EDINBURGH PSYCH FEST 2026: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Edinburgh Psych Fest is back on Sunday 6 September, one day across Summerhall, the Queen’s Hall, Usher Hall, La Belle Angele, the Mash House and Sneaky Pete’s. Fourth year in, sister festival to the Manchester one, and the bill’s still growing, so the running order isn’t locked and more acts are still to come.
Stereolab are headlining. The synth-pop lot who half the bands below them are quietly working off. Ty Segall‘s the other big draw, garage rock that turns into a pit the second he plugs in. Model/Actriz, Gwenno, GHOSTWOMAN and The Mystery Lights fill out the names most people are buying tickets for.
The ones worth planning your day around are further down the poster.
Bleech 9:3 are the one to get to. Dublin-formed, London-based, started when Baz Quinlan and Sam Duffy met at an AA meeting and Quinlan ended up Duffy’s sponsor. The whole self-titled EP comes out of that, addiction, recovery, loss, and the thing that gets you is the honesty in the writing. None of it’s set dressing. It’s a band saying the actual thing, played as 90s heavy alt-grunge. EP’s on Polydor, they’ve done support runs with Shame and Keo and played Reading and Leeds. Bought the merch off the back of the record and haven’t seen them live yet. This is the one.
National Playboys are the Edinburgh shout. Post-punk five-piece, gothic edge, and if you’re anywhere near the scene here you’ll know everyone’s raving about them. We’ve covered their singles Disease and Fragments already. Kyle McFarlane does the Bauhaus drawl without tipping into impression, and the songs are built for a room. Home crowd, home city.
The Belair Lip Bombs come the furthest, Melbourne via Frankston, first Australian act on Jack White‘s Third Man Records. Second album Again landed last Halloween. Caught them at the Hug and Pint and couldn’t tell you exactly what did it, just one of those sets you walk out of grinning. Maisie Everett was born in Scotland and moved to Australia at three, so it’s more of a homecoming than the lineup suggests.
Plenty more confirmed: Adult DVD, Lael Neale, Dog Race, Makeshift Art Bar, Floral Image, Angine De Poitrine, Automatic, plus Scottish actsRoller Disco Death Party, Water Machine, Tanzana, Edinburgh’s own Curiosity Shop and Jill Lorean.
Practical bit: it runs 11am to 11pm, one wristband for all six venues, collected from Summerhall (open 11am to 9pm), first band on at 1pm. Standing, 14+, under 16s need an adult and have to be off site by 11pm. There’s an 18+ afterparty from 11pm till late. Capacities are first-come first-served across venues, so if there’s a band you’re not missing, get there early. Keep bags small or leave them at home, there’s nowhere to store them, and no cameras without photo accreditation. Early bird, NHS and under-24 tickets have sold out. General admission is £69.50 through edinburghpsychfest.com.
