State Fayre has confirmed an all-female headline bill for 2027, with The Chicks, Shania Twain and Kacey Musgraves topping the return to Hylands Park, Chelmsford. Organisers are calling it a UK festival first for a major camping event. The weekend runs from Friday 18 to Sunday 20 June 2027.
Shania Twain was already locked in for Saturday, and she remains the Saturday headliner. The Chicks close Friday, with Kacey Musgraves headlining Sunday in what is billed as her first UK festival headline set. Full weekend and Saturday day tickets are on sale now at statefayre.com. Friday and Sunday day tickets go on general sale at 9am on Friday 13 November, after a PayPal pre-sale from 8am today, Wednesday 11 November.
The debut edition in June 2026 drew more than 50,000 fans to Hylands Park. That first bill was topped by Kings of Leon, Neil Young and The Lumineers, later joined by Alanis Morissette. The festival launched as a 30,000-capacity camping event built around rock, Americana, country and folk, with state fair rides, games and The FUME Pit.
Also announced today are Billy Strings, Sam Barber, The Corrs, Drake Milligan and Sons of the East, plus Brothers Osborne, Bear’s Den, Dexter and the Moonrocks, Chance Peña and Evan Honer. Further names include Aaron Rowe, Noah James, Mountain Grass Unit, Nathan Evans & the Saint PHNX Band, Danny Worsnop, Taylor Acorn, Alyssa Bonagura, Bella McCormick, Tyler Nance, Center Mid, Olivia Rebel and Ian Harrison. Organisers say more acts are still to come.
Friday’s bill under The Chicks includes Billy Strings, Sam Barber, Dexter and the Moonrocks, Chance Peña, Danny Worsnop, Taylor Acorn, Mountain Grass Unit and Ian Harrison. Saturday, under Shania Twain, brings Drake Milligan, Sons of the East, Nathan Evans & the Saint PHNX Band, Noah James, Alyssa Bonagura, Center Mid and Olivia Rebel. Sunday pairs Kacey Musgraves with The Corrs, Brothers Osborne, Bear’s Den, Evan Honer, Aaron Rowe, Tyler Nance and Bella McCormick.
The Chicks (Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines and Emily Strayer) are described in the announcement as the biggest-selling US female band of all time, with multiple diamond-certified albums. The press material points to Not Ready To Make Nice, There’s Your Trouble, Cowboy Take Me Away and Wide Open Spaces.
Kacey Musgraves, an eight-time Grammy winner including Album of the Year, and a TIME Women of the Year honouree, said: “Can’t wait to bring the Middle of Nowhere to State Fayre Fest this summer. See y’all there!” Songs namechecked include Space Cowboy, The Architect, Butterflies, Merry Go Round and Rainbow. She is also booked for Roskilde Festival 2027.
Shania Twain’s Saturday set is framed as a career-spanning singalong, from Man! I Feel Like a Woman!, That Don’t Impress Me Much and You’re Still the One through to Little Miss Twain, her 2026 album. Her State Fayre date sits inside a wider run of eight outdoor UK and Ireland shows next June, which also takes in Scarborough, Glasgow, Cardiff, Exeter, Dublin, Belfast and Blenheim Palace.
Organisers Anna-Sophie Mertens and Alex Simmonds said: “It brings us great pride to announce the full headliner lineup for State Fayre 2027, welcoming The Chicks and Kacey Musgraves to Hylands Park alongside the previously announced Shania Twain. Three incredible artists who each in their own way have inspired and represented vital change, within not only these genres but music as a whole. To bring all three together as a UK Festival First is something we’re very excited about. With further additions including in-demand Sam Barber, Billy Strings, Brothers Osborne and The Corrs showing the breadth of what makes State Fayre what it is (and much more to be announced), we’re asking if it can be June 2027 already?”
Councillor Jennie Lardge, Deputy Leader of Chelmsford City Council and Cabinet Member for Culture & Leisure, said the debut “was a brilliant success” and that the council is “thrilled to be welcoming the festival back in 2027”.
The FUME Pit also returns for the full weekend, with more than 15 UK and international BBQ traders. The 2026 edition of the pit, hosted by FUME, put 15 traders on site, including KG BBQ, Ember’s James Peck and Temper, and was billed around some of the largest live-fire rigs seen at a UK festival. Details of the 2027 traders have not been named yet.
Press quotes carried with the announcement include Metro (“Huge Lineup… Challenged everything I thought I knew about big music weekends”, five stars), CLASH (“you could be forgiven for thinking you’re somewhere deep in Texas” and “State Fayre – you’d be mad to miss it”), Essex Live (“the festival that Essex has been missing for over a decade”), Girls in Low Places (“the future of country music in the UK”), Absolute (“Mega”) and Billboard (“knocked it out the park”).
Weekend and Saturday day tickets are available now via statefayre.com. Friday and Sunday day tickets are on PayPal pre-sale from 8am on Wednesday 11 November, then general sale from 9am on Friday 13 November.
Image credits: @emilymarcoveccio, @nicholasodonnell, @jcrispinphoto
In this article:
Disclosures: TheFestivals is funded through advertising and sometimes earns a commission on purchases made through links on this website, including in this article: None
Add as a preferred source