Twisterella Festival has revealed the full line-up for its 12th edition, with Gia Ford, loveshy, Mouth Ulcers, The Rooks and walt disco headlining the award winning all dayer across Middlesbrough on Saturday 3 October 2026. Tickets are on sale now.
The bill is built around new music from the UK and beyond. Sheffield singer songwriter Gia Ford, championed by Elton John and signed to Chrysalis Records for 2024 debut album Transparent Things, arrives just after follow up A Room Within A Room lands on 18 September, then heads out on a national tour supporting The Amazons. London artist and producer loveshy, whose 2025 debut EP Dead2Me passed 4 million plays within months, brings early 2000s rock and grunge through sharp contemporary pop production.
London’s Mouth Ulcers pair 80s darkwave nostalgia with post punk intensity, having signed to LAB Records after a run of sold out UK and European shows, with latest single Space sitting between The Cure and modern shoegaze. Glasgow’s The Rooks make Brit rock with a contemporary edge, recorded with Grammy winning producer Jim Lowe for 2025 debut EP Noise & Confusion, and have since smashed a sold out Academy tour with Blossoms and Fontaines D.C. plus a hometown sell out at The Art School. Fronted by Jocelyn Si, Glasgow five piece walt disco follow 2022’s Unlearning and 2024’s The Warping with new single Coup de foudre, pushing synth powered pop rock forged on tour with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.
Also on the bill are self declared “frazzled English Pop” outfit Gifthorse, alt folk seven piece The Slow Country, Haiver (the atmospheric new project from Frightened Rabbit’s Billy Kennedy) and Brighton art rockers KEG, whose debut album Fun’s Over landed on Alcopop! last year. The announcement builds on April’s first wave of acts, which confirmed Bottle Rockets, congratulations and Gifthorse among others, and includes Loren Heat, who also featured on the festival’s 10th anniversary edition in 2024.
This year Twisterella returns to its original footprint, with five venues a few minutes’ walk from one another. Three stages inside Teesside University Students’ Union are joined by recently revamped Rebel:Rebel (formerly The Townhouse and The Keys) and new addition The Buffs Club at Middlesbrough ROAB Social Club. The compact, metropolitan format is designed so festival goers can hop between rooms and catch a packed day of performances without long treks across town.
Co-promoter Henry Carden said: “With this year’s Twisterella only a month away, it feels great to get the full line-up out there! We’re absolutely buzzing with the artists that are coming to our town for this year’s event and we know a warm welcome awaits them from our new-music-loving audience. We’re also thrilled to bring two new stages into the fold this year – both of which are very in-keeping with the original ethos of Twisterella. With the Buffs Club just a few doors up from Teesside University SU and Rebel:Rebel one of our OG venues, albeit in its third incarnation, it’s going to be great to have all the venues only a couple of minutes walk away from one another once again.”
In the twelve years since it launched, Twisterella has become a fixture of the North East’s grassroots circuit and won an AIF Independent Festival Award in 2019 for its work platforming emerging talent. The festival has previously hosted Sam Fender, Pip Blom, Dream Wife and Prima Queen, while the 2024 tenth anniversary was topped by Chalk, Pom Poko and Martha.
Twisterella 2026 full line-up (A-Z): Bikini Body, Bottle Rockets, Celia Grace, Congratulations, Curiosity Shop, Cybill Ends, Doss, Eddie Doyle, End Credits, Gia Ford, Gifthorse, Haiver, Harlan Frank & The Houseplants, Hector Gannet, KEG, Loren Heat, Loveshy, Michael Gallagher, Mindsigh, Mouth Ulcers, North Riding, Pearly Gates, Robyn Banks, Robyn Errico, Roller Disco Death Party, Sarah Johnsone, Scotstown Dance Band, Successpit, SundayClub, Tanzana, The Rooks, The Slow Country, Toria Woof, Two Man Lift, Walt Disco.
The festival takes place on Saturday 3 October 2026. Tickets are on sale now. Full details and tickets are available via the Twisterella Festival site.
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