Skip to content

Five days of nostalgia at harbourside festival

Dawn LimbuBristol
News imageNadine Ballantyne Lloyd's Amphitheatre in Bristol. The stage has an angular semi-circle cover and it is lit up with pink and blue spotlights. There is a large crowd of people standing and watching the performance. The Bristol landscape including the harbour can be seen in the distance behind the stage.Nadine Ballantyne
Bristol Sounds is returning to Lloyds Amphitheatre in June

Music lovers can expect five days of nostalgia as Bristol's signature harbourside music festival returns this summer.

Headliners at Bristol Sounds this year include alternative hip-hop group The Streets and 1980s stalwarts Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.

The event takes place at Lloyds Amphitheatre across five days from June 23 – on what would have been the same week as Glastonbury Festival, which is taking a fallow year.

Also included in the line-up are indie rock band The Kooks, Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals and Australian indie-pop duo Royel Otis.

News imageGetty Images Mike Skinner, a man with short brown hair and wearing a black T-shirt, holds a microphone and points forwards in front of a background lit with yellow stage lights.Getty Images
Mike Skinner claimed a number of top 10 hits with The Streets in the early 2000s

The Streets

Thursday 25 June & Saturday 27 June

The Streets, originally from Birmingham, claimed a number one with Dry Your Eyes in 2004, with the album A Grand Don't Come For Free topping the charts.

They also had hits with Fit But You Know It and Blinded by the Lights.

They will take to the stage on 25 June and 27 June to perform A Grand Don't Come For Free in full for the first time.

News imagePA Media Luke Pritchard, the The Kooks frontman, singing into a mic and playing a cream Fender electric guitar. He has thick curly brown hair and is wearing a blue shirt unbuttoned to his chest. Behind him is the band's drummer, playing a turquoise set of drums.PA Media
The Kooks will perform their classic indie rock anthems

The Kooks

Tuesday 23 June

Following a string of sold-out shows at Bristol venue The Fleece earlier this year, the Brighton-born band will return on 23 June, marking the 20th anniversary of their legendary debut album Inside In/Inside Out.

Fans can expect to hear classic hits that soundtracked the generation of indie rock.

News imageGetty A man dressed in all black sings to a microphone on a stage as he plays an electric guitar. Behind him is another man who is sitting on a chair next to a saxophone.Getty
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are regarded as pioneers in electronic music

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Friday 26 June

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark will bring their high-energy synth-pop performance to the amphitheatre.

Formed in 1978 in Merseyside by Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys, the group are regarded as pioneers of electronic music.

They will be supported by rock band The Undertones and singer-songwriter Andrew Cushin.

News imageGetty Images Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals performs on a smoke-filled stage playing a red electric guitar and wearing white boiler suit. He has thick brown hair and a fuzzy brown beard.Getty Images
Super Furry Animals formed in Cardiff in the early 1990s

Super Furry Animals

Wednesday 24 June

Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals will take to the stage off the back of their first tour in over a decade.

The band, whose members hail from Cardiff, Bethesda and Bangor, had not performed together since December 2016.

They will be be joined by Welsh-Cornish singer-songwriter Gwenno, plus rock duo Getdown Services.

News imageRoyel Otis Otis Pavlovic, a young man with wavy short brown hair, standing against a plain blue background looking at the camera. Next to him is guitarist Royel Maddell, who is looking down, with long, pink tousled hair covering his face.Royel Otis
Royel Otis are named after members Royel Maddell (right) and Otis Pavlovic

Royel Otis

Sunday June 28

Australian guitar duo Royel Otis will close the festival on 28 June with their emotionally loaded nostalgia-fuelled anthems.

The band's Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic have gained a mass global following with their viral cover of Murder on the Dancefloor, and earned fifth place on BBC Radio 1's Sound of 2026.

Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

More on this story
Related internet links