Bearded Theory 2026: CMAT, Garbage, Idlewild and loads more join line-up

They join previously announced artists including Pixies, Lambrini Girls, Skunk Anansie and more

Bearded Theory has added more names to its 2026 line-up, including CMAT, Garbage and Idlewild.

• READ MORE: Garbage’s Shirley Manson: “I don’t have to be young, I don’t have to be sexy – if you cancel me, you cancel me”

Next year’s edition of the festival will take place at Catton Park in Derbyshire between Wednesday May 20 and Sunday May 24.

Back in September, the first wave of names was shared and included Pixies and Skunk Anansie as headliners, as well as Big Special, Reverend And The Makers, Fat Dog, Sprints, Lambrini Girls, Peter Hook & The Light, Heartworms, Ferocious Dog, Panic Shack, Bez, Beans On Toast and more.

Today (Friday November 21), many more names have been added to the bill, and ‘90s alt-rock icons Garbage have been confirmed as the final main stage headliner.

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Joining them in the newly-updated list are The Damned, Kae Tempest and Kate Nash. CMAT, who recently released fan favourite album ‘EURO-COUNTRY’ and took to Glastonbury’s main stage, has also joined the line-up, as have Scottish indie rock group Idlewild, Hastings punks Kid Kapichi, and former NME Cover stars NewDad.

Completing the new list of artists confirmed today are EMF, The Magic Numbers, Westside Cowboy, Native James, She’s In Parties, Jools, thistle., jasmine.4.t, Good Health Good Wealth, and more.

Visit here to buy tickets, and find a complete list of artists announced so far below.

MORE ADDED FOR 2026! 🤩 GARBAGE ✨ CMAT ✨ THE DAMNED ✨ KAE TEMPEST ✨ BADLY DRAWN BOY ✨ BAD NERVES ✨ IDLEWILD ✨ KATE NASH ✨ KID KAPICHI ✨ NEWDAD ✨ + LOADS! 💫🎶: https://t.co/CzIcxIovbb 🎟: https://t.co/YpuZwNqXrj pic.twitter.com/wOONQh4htY

— Bearded Theory (@beardedtheory) November 21, 2025

The Bearded Theory 2026 line-up so far is:

Pixies Garbage Skunk Anansie CMAT The Damned Kae Tempest Badly Drawn Boy Bad Nerves Big Special (T) Fat Dog Ferocious Dog Getdown Services Idlewild Kate Nash Kid Kapichi Lambrini Girls (T) NewDad Panic Shack Peter Hook and the Light Reverend and the Makers Sprints A Certain Ratio (T) Adult DVD Au Pairs Beans on Toast Bez Chalk Dub Pistols (DJ Set) EMF (W) GANS (W) Girl Scout Goldie Good Health Good Wealth Graeme Park Heartworms Henge jasmine.4.t Kezia Gill King Prawn Leeroy Thornhill (ex Prodigy) Neville Staple – From The Specials Phil Hartnoll (Orbital DJ set) Pop Will Eat Itself Senser Stewart Lee The Magic Numbers The Molotovs The Sabres of Paradise The Unthanks (T) The Wedding Present Toots and the Maytals feat Leba Hibbert Utah Saints Venus Grrrls (T) Westside Cowboy 3 Daft Monkeys (T) Amelia Coburn An Dannsa Dub (T) Andrea Kenny (T) Bloodworm (T) Cara Means Friend (W) Chris Hawkins BBC 6 Music DJ Set (T) DJ Rap Drum Machine Grandmas House Jess Silk Jools (W) La Sécurité LIINES (T) Meatdripper (T) Meryl Streek (W) Miki Berenyi Trio Muddy Summers and the DFWs (T) Native James (T) She’s In Parties Slay Duggee Split Dogs (T) Taylor More Swiftly Teke::Teke The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican The League of Rebelz The Nightingales and Ted Chippington The Pale White thistle. (W) playing Wednesday (T) playing Thursday

For Garbage, the headline slot comes following Shirley Manson and co. dropping their new album,  ‘Let All That We Imagine Be The Light’ in May. In a five-star review, NME wrote how the album captures the feeling that “while the world can often feel like a dark place, there is a sense of empowerment that can be reached by letting in the light.”

It also follows the band announcing plans for a UK tour with Skunk Anansie, and completing their last-ever US tour earlier this year, after they suggested that they were “unlikely to play many of the cities” in the run “ever again”.

While on the road, Manson explained her decision to stop touring in the US, saying during one show: “We have as a band decided that, due to basically the economics of the music industry, that we have to curtail our headline touring business. It has, thanks to the thievery of the record industry, made touring very, very difficult.”

For CMAT, the success of her latest album has seen her advance to headliner status, and she will be performing at other festivals in the summer, topping the bills at LIDO, End Of The Road, Øya and more.

This year’s edition of Bearded Theory saw headline performances from Iggy Pop, Manic Street Preachers and The Sisters Of Mercy.

• Related Topics
• Alternative
• CMAT
• EMF
• Garbage
• Indie
• Jasmine.4.t
• Kae Tempest
• Kate Nash
• Kid Kapichi
• Live Music News
• NewDad
• Pixies
• Pop
• Rock
• She's In Parties
• Skunk Anansie
• The Damned
• The Magic Numbers
• Westside Cowboy

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