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Shambala is an annual, family-friendly festival held over the August bank holiday in Northamptonshire. This year, the festival will run August 27-31. Performers include Bob Vylan, BCUC, Los Bitchos and many more. 

The employees of the festival will own Shambala via an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). This is a decision the official press release states will make certain “that [Shambala’s] founding ethos – creativity, sustainability, independence and community – remains protected for years to come.” 

Chris Johnson, co-founder and MD says, “All of us at Shambala have an emotional stake in what we have built over 25 years; now everyone has an ownership stake. We would be nothing without our people, and they deserve to carry on the Shambala legacy as beneficiaries.” He also spoke to how the decision was intended to protect the festival from increased commercialization: “we simply could not sell to venture capitalists or the big promotion companies.” He said the founders “fell in love” with the EOT model while exploring options for the sell.

Dan Rafferty, co-founder and Head of Music said the choice to transition to employee-ownership reflected the festival’s core values:  “As a society, we must explore alternative models of ownership as a way through which the massive power and potential of capitalism can be focused on serving humanity and the planet at large. Employee Ownership is just the next, natural step in Kambe’s adventures towards a utopia.” 

Shambala has consistently shown a commitment to this “uptoia” thinking. The festival has been 100% renewably powered for its entire lifetime and last year’s 25^th Anniversary festival was the first UK festival to be heated entirely on biogas. 

Incoming chair of the EOT, Tom Berry says, “Employee ownership is the very best long-term option for people-focused businesses looking to protect their culture and reward their people. Kambe is a hugely creative group of people who have worked together to create one of the most culturally significant and unique festivals in the UK. The Kambe founders want a lasting legacy and employee ownership means everyone wins. I’m incredibly proud to be the team’s first EOT Chair.”

Shambala festival hosts around 15,000 adults each year, making it one of the UK’s smaller festivals. But it is rich with “poetry, puppetry, politics and permaculture” in its 40 venues hosting a motley of events sure to please any festival-goer. And they are proud to host “one of the most unique” musical line ups, spanning from punk to soul and from techno to folk. 

Any remaining tickets for the festival can be found here. 

For supporters of independent, confrontational music and politically engaged art, the prospect of Bob Vylan headlining Shambala is a bold and welcome statement. The two piece punk-rap outfit are known for fusing grime, punk and rap-rock, with lyrics confronting systemic racism, inequality, and political incompetence.

Shambala bills itself as “the most fiercely independent, seriously silly, wildly creative and radically sustainable” festival – a space for music, art, activism, community, and freedom of expression. It is no question that Bob Vylan’s refusal to play by mainstream music industry rules will align with the ethos of independence and counter culture at Shambala.

However Bob Vylan have faced a considerable amount of controversy this year. Their performance at Glastonbury included chants referencing the Israeli military – resulting in condemnation from right-wing media outlets, a police review, and revoked visas in the US. Their readiness to push boundaries makes them a “risky” headliner in the eyes of the British press, however reactions on social media have been overwhelmingly positive so far. For many festival-goers, especially the more socially conscious attendees, it would be a rare chance to experience a headline act that doesn’t just entertain, but demands attention.

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Shambala’s choice to book Bob Vylan, potentially as a headline, signals ambition: to evolve beyond comfort-zone programming and to underline the festival’s identity as rebellious, independent, socially-engaged. It suggests that Shambala wants to challenge narrative spread by the mainstream British press, and show to other festival organisers the importance of showing integrity and solidarity to the industry, even when it is under attack.

In the meantimne, as part of their “We Won’t Go Quietly Tour”, Bob Vylan currently have several dates scheduled across the UK and Ireland. For late 2025, they will play:

• O2 Institute Birmingham on Thursday December 4 2025. 

Due to recent controversy and pressure, two previously scheduled northern-England shows have been postponed and rescheduled for early 2026:

• Manchester Academy – now set for Thursday February 5 2026. 
• O2 Academy Leeds – rescheduled for Saturday February 7 2026. 

At the moment, the band say all other dates on the tour remain on track – and that tickets originally purchased for the postponed shows remain valid.