There’s something about Brighton that lends itself to disorientation in the best possible way. Maybe it’s the sea air, maybe it’s the maze of venues, or maybe it’s just that certain festivals understand how to turn a city into an instrument. Brighton Psych Fest is quickly becoming one of them.
Returning on Friday 4 September, the festival has unveiled its second wave of artists for 2026, adding a fresh layer of depth to an already sprawling lineup. Among the new names are White Denim, whose restless, shape-shifting rock feels built for rooms that don’t sit still, alongside Anna von Hausswolff, bringing her towering, immersive compositions, and Automatic, whose stripped-back pulse cuts clean through the haze.
They join a bill led by Stereolab, a group whose catalogue still feels like it exists slightly outside of time, alongside psych explorers Allah-Las, the Mercury-nominated Gwenno, and a long tail of artists operating across the genre’s many fringes. From the warped pop of Night Tapes to the wiry urgency of The Mystery Lights, the lineup reads less like a single scene and more like a constellation.
The latest additions deepen that sense of sprawl. Acts like Mary in the Junkyard, The Belair Lip Bombs and Les Big Byrdsit alongside more abrasive edges in Sex Mask and The Dharma Chain, reinforcing the idea that “psych” here is less a genre than a loose, shifting framework.
Now in its third year, Brighton Psych Fest continues to expand across the city’s independent venues, from Concorde 2 and Komedia to smaller spaces like Green Door Store and The Hope & Ruin. It’s a format that favours movement, encouraging audiences to drift between rooms, sounds and atmospheres, building their own version of the festival in real time.
Curated by JOY. Concerts alongside the team behind Manchester Psych Fest, the event feels increasingly central to Brighton’s identity as a live music hub. Not just a festival that books psych, but one that stretches the term until it starts to blur at the edges.
With a lineup that spans cult pioneers and emerging disruptors, Brighton Psych Fest 2026 doesn’t offer a single way in. It invites you to get lost and figure it out from there.
Tickets are on sale here and via brightonpsychfest.com
