Lakefest 2026 was an absolute blast. Trust our intrepid Reviewers on this – in the sub 20k UK festival landscape, you won’t find much better. FFA have followed Lakefest’s progress from the early days, and we absolutely love it. Take a looksee at the FFA Lakefest 2025 Review for just a flavour of previous Lakefest shenanigans.

FFA could bang on about the organisation and facilities, the eight or more performance areas, the food, the pub priced drinks, the sheer calibre of the performers across the entire weekend, the splendid EDM scene, the wealth of family and adult entertainment to satisfy the most diverse peccadilloes of any audience, of any age. FFA could champion the scale of all the non-music goodies like BMX displays, Wrestling, storytelling, and Circus skills. FFA could…. OK, OK, you get the picture. But to do all that is to miss the very essence of Lakefest, and you can find such informational guff HERE anyway.

Lakefest transcends all that functional malarkey – it’s the SPIRIT of this thing that bites. The performers are transitory; stalls come and go. Many established festivals remain little more than bands in fields with burgers and toilets…. They have stuff – not substance. But Lakefest? There is something very special here. This festival is the collective energy of its people – they generate that famous intoxicating Lakefest Vibe. You feel it as you approach the site. The air crackles. The sense of oneness here is palatable. Everyone at this festival plays their part – from Directors, staff, and marvellous Volunteers, to the brilliant crowd. These people all form the one beating heart of Lakefest. This festival spirit is a tangible thing. Humanity at its best. It carries you along. You’re buzzing. The vibe is the hit. Never felt it? You’ve been going to the wrong festivals, my friends. FFA were blessed to walk those mystical Herefordshire fields and drink it all in.

So, here is the FFA Lakefest 2026 experience. This festival is not prescriptive. There are countless options for pleasure here – choices are yours. FFA witnessed many things, missed even more. Plenty of fine artists and experiences never even made this final cut. So it goes. You won’t find a list here – there is a programme for that after all. What follows are those choices that worked for us…

Thursday

It all started with EMF, and a fabulous version of ‘Children’. FFA were bouncing. Utah Saints popped up for a surprise collaboration on a stomping ‘Unbelievable’ and all was well with the world. Just a shame that EMF, a band with a back catalogue of genre defining albums, felt the need to pad their set with needless covers and mashups. Have faith in your own material guys – it’s excellent!  FFA hit the Gin. Headliners The Charlatans were a class act, with an ebullient Burgess dominating the stage. A ripping ‘Sproston Green’ closed the whole shebang with Rogers keyboards outstanding. Tick in the box, Lakefest.

FFA build a mental den, a haven, a safe, comforting space in our heads, where the chilled vibes can run free – it exists in physical form over at The Flying Pig Stage. It has for years now. Both day and night, this hidden area of the arena is where FFA can be found, watching the lasers, loving the Dub, and riding the vibe. It exists back-to-back with the frankly barmy Secret Rave. It’s a wonderful space. FFA checked out DJ Louis Capaldi & DJ Deckneck laying down some thumbing beats. Excellent. Over in the Cocktail Tent, The Copertinas somehow managed to nail virtually every song on the FFA mixtape. FFA were blissed, and it was only Thursday.

Friday

Friday was hot and FFA cruised like a bumblebee, taking nectar where appropriate. The BMX Stunt Show is always a good watch and has multiple shows across the weekend. Some dude on a skateboard provided extra drama and spectacle this year. These guys really are very, very, good. FFA took in Lakefest House Band Erica again, over on the main stage; the lads being Lakefest stalwarts and appear every year. It’s not just FFA habit – they lay down a terrific, high-energy wall of sound, always grin from ear-to-ear, and are always entertaining. Not too sure about the orange NASA suits mind, but we’ll cut them some slack.

FFA love the cacophony of festival sound around the arena; the grand-a-minute headliners competing with Shouty Man on The Walzer’s, the cod-reggae from the burger stall, the hubbub of the crowd, but sometimes a moment of sonic clarity is required – a pure clean sound that cuts through the noise. FFA found it in the Road To Lakefest tent.  Amy Jo, come on down. Lovely, lilting summer sounds, with great foot drum and a surprisingly full sound. FFA chilled in the shade, this fine artist and her music washing over us. Serious Head: please do support the emerging talent on stages like the Yamaha and Road To Lakefest, its tough out there with little money about and closing venues, and Lakefest can be commended for providing such platforms for young, unsigned, and fledgling performers to exhibit their wares. It’s a packed bag of goodies at Lakefest, but do try and give these performers a listen.

Spoiler Alert!!! One of the sets of the festival inbound – Newton Faulkner. Oh, to be blessed to be a bringer of such joy, to have such a rapport with your audience that it makes the spine tingle. The man was exceptional in this old Reviewers book. Remember, this is, of course, the fabulous Lakefest crowd we are talking about – they don’t need cheesy prompts or encouragement from the stage to sing and dance, they are already in the zone and well up for a having a Good Time, All. The. Time. and the gaff was absolutely rocking. Faulkner sparked up ‘Dream Catch Me’ and not only did the crowd blast out the chorus, but then continued to sing the verses too; the guy stopped singing altogether and simply kept the percussive guitar beat, grinning like a madman! Artist and Audience as one. A truly collective, shared experience of a set, from beginning to end. A little Lakefest moment that makes this festival the wonderful thing it is.

From the sublime to the crazy… Bentley Rhythm Ace. Give EMF’s Atkin a whistle and a glo-stick and he’s away with the fairies. Always a raucous good time band, loud, manic and chaotic, but wildly entertaining. Loved it. The Junkoactive Wasteman & The Tin Can Twins! Apparently, there is a market for EDM played on bean cans, accompanied by two blokes dressed as robots doing pelvic thrusts – who knew? Pissed our socks off. Crazy times – Crazy Night. All back to The Flying Pig.

Saturday

Bleedin’ hotter, in the high twenties. Well Then - If you only take one thing from this Review – get to the Wrestling. Lakefest has turned Mrs FFA into a grappling fan! Now a Lakefest staple – the wrestling bouts are truly wonderful and not to be missed. Funny, thrilling, dynamic, and silly Tom & Jerryeque mayhem – it’s all larger than life, but make no mistake, these men and women are skilled exponents at their craft. Brilliant entertainment, and small kids in particular absolutely love it. Blimey O’Reilley…. Dub Catalyst!!!! This mobhanded hip-hop crew totally ripped up the main stage. Pulsating, high-energy beats, bouncing rap and deep-down reggae dub; FFA loved the fully loaded Brass section and the full-on vocal style of frontmen JPDL, Zak Hale, and Reuben Lovett. So smitten were FFA with this absolute monster of energy that we watched them multiple times over the weekend in their various guises across the stages. Musically excellent and they put on one hell of a show. Do check them out – it’s one big rolling party!

Scouting for Girls are another truly splendid outfit, and ye gods, frontman Stride just knows how to own a stage; singer, songwriter, keyboards, and all round good-guy.  A great singalong set that had the crowd bobbing along. Smashing stuff. FFA were blasted by the splendid shout-along that is a Sensor gig, before catching Reef flavoured rock ‘n rock – an excellent band. Last time FFA saw Madness many years ago, we thought they may be running out of steam as a live act. A tad clichéd perhaps. How wrong we were! Oh, how the world turns. The butterfly emerges from its cocoon – in their fabulous headline set at Lakefest they had grown up, become Elder Statesmen – polished, slick, and mature…still Geezers, but adult Geezers. In a set bursting with laid back laconic wit, great big screen Visuals, genuinely funny set pieces, and excellent musicianship. Suggs & Co elicited nuance and poignancy within their lyrics that this old fart Reviewer didn’t even know existed. A revelation. What a brilliant headline show. Arguably set of the festival. FFA came over all giddy – but nothing the vicious combo of Flying Pig and Cocktail Bar couldn’t put right.

Sunday

Boiling.  Some very wise old sage once said that where music is concerned ‘Talent is to live for – but Passion is to die for’. OK, I just made that pseudo-bollox up now… but the point is… passion in music is everything, otherwise you may as well just jack in to AI. FFA stumbled across the tail end of Reuben in The Cheshire Cat. That would be, erm, Reuben as in the Dub Catalyst Reuben. For it is he. Talk about another Lakefest Moment. Not only does this guy have a fabulous wardrobe, but he struck up a self-penned song ‘Free My Body’ that was so powerful, so raw, so emotionally intense and overwhelming that this experienced Reviewer must have gotten some grit in his eye. Arguably song performance of the entire festival. Spellbinding. FFA adore Johnny Clash – the man with more musical persona’s than leather pants. Probably. Another fantastic performance at Lakefest in his Rock Star alter ego. It’s just banger after banger, with ‘Suffragette City’ and ‘New Rose’ taking the absolute biscuit.  Wildly entertaining and a great show.

FFA thought the funky soul soundscapes of Soul Destroyers excellent. This dozen or so groovers were vocally and musically top button; proper showtime… oh, and a singer who channels the late, great D. Wayne Love - What more do you want. Rather like Mr Stride in SFG, Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds can spot a great hook from space. The man’s back catalogue was on full display, with, perhaps understandably, ‘Three Lions’ getting the already bouncing crowd to fever pitch. Great hour. Bananarama closed the main stage as headliners. The ladies opted for full blown minimalist with a bare stage, no AV, muted lighting, no band bar drummer and keyboards, minimum chatter, and total reliance on their songs to carry the set. Perhaps a tad disappointing for the neutral as an end of festival spectacle, but the crowd loved it, and belted out every song, and they did have some cracking hits after all.

FFA took in the Silent Disco – back to its traditional Sunday Night only slot. It’s still manages to be that last, final hurrah, a fantastic festival community flaunting the emotional power and healing of the collective Lakefest hive-mind for one last time. DJ Shippers, Praise Be, is still The Man. It’s all rather good. Rather like life itself – multiple channels with diverse people marching to different tunes, in their own little worlds, but still part of one huge collective wonderful whole, looking after each other, sharing the love whilst enjoying the difference. Take that home with you. Think On.

All that remained for FFA was more Dub Catalyst, more Flying Pig, More Colonel Winters (excellent btw), oh, and more Gin.

Lakefest remains a superb festival. See ya next time around.

Article and dodgy snaps by Barrie Dimond