Bristol Sounds 2026 – first headline acts revealed

Author: Dan Biggane

Read Time:   |  10th October 2025

OMD and The Streets are the first major acts confirmed to play the city’s Harbourside next June

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Bristol Sounds has announced its first headline acts for 2026, with OMD and The Streets leading the line-up for the open-air series returning to the city’s Harbourside next June.

With over 40 million records sold worldwide, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark played at the Bristol Beacon on their Bauhaus Staircase Tour in 2024 – a venue they first visited in September 1979. Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys’ return to Bristol on Friday 26 June promises a celebration of more than four decades of electronic innovation, with a set featuring fan favourites like Joan Of Arc, Sailing On The Seven Seas, Enola Gay and If You Leave.

The Streets return to the city to headline Saturday 27 June, performing their game-changing 2004 album A Grand Don’t Come For Free in full, for the first time ever. The album went multi-platinum and spawned iconic tracks like Dry Your EyesFit But You Know It and Blinded By The Lights, cementing Mike Skinner as one of the most important British lyricists of a generation. Since bursting onto the scene with Original Pirate Material, Skinner has collaborated with everyone from Kano to Greentea Peng, sold out comeback tours in minutes and continued to push boundaries onstage and on record.

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The Streets picture credit: Ben Cannon

The Streets picture credit: Ben Cannon

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Summer Showcase

Known for its eclectic programming and unbeatable city-centre setting, set against the backdrop of Bristol’s Harbourside and running once again across what would have been Glastonbury weekend, the 2026 edition is truly taking the spotlight, promising stellar nights of music.

More headliners and full lineups still to be announced.

Pre-sale goes live at 10am on Wednesday 15 October, with general sale opening at 10am on 17 October. For more information click here

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Written by

Dan Biggane

Dan Biggane is a writer for Classic Pop and Vintage Rock magazines. A former entertainment editor at the Bath Chronicle newspaper, he’s interviewed countless big names from the world of rock and pop including Robert Plant and John Lydon, as well as members of The Specials, The Selecter, The Cure, The Go-Go's, Echo & The Bunnymen, Dexys, Deacon Blue, and Suzanne Vega.