay of the University of East Anglia. According to NME he said “I have signed a new 20-year lease with the Rous family. Latitude will call Henham Park home until 2046. I could not be prouder to make that commitment, or to announce it in front of our audience on the festival’s 20th anniversary. Henham Park is not just where Latitude happens. It is part of what Latitude is. The lake, the woods, the parkland. You cannot separate the festival from the place.”

Permission to extend the lease was granted to Festival Republic by Hektor Rous, whose family owns the Henham Park estate. In a statement published by the BBC, Rous wrote “Latitude Festival has been an incredible and pivotal event for Henham Park and we couldn’t be more pleased to have agreed another 20 years with the brilliantly creative and passionate team at Festival Republic led by Melvin Benn.” He also spoke of the unique benefits of holding a festival at the estate, saying “Latitude has very much enabled us to continue the restoration and care of Henham Park which is not only my life’s work, but the work of generations before and after. It has supported the restoration of several at risk buildings and aided us in the catching up on many years of forestry and landscape recovery and maintenance works critical to maintaining an estate like this.”

In preparation for Latitude 2027, the organisers have opened a loyalty scheme, which will reward returning attendees with money off their tickets for next year. Registration for the scheme is open now, before it closes on Sunday August 2 at 11:59pm. The loyalty tickets will then go on sale at 10am on Wednesday August 5, while early bird tickets hit the market at 10am on Thursday August 13.

Reading Festival and its sister-promotion Leeds Festival are two of the most popular British summer festivals, closing out August with a diverse musical line-up shared between both events. While the southern side at Richfield Avenue in Reading is more popular than its northern counterpart, typically drawing over 100,000 attendants each year, Leeds has something Reading doesn’t – licensing permission to field a Thursday of music, this year headlined by Leicester indie rockers Kasabian. Due to Reading’s more-restrictive license, Kasabian are not booked to perform as it stands, and there is no similar entertainment as the festival arena site will be closed.

Festival Republic, who have run the pair of events since 1998, have applied to Reading Borough Council for licensing changes which would allow amplified music at the site’s main stage only, between 5pm and midnight on the Thursday of the festival period. In addition, they have requested an extension to the hours that alcohol can be sold across the event. Any changes in the license would not be applied to this year’s edition, and would come into effect from 2027 at the earliest.

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This year’s line-up at Reading and Leeds is dominated by home-grown talent, with a spread of 6 headliners across its 3 nights of music. For Reading specifically, the Friday evening kicks off with drum and bass cult heroes Chase & Status and pop mega-star Charli XCX; Saturday plays host to festival favourite rapper Dave and indie rock past headliners Florence + The Machine; before Sunday closes out with Irish rock outfit Fontaines D.C. and chart-topping soulful singer Raye. Further down the bill we find Gunna, Skepta, Sombr, Loyle Carner and Role Model.

Reading and Leeds 2026 run from August 27 to 30, at Reading’s Richfield Avenue and Leeds’ Bramham Park, with select tickets still available.

In their Instagram post announcing the tour the band said they will be playing at “some of [their] favourite venues across the country.”

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The tour will see Britpop icons play a host of intimate venues. Beginning at the Leeds University Stylus (1,000 capacity) and hitting the Edinburgh Queens Hall (900 capacity) as well as London’s Electric Ballroom (1,500 capacity) along the way, the Yeah Yeah Yeah Tour will provide fans with a unique opportunity to see Cast up close and personal, after last year’s massive Live ’25 appearance. 

Before the reunion tour, Cast supported Oasis at many shows across their career, including the legendary Knebworth ’96 shows. Frontman John Power described getting the call from Liam Gallagher and his partner Debbie Gwyther about supporting Live ’25, saying the two were “buoyant” when they asked, “Do you wanna open for Oasis?” Power said, “Are you kidding me?” 

The forthcoming tour is in support of ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’, the band’s 8^th studio album. It came out in January and peaked at Number 8 on the UK Official Album Chart. This was the band’s first album in the Top Ten since 1999.  Of the achievement the band said, “it’s such an incredible feeling and a fantastic achievement for the band so massive thanks to you all for your incredible support and for all buying the record. We’ve truly felt the positivity from every single one of you.” 

The album came from a great deal of freedom, Power told NME last year: “there was a window of opportunity – Youth was free, the studio was free, and the band were free – and I thought, let providence prevail.” He said, “It was more than just trying to capture a vibe – it was about trying to record something majestic.” Listen to the lead single, ‘Poison Vine Feat. P.P. Arnold’ below.

Before their October run, Cast is spending their summer at a string of festivals. Their next appearance is 17 July at London’s Alexandra Park. From there, they will headline Humberfest in North Lincolnshire, appear at Nottingham’s Splendour Festival, the Together Again Festival and many more across the UK. A full list of Cast’s Summer 2026 dates can be found here. 

Tickets for the Yeah Yeah Yeah Tour go on pre-sale from 10am Wednesday 15 July. General sale commences at 10am on Friday 17 July. Fans can signup for pre-sale access here. 

Cast Yeah Yeah Yeah Tour 2026 Dates 

1/10 – Stylus – Leeds University, Leeds, UK 

2/10 – The Queens Hall – Edinburgh, UK 

3/10 – New Century Hall – Manchester, UK 

22/10 – Newcastle University – Newcastle, UK 

23/10 – Electric Ballroom – London, UK 

24/10 – The Dome at Grand Central Hall – Liverpool, UK 

Since breaking through with their vocal features on Disclosure’s 2012 single ‘Latch’ and 2013 UK Number One ‘La La La’ by Naughty Boy, Smith’s debut ‘In the Lonely Hour’ released in 2014. The album was the top-selling debut of the 2010s and had major chart successes, with singles ‘Money On My Mind’ and ‘Stay With Me’ hitting the top spot and ‘I’m Not The Only One’ reaching third on the UK Chart. ‘In the Lonely Hour’ was a hit with the industry as well, with Smith winning 4 MOBOs, 4 Grammys and 2 BRIT Awards. They also had the honour of recording the theme for James Bond movie Spectre – the 2015 track ‘Writing’s On The Wall’ won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award in the Best Original Song category. In total, Smith has 8 UK Number One singles and 3 Number One albums, with their last LP ‘Gloria’ topping the charts in 2023 alongside its hit single ‘Unholy’ in 2022.

With their new album ‘Hazel Eyes’ announced for release on August 21, Smith has so far revealed 3 singles – ‘Love Is A Stillness’, ‘To Be Free’, and ‘My Guy’. The latter was released in June with a message from the singer which read “A song that I feel I have been waiting a lifetime to write and sing. Written with beautiful friends on a summer’s day in New York, this one fell out of the sky. In this sometimes cold and distant world, I hope you can feel the love and the closeness of this recording. I tried to capture the glow and the warmth of love in this one, it makes me cry, maybe it will make you feel a little love too.”

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Sam Smith took to social media last week to announce the two-city residency for their To Be Free set of shows. The run kicks off in September with a pair of shows at Manchester’s Albert Hall followed by a set of eight nights at London’s Coliseum venue. Before the UK leg, Smith will be in Mexico this August performing a single show in Guadalajara at the Auditorio Telemex and a 4-show residency in Mexico City’s National Auditorium. These are the UK dates for September 2026:

03 – Albert Hall, Manchester
04 – Albert Hall, Manchester
08 – London Coliseum, London
09 – London Coliseum, London
11 – London Coliseum, London
12 – London Coliseum, London
15 – London Coliseum, London
16 – London Coliseum, London
18 – London Coliseum, London
19 – London Coliseum, London

‘Hazel Eyes’ is out on August 21 via Capitol Records, with 2026 single ‘My Guy’ available on streaming now. Tickets for the To Be Free UK residencies hit fan pre-sale at 10am tomorrow, Thursday July 9, before general sale opens at 10 am on Friday July 10.

2000Trees is one of the UK’s most exciting and diverse rock festivals, bringing a cohort of the rock world’s finest acts to a picturesque site among the trees in Upcote Farm, near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. It’s set to start this Wednesday, July 8, and run 3 huge days of music until Saturday July 11. Coming into last week, 2000Trees had booked an outstanding line-up including Welsh emo legends Funeral For A Friend, US post-hardcore innovators Glassjaw, and Welsh pop punk fun from Neck Deep, with Chicago punk royalty Alkaline Trio headlining the opening Thursday night.

Alkaline Trio suddenly announced the full cancellation of their English headliner shows including 2000Trees on Friday July 3, the same day the tour was due to begin with a night at Birmingham’s O2 Institute. The tour would also have visited London, Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester before culminating in the 2000Trees set. In the post, they explained that the cancellation was due to medical issues that frontman Matt Skiba had been experiencing, following shows in Germany where he was pictured seated while on stage.

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In a video post from London Heathrow airport on his Instagram account, Skiba thanked British fans for their understanding and patience over the matter, saying “you guys deserve a better show than I can throw right now. I’ve got numbness in my feet, numbness in my hands, as you can tell I’m losing my voice. So I can’t really talk, walk, play or sing, but I’m okay.”

With a significant vacuum on the bill and less than a week to sort a replacement, 2000Trees’ organisers frantically worked to find a substitute. They broke the news the same day, confirming that they had booked Bedford alt-rock heavyweight’s Don Broco for the Thursday slot. In the post, they wrote “It’s been a whirlwind of a day but we’re buzzing to have these guys return to the Main Stage next week. This band are total heroes for stepping in at the 11th hour to help us out”, before adding “two years ago they put on one of the biggest headline sets Upcote has ever seen, and now they’re gonna one up it. This will be one helluva show.” The organisers also spoke of the drama of booking such a late replacement with some mirth, writing “Now please excuse us while we go and have a lay down and a stiff drink – we found out about Alkaline Trio literally a few hours ago, and we pulled out all the stops to sort out your Thursday headliner as soon as possible, from the middle of a field no less. Thanks for bearing with + let’s get the party started!!”  

 

 

 

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Since headlining the festival in 2024, Don Broco have enjoyed a wild ride in the last 12 months, shifting their ever-evolving sound into a blistering nu metal throwback style with their latest singles from album ‘Nightmare Tripping’, which released this March. The album features major collaborations with Nickelback on the title track, and a vocal feature from Architects frontman Sam Carter on the fierce single ‘True Believers’. Last Friday, when the news of the booking broke, they were supporting Biffy Clyro at their massive Finsbury Park bash to a crowd of over 45,000. The band have celebrated on Instagram, writing “Honoured to be returning to 2000 Trees to headline Thursday night! We’ll be filling in for Alkaline Trio, sending big love to Matt, we hope you feel better soon. Trees we love you. See you in a few days.”

2000Trees starts this week, running July 8 to 11 at Upcote Farm, Gloucestershire. Catch Don Broco, Funeral For A Friend and Neck Deep headlining, with limited tickets still available here. Don Broco are also on tour this Autumn supporting 2026 album ‘Nightmare Tripping’ at these dates:

SEPTEMBER

27 – Colosseum, Watford
28 – Engine Shed, Lincoln, 
29 – Octagon, Sheffield, 

OCTOBER

1 – Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, 
2 – Academy, Manchester,
3 – Guild of Students, Liverpool, 
4 – City Hall, Newcastle,
6 – Corn Exchange, Cambridge
7 – O2 Academy, Birmingham,
8 – Guildhall, Portsmouth
10 – University of East Anglia, Norwich, 
11 – Leas Cliff Hall, Folkstone
12 – Here At Outernet, London
14 – The Prospect Building, Bristol,