Tramlines Festival Final Day - Hillsborough Park, Sheffield - Sunday 26th July 2026

Homegrown voices, fearless new bands and a majestic Wolf Alice finale brought Tramlines 2026 to an unforgettable close.

Words and Photography - John Hayhurst

Saturday had belonged to the sound of thousands singing together. From The Everly Pregnant Brothers’ unmistakably Sheffield humour and Sleeper’s Britpop bite to Rick Astley’s irresistible pop catalogue, an incredible new band performance by Girl In The Year Above, Blossoms’ polished pop hooks and the swirling Madchester nostalgia of Inspiral Carpets, the day moved effortlessly between generations. By the time Courteeners played “Not Nineteen Forever,” Hillsborough Park had become one enormous, euphoric choir.

Sunday arrived with weary feet and rapidly disappearing voices, but also that bittersweet awareness that every performance was taking us closer to the end of another Tramlines weekend. The weather decided to shift too, a bit of drizzle and a sudden downpour just before The Lottery Winners 'special guests' slot.

South Yorkshire singer-songwriter Sam Scherdel opened the Sarah Nulty Stage with the kind of heartfelt indie rock built for much bigger crowds. “If We Danced,” “Colour in My Life” and “Somewhere in the Middle” combined personal storytelling with soaring choruses, the 'Springsteen of South Yorkshire' giving the final day an uplifting and proudly local beginning.

Meanwhile in The Leadmill tent Junk were opening the day to a collection of students from their Uni and many curious early risers. An emerging four-piece shoegaze, dreampop, and alternative rock band from this fine city, featuring members Evelyn Wilson, Hannah Nathan, Leo Howard-Cofield, and Fenella Sharp. A remarkably tight performance from such a new band.

The Sarah Nulty Stage then welcomed special guests Lottery Winners, a band whose rise has been powered as much by personality and perseverance as irresistible pop-rock hooks. Frontman and full time showman Thom Rylance, alongside Katie Lloyd, Robert Lally and Joe Singleton, brought tons of humour, warmth and boundless energy to songs including “Start Again,” “Burning House” and “Letter to Myself.” As you expected it was packed with Rylance gags and sheer fun despite the rain that blighted the opening.

Next on the Leadmill Stage on Sunday, Dublin four-piece Brooki delivered a raw and arresting introduction built on brooding guitars and emotional intensity. Frontwoman Sarah Brookfield, joined by guitarist Dara Gooney, bassist Jake Brennan and drummer Anna Kelly, channelled the vulnerability of Jeff Buckley and the abrasive edge of early PJ Harvey through tracks including “Amber,” “Bite the Apple” and “Hey Lover.” Dark, dynamic and quietly commanding, their performance proved exactly why Tramlines’ smaller stages remain such fertile ground for discovering an exciting new band.

One of Sunday’s most compelling new discoveries followed later on the Leadmill Stage. Also from Dublin - Bleech 9:3 – Barry Quinlan, Sam Duffy, James Quinlan and Luke O’Neill – channelled experiences of addiction, recovery and second chances into bruising alternative punk rock. “Ceiling,” “Cannonball,” “Jacky” and “No Surprise” combined punky grunge-heavy guitars with startling vulnerability, marking the quartet out as a band with something real at stake. Wasting no time they opened demanding mosh pits and movement and this didn't let up throughout the set. The surprise of the day and again this Leadmill stage delivered.

Back on the main stage, Reverend and the Makers turned the afternoon into a Sheffield celebration. Jon McClure remains a magnetic and outspoken frontman, leading the crowd through the bouncing to “Heavyweight Champion of the World,” “Open Your Window” and “Shine the Light” amongst many other favourites. McClure has the authority of someone who understands exactly what these songs mean to his home city.

Scottish singer-songwriter Brooke Combe brought soul, confidence and a commanding voice to T’Other Stage. However, technical difficulties meant she only had time for 4 songs, which was a shame as she had drawn a big crowd to see her classic soul influences with a contemporary indie edge. Combe’s natural stage presence quickly won the disappointed fans over and ensured the performance felt considerably bigger than its surroundings.

By the time Wet Leg reached the Sarah Nulty Stage, the final day was ready for something mischievous. Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers delivered wiry guitars, surreal humour and immaculate deadpan cool through “Wet Dream,” “Catch These Fists” and “mangetout”. That's if you could see them through the overactive fog machine that seemed to be the main star of the show. The instantly recognisable “Chaise Longue” prompted one of Sunday’s loudest and most joyfully absurd singalongs.

Over on T’Other Stage, Wrexham quartet The Royston Club delivered the kind of soaring, crowd-ready indie rock that Tramlines audiences instinctively embrace. Frontman Tom Faithfull, alongside Ben Matthias, Dave Tute and Sam Jones, drove the set through the urgent “Shivers,” “Glued to the Bed” and fan favourite “52,” before the anthemic “Cariad” provided an emotional final release. Buoyant, tightly played and packed with choruses built to be shouted back, it was a performance that confirmed the band’s steady rise towards considerably larger stages.

There was still time for one last trip to the Leadmill Stage, where Irish quartet Florence Road demonstrated why their name continues to appear on every new-band radar. Singer and guitarist Lily Aron, guitarist Emma Brandon, bassist Ailbhe Barry and drummer Hannah Kelly transformed “Heavy,” “Storm Warnings,” “Figure It Out” and “Hanging Out to Dry” into a potent mixture of grunge-pop melody and youthful frustration. Their set felt like the beginning of something much bigger and I've no doubt they will be main stage in future years.

Then, as evening settled over Hillsborough Park, Wolf Alice stepped onto the Sarah Nulty Stage to close Tramlines 2026.

Few contemporary British bands can move between beauty and brutality quite as convincingly. Ellie Rowsell, Joff Oddie, Theo Ellis and Joel Amey shifted from the dreamlike pull of “Don’t Delete the Kisses” and “Bros” to the explosive force of “Giant Peach” and “Smile,” while newer songs such as “Bloom Baby Bloom” and “The Sofa” showed a band continuing to expand rather than simply revisit past triumphs.

At the centre of it all was Ellie Rowsell: sometimes delicate and almost weightless, at others commanding the entire park above a wall of distortion. Then she would just invite a couple of young fans on to the stage and dance around with them like she was 16 all over again.

Wolf Alice’s set captured everything a closing headline performance should offer – scale, intimacy, atmosphere and release – before the final notes disappeared into the early Sheffield night.

That's another great thing about Tramlines - no camping and an early curfew, meaning I'm back home before 11pm.

Across three days, Tramlines once again demonstrated that its greatest strength lies in its contrasts. A weekend that began with Milly Pye opening the main stage travelled through rising guitar bands, comedy, piano-pop nostalgia, Britpop favourites and enormous communal choruses before ending with one of Britain’s finest contemporary rock bands.

Fatboy Slim’s Friday-night transformation of Hillsborough Park into an open-air club provided the weekend’s most euphoric party, while Courteeners gave Saturday its defining arms-around-shoulders moment. Wolf Alice, meanwhile, delivered the drama and emotional weight required to close the entire festival.

Beyond the headliners, some of Tramlines’ most memorable moments came from moving between the stages and encountering something unexpected - Take a bow 'Girl In The Year Above'. The Leadmill Stage remained an essential home for emerging artists, Sheffield talent was celebrated throughout the weekend, and T’Other Stage ensured comedy and alternative sounds were always waiting whenever the main arena became too predictable.

That mixture is what makes Tramlines special. It is large enough to attract major names but still retains the personality, humour and musical curiosity of the city that created it.

There were aching feet, impossible clashes and more steps covered between stages than anyone would willingly count. There were also those magical festival moments that cannot be recreated when you step out of the Hillsborough Park bubble and back into your normal life.

Tramlines 2026 was loud, varied, proudly northern and over far too quickly.

We are already looking forward to doing it all again next year, if you fancy joining us then get on the advanced early bird ticket link here.

Special Note: Glenn Ashley

I lost a good friend and photographer Glenn Ashley just a couple of weeks before the festival - he was a legend of music photography in Yorkshire and had worked every previous Tramlines festival, this was a poignant and emotional weekend for all of us working in Press, lots of tears and hearty laughs about a strong character who will be missed for many years to come, and I'm dedicating all my reviews and photographs of this years event to Glenn Ashley.

Rest In Peace Pal - We will continue to tell the stories!