YNOT | DAY 3: FROM LAURA TO MIKE – THE GRAND FINALE

FESTIVAL REVIEW | Y NOT DAY 3, DERBYSHIRE | 2nd August 2026 by Gracie Erskine

With a sunken heart and a tent full of stale pain au chocolats, YNOT was coming to a close. A bittersweet morning where newly found homes were starting to look a little more sparse, the toilets less amicable and the coffee vans increasingly tempting. 

And whilst final day moods may have been hanging in limbo, it didn’t take long to turn everyone up to ten. If you’ve got comically crazy Lottery Winners constructing a telepathic harmonious arm wave at 2pm, and various chuckle-worthy ad-libs between songs, you know it’s going to be a good day. The Manchester four-piece are an easy crowd pleaser with pop-friendly melodies and a golden halo that seems to hang over their warm demeanour, they’re impossible not to love. 

The hottest day of the festival and revelling in the opportunity. Returning star, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, concocted some of the most Pop World fashion mashups, from ABBA to Modjo and then obviously Tik-Tok resurrected and festival favourite, ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’, closing out her set. Bextor managed to make in sun-drawn Sunday afternoon feel like kicking out of a local carpeted club, in the best way possible.

And the wave of nostalgia rust kept rolling, iconic noughties duo Rizzle Kicks brought memories back they you didn’t know you had. Electric energy from the pair bouncing around the stage, bringing a young lad up to backflip (somehow how managing to avoid a lawsuit) and getting everyone ‘Down With The Trumpets’. There’s something about their set that felt like eating cornflakes in front of the tv whilst breakfast telly was on, except this time, you’re 20 years older and have swapped out the cornflakes for a pint – but there’s still such a wholesome feeling about it. 

A sub headline on a Sunday night, you’d expect a couple of casual crowd pleasers but nothing too crazy. Oh no, not for Scissor Sisters. It was chaotic, undoubtedly. Was it the best set of the weekend? Definitely. Like a cabaret pantomime fever dream, with sets within sets, within sets. A broken-down car, a telephone box and don’t forget the giant inflatable pair of breasts that hung casually at the back of the stage. Whether it was iconic tracks like ‘Filthy/Gorgeous’ that rallied up the crowd or less known bangers that manged to ignite passers-by, it was incredible. A once in a lifetime performance that shouldn’t have been missed.

The Streets closing set of YNOT 2026 arguably carried similar theatrics to that of its Scissor Sisters predecessors. Frontman Mike Skinner ignored every responsibility of the role for the first hour, no crowd engagement, no hello, no hype – just the narrative and legendary track list of the seminal album, ‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’, to hook the crowd.  West-end style antics help to stage the 2007 backdrop, the infamous bus stop from the album cover wedged between flickering streetlights frames mundanity in an enigmatic grandeur. As impeccable as the stage show many have been, the encore is what truly fired up the crowd. Final night antics should always include Mike Skinner making mosh pits in the crowd to ‘Take Me As I Am’, with an inflatable alien named Tony, that’s just the rules. 

YNOT turns 20 next year and if 2026 is anything to go off, you know next year will be just as magical. You can purchase tickets for YNOT 2027 here.