Music / Bristol Folk Festival
An insider’s guide to Bristol Folk Festival 2026
May Day Bank Holiday sees a vibrant explosion of music across the city, as folk and roots musicians take over Bristol Beacon, the Folk House, St George’s and intimate venues in the centre.
With an abundance of choice at Bristol Folk Festival, it can be hard to know where to start. Enter festival director Anna Rutherford: “Whoever you are, we’ve got you covered,” she says, presenting her top picks of the programme for everyone from families to night owls to muso’s and more.
Families
Looking for something to do with the kids? Over the Bank Holiday St George’s comes alive with festival spirit as music and laughter spill out of the main hall and into its sun-filled public spaces.
World-class musicians bump up against local choirs, dance troupes and village bands, making an afternoon of joyful noise and easy family wandering. Come for a mooch, stay for the smiles.
Musos
Martin Freeman said of the Unthanks, “they are capable of such beauty that sometimes I can hardly bear to listen to them”.
Canny conductors of the tear-ducts, the Unthank sisters arrive at Bristol Beacon with full ten-piece band in tow. Joining them are Ye Vagabonds – Dublin’s impeccably cool harmony merchants, and apparently, Paul Mescal’s favourite band. Just a few tickets remain – bring tissues.
Carnival Spirits
If your ideal festival moment involves a big band tearing the roof off while the audience collectively decides that sitting down was a terrible idea, head for Honeyfeet.
A delirious mix of protest soul, twisted folk, funk, jazz and joyful abandon, they are a carnival in a box, fronted by wise-cracking powerhouse Ríoghnach Connolly.
Imagine Adele and Lizzo sinking whiskey in a Dublin pub and you’re somewhere near Connolly’s prodigious talent. Soon someone will plonk this flute-toting, tune-belting, fire-cracker of a front woman onto Graham Norton’s couch. Until then, we get the better deal.
St George’s Bristol, May 3, 7.30pm
Songwriters circle
Amid the festival fizz, here’s a set that invites you to listen.
Pairing one of Britain’s most acclaimed guitarists and songwriters, with a fast-rising star described by the Guardian as ‘full of delicacy precision and delight’, John Smith and Ellie Gowers is a double bill with the power to send people home with moonlight in their head and a faint tug in their heart.
In a packed festival weekend, this has all the makings of a quietly knockout show.
St George’s Bristol, May 2, 7.30 pm
Night owls
For those who like their folk after dark, preferably with a drink in hand and the sense that the night might still have a few tricks left, enter Late Night Folk, the after-hours hangout on the harbour. Ushti and Green-man rising winners Eve Appleton Band headline two nights of lively Bristol mischief.
May 2 and May 3, the Architect, 9 pm – late
Best of Bristol
Threaded through the festival is a rich seam of Bristol talent – Âellin, Kit Hawes and Aaron Catlow, five choirs and some swash buckling sword dancers to name just a few.
But Tamsin Elliot Trio is firmly one to watch. You may already have caught her project Hedera making waves on Radio 3. Her music lands in that elusive sweet spot: intelligent but warm, exploratory without losing the tune, globally resonant yet unmistakably rooted in Bristol.
Bristol Folk House, May 2, 7pm
Fiddle fanatics
If strings’ your thing, then you’re in for a treat. “Fiddler with the Midas touch” (the Guardian) and Bellowhead violinist Sam Sweeney appears not once, but twice in this year’s programme.
Based a stone’s throw away in Stroud, you can catch Sam on Saturday afternoon at St George’s, or get closer to the maestro with a fiddle workshop on Sunday before he heads off on a UK tour.
St George’s Bristol, May 2, 1.30pm / Workshop: St George’s Bristol, May 3, 10am
Queer joy
Folk has always made space for outsiders; it’s perhaps no surprise, then, to see a fearless queer nine-piece at the forefront of a new folk revival riding into the Arnolfini.
The Shovel Dance Collective – photo: Jordan Reyes
What is a surprise is that Shovel Dance Collective, a large experimental band with politics at their core, have captured such a tidal wave of support.
Watching them live, you feel caught in the ocean swell – your patience rewarded with a rising sense of joy. It’s less of a gig, and more akin to a spiritual experience.
Celebrating tradition doesn’t mean things have to stay the same.
Bristol Folk Festival takes place May 1-3. Find all information at bristolfolkfestival.org
Main image: Paul Blakemore
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- Review: Sam Kelly Trio, Downend Folk & Roots – ‘Utterly irresistible’
- Review: Eliza Carthy, Bristol Beacon – ‘A feast in the best folk tradition’
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