Indie weekender announced for Blackpool Winter Gardens

Thursday, 27 August 2026 07:19

By Central Radio News

Blackpool Winter Gardens is throwing open its doors for a new weekender built around the bands and songwriters who soundtracked British guitar music from the tail end of the 80s through the 90s and beyond.

Blackpool: Indie By The Sea lands over the May Bank Holiday weekend, Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 May 2027.

Across the two days, the Winter Gardens will host a run of bands and solo artists who between them cover Madchester, baggy, Britpop and the wave of guitar music that followed it, with the after-hours parties hosted by Bez, of Happy Mondays and Black Grape, and broadcaster and journalist John Robb keeping the weekend going once the main stages wrap.

The bill so far brings together Ocean Colour Scene, playing to the Mod-inflected songwriting that carried them from the Camden Falcon to Knebworth; Peter Hook & The Light, performing the New Order and Joy Division catalogue that Hook helped write; Embrace, back with the widescreen choruses that made them a fixture of British radio; and Black Grape, Shaun Ryder and Kermit's follow-up to Happy Mondays and one of the defining sounds of the mid-90s.

They're joined by Paul Draper, former Mansun frontman and one of the more inventive songwriters to come out of the Britpop era; The Wedding Present, still touring the DIY, motorik guitar sound they built their reputation on; Space, whose run of singles made them festival regulars in the late 90s; The Primitives, the Coventry band behind Crash; and Cud, Leeds mainstays known for pairing sharp lyrics with a live show built on chaos.

Rounding out the bill are Ben Ottewell of Gomez, Mark Morriss of The Bluetones, James Walsh of Starsailor and Ian Prowse of Pele and Amsterdam, each performing songs from across their own catalogues, with further names still to be confirmed.