Event type: Concert

Squid

Squid have come a long way since forming in 2016 as an instrumental jazz band for a monthly night in Brighton whilst living in cheap rented accommodation across the Sussex coast as they finished their studies. The band started expressing influences from outsider punk to Fourth World, and became known for their chaotic and increasingly incendiary live shows. The band relocated to London to make the most of their burgeoning reputation, and having heard them at the Brixton institution The Windmill, producer Dan Carey invited them to his studio; releasing a string of fine singles on Speedy Wunderground and the Town Centre EP (2019) which cemented their reputation. An album deal with visionary label Warp followed, and the hype grew further.

Their debut album Bright Green Field (2021) arrived as the world was starting to open up after the pandemic and they broke into the top 5 in the UK chart. In 2023 they released their sophomore album, the brooding O Monolith, which took the band all over the world and broke new ground that hardly seemed possible five years prior. Like the bravest sophomore albums, O Monolith charted a trajectory beyond their breakthrough sound, taking the band towards an experimental career ahead. Fans growing with them, disseminated alternative versions of songs and demos in setlists and NTS sessions.

Now on their third album, Cowards, the English art rock quintet extend and explore textures of folk, kosmische, psychedelia, jazz and electronics – hovering at 30,000 feet above distinct tales of human evil: apophenia-tinged songs punched by vantablack comedy.

Holly Humberstone

Place has always been at the centre of Holly Humberstone’s lucid songwriting. Falling Asleep At The Wheel, her breakthrough EP, introduced us to a young woman trying to understand the walls in which she grew up.

The debut catapulted Holly from her gothic family home in Grantham to the world stage. Winning BRIT Rising Star in 2022, presented to her by Sam Fender, and performing “London Is Lonely,” watched by millions at home, was another step into her place.

Having toured the world with her beloved band, from Lollapalooza to Coachella, Glastonbury to her first festival headline at Barn on The Farm, Holly was invited to support Sam Fender at St. James’ Park to 50K people and Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour, playing Wembley Stadium to 90000 fans. Late night messages to friends in new cities, feeling homesick, but touring the US with Girl in Red and Olivia Rodrigo, Holly was living the dream she had dreamt as a little girl.

But she wasn’t in the Midlands anymore. This is where Cruel World begins. A new Place, Holly’s Place. Sonically, Cruel World stitches nostalgia into forward motion: echoes of The Smiths and childhood car journeys refracted through bold, festival-ready pop songs. Visually, Holly and her sister Eleri have created a fairytale world inspired by the trinkets of her childhood. “This feels like my work more than before. I’m in control of everything. No is a complete sentence. I just wanted to make something I’ll be proud of looking back at, something that is mine.”  

Nuggets Live

We’re getting amped up to host something out of the ordinary in the run-up to Christmas!

Nuggets Live: Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era – Vol. 1.5 is a live show dedicated to the iconic 60s garage/psych compilation. Played LIVE by a specially assembled cast of musicians, led by Edgar Jones (The Stairs) and a cast of very special guests to be announced. Following on from the successful first staging of this event in 2023, we’re back with a new version that will focus on garage rock gems from the first Nuggets compilation album, and select tracks from the Pebbles and Rubble compilations.

GENN

We’re made up to welcome ĠENN back to Future Yard for what will be their third appearance. The post-punk quartet have reached a new level on new single Reverberations, which comes off the back of chart success on their debut album unum (2023). Their brooding, sonorous rock music tinkles with melancholy and foreboding, which has Pitchfork describing it as “Complex, ambitious post-punk with the chaotic energy of an informal jam”.

Formed on the island of Malta, Brighton-based / Anglo-Maltese outfit ĠENN are comprised of Janelle Borg (guitars), Sofia Rosa Cooper (drums), Leona Farrugia – (vocals) and Leanne Zammit (bass). They are a self-described sisterhood founded on instinctive trust and an experimental collision of multinational backgrounds, with Maltese, British, Jamaican and Portuguese roots represented across their four members.

Having teamed up with producer Johnny Hostile (Savages / Jehnny Beth), ĠENN are back with a new lease of life. This show is part of a UK and Europe tour at the start of 2027. Further details on line-up to be announced.

corto.alto

Scottish composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Liam Shortall, aka corto.alto has had an incredible couple of years : his debut album ‘Bad With Names’ was shortlisted for the iconic Mercury Prize (2024), won ‘Best Album’ at the Scottish Jazz Awards. In 2025, he won ‘Act Of The Year’ at the Jazz FM Awards, public vote with Ezra Collective and Nubya Garcia the other two nominees, as well as UK Independent Breakthrough at the Aim Awards.

Now signed to Ninja Tune , he’s released two singles ‘DON’T LISTEN’ ‘VANDAL and ‘APRIL’ feat. anaiis which continue to showcase his natural ear for cross-pollination of styles. The tracks have received enormous radio support with over 3000 plays globally in less than 6 weeks as well as being on BBC 6 Music’s A-Playlist .

DON’T LISTEN’ was also included in the iconic ‘FC26’ soundtrack. This is music on his own terms. Music that speaks not just to his time spent as part of the burgeoning and fertile music scene in Glasgow; but equally to an eclectic mix of influences that draw as much on his affinity with club-culture and all its forms of Electronic Music, or to his love of classic Hip-Hop, Soul and Funk. Over the last 24 months, the band played over 150 shows, including West Holts stage at Glastonbury, closing the We Out Here main stage, headlining Latitute, North Sea, Montreux, Cross The Tracks and a sold-out UK tour culminating in playing to 2000 people in his home town at the legendary Barrowland Ballroom. Championed by Gilles Peterson, Jamie Cullum, BBC 6 Music, KCRW, Jazzwise, Fip radio in France and RRR in Australia to name a few, as well as the editorial teams at Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp, ‘corto.alto has also built a strong dedicated fanbase across the UK, EU and US.

BODEGA

“I never thought of us as a post-punk band,” stresses Ben Hozie, singer and guitarist in the  NYC-based band BODEGA. “I just thought of us as a conceptual rock band.” 

This might come as a surprise to those who’ve been following the band over the last several  years. BODEGA’s previous albums 2018’s Endless Scroll, 2022’s Broken Equipment, and  2024’s Our Brand Could Be Your Life, drew well-earned comparisons to post-punk icons like Talking Heads, the B-52s, Devo, and Sonic Youth. 

“Post-punk is conceptual punk, so that lent itself to our thing early on,” says Hozie, “but at the end of the day, it’s about our songwriting.”  Truthfully, the post-punk tag hasn’t been apt for some time now.

Our Brand Could Be Your Life,  a rerecording of a 2015 album by an earlier incarnation of the group called Bodega Bay, was  more inspired by classic indie rock bands like Pavement and Guided By Voices. Last year’s Rot  in Helvetica, by the group’s alter ego NODEGA, saw them go in the opposite direction, delving  into the sound of classic hardcore punk like Black Flag and 7 Seconds.  BODEGA’s new album, All Inside Aquarium, sees the band stray further than ever from these  post-punk origins.

The group’s goal was, “Let’s go back to melodic tunes, let’s be more of a  proper rock band,” Hozie explains. Sonically, the band aimed for “this late ‘80s/early ‘90s Stone  Roses-meets-Jane’s Addiction thing, with more riffing and guitar solos.”

Country Superstars

Dolly Parton and Friends Tribute Show 

Endorsed by Dolly Parton live on BBC’s The One Show

The World’s Biggest Country Music Tribute Touring Show is rolling into town with a spectacular, award-winning cast! As seen in London’s West End at the Adelphi Theatre where it was given a  5 star review, honoured at the Grand Ole Opry, and celebrated on Nashville’s Broadway, this internationally acclaimed production is a must-see for country music fans. 

Described by Kenny Rogers as “Europe’s leading Dolly and Kenny impersonators”, this one-of-a-kind show is hosted by the star of The Dolly Parton Experience, Sarah Jayne, Europe’s leading tribute to the Queen of Country. With over 31 years of performances under her rhinestone belt, Sarah has even entertained VIPs on Dolly Parton’s last two world tours at London’s O2 Arena. 

Joining her on stage is award-winning TV vocal impressionist Andy Crust, bringing to life the legendary voice of Kenny Rogers and more. Together with their daughter Lucy Jayne, this show is a celebration of family, legacy, and pure country magic. 

Featuring 12 award-winning impersonations of country superstars:
Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Billie Jo Spears, Willie Nelson, Tammy Wynette, Garth Brooks, John Denver, Shania Twain, Lainey Wilson and Luke Combs all backed by the phenomenal Country Superstars Band. 

Both Sarah and Andy have graced the legendary Legends Corner and Johnny Cash’s Kitchen & BBQ on Nashville’s famed Broadway, and were honoured at the Grand Ole Opry as featured Tribute Artists of the Year and on CBS Nashville and CH5’s Forrest Saunders Show. 

This spectacular production goes far beyond impersonation. Every detail is thoughtfully crafted, from vocal accuracy and authentic costumes, to mannerisms, make-up, and stunning video backdrops. Even the voiceovers in the show are provided by Dolly’s real-life friends and family, including a very special personal message from Dolly herself. 

Sing along to timeless classics including:
9 to 5, Jolene, Islands in the Stream, The Gambler, Annie’s Song, Ring of Fire, Blanket on the Ground, Stand by Your Man, Take Me Home Country Roads, I Walk the Line, Always on My Mind, Beautiful Crazy, That Don’t Impress Me Much, Man! I Feel Like a Woman, Crazy, Coward of the County, The Dance, Standing Outside the Fire, Country’s Cool Again and many more. 

A dazzling, heartfelt tribute to the music, the superstars, and the legacy of country.
Country music will live on forever – a great night out for any country fan! 

The Phogues

If you appreciate the music of Shane MacGowan and The Pogues, you cannot miss The Phogues. Keeping alive the very songs that defined the genre ‘Celtic Punk’.

Going way beyond a tribute band The Phogues diligently recreate the way The Pogues tempered Irish Music with subtle influences of Flamenco and Middle Eastern music on some songs.

The Phogues live performances will give you songs penned by one of the best lyricists of our time, Shane MacGowan, played by musicians at the top of their game, commemorating 40 years since the release of the first Pogues album Red Roses for Me.

“A guaranteed good night!” in the words of Shane MacGowan: ‘It’s brilliant’.

We have reserved four wheelchair + respective carer/companion spaces for this event. If all four sell, we will add more. Tickets are unreserved and on a first-come first-served basis, but we will ensure front-of-house space is available for those booking these seats. This is an honour-based system for those who need it. Please use responsibly. If you want to buy tickets for more than this user, please add other general admission tickets when placing your order.

Kíla

Some bands fill arenas. Kíla fill the air itself.

For over three decades, this seven-piece Dublin collective have been one of Ireland’s best-kept secrets and greatest musical forces. They are a band that defies genre, rewires tradition, and leaves audiences physically changed by their experience.

Having played some of the world’s most legendary stages, to audiences of thousands, tonight they play to fewer than two hundred. This is that show.

Rooted in the ancient pulse of Irish folk — uilleann pipes, fiddle, bodhrán, bones — yet propelled by djembe, brass, electric guitar and a restless, world-hungry imagination, Kíla’s sound is unlike anything you will hear elsewhere. It is furious and tender, primal and precise. The jigs hit like percussion. The melodies haunt for days. Their IFTA award-winning film scores — for Cartoon Saloon’s Oscar-nominated trilogy The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea and Wolfwalkers — hint at their cinematic scale. But nothing prepares you for the live experience.

Eight years since their last gig in the city, Kíla return to Liverpool to one of the finest acoustic rooms in the country. Every note will reach you. Every rhythm will find you. Kila’s Gaeilge will transform you.

This is rare. This is intimate. This is a band of genuine, extraordinary talent playing close up.

Resonating with this year’s festival theme, I Am Here, Kíla’s deep Irish roots provide precisely the kind of night that grounds you in identity, purpose and place. Don’t miss it. Truly, you won’t get another chance like this.

I Am Here

Irish people have made homes all over the world, and Liverpool is no exception. It’s known affectionately as East Dublin, East Belfast, and the 33rd county. This year, Liverpool Irish Festival asks what it means to arrive: to cross a threshold, claim a space, and say simply: I am here.

Rooted in that spirit of arrival, the George Ferguson Irish Dance School and Merseyside’s Melody Makers have collaborated to create a programme that celebrates the many ways we come home. Whether home is somewhere new or somewhere long known, being there carries its own weight of anticipation, expectation and nostalgia. This year invited guests will take to the stage (along with some audience members!). Their presence will serve as their own statement of being.

This engaging two-hour programme brings together over 50 musicians and dancers from across Merseyside. They’ll perform in one of Liverpool’s most magnificent settings: the ever-emerald Sefton Park Palm House. A space that has sheltered and sustained living things for over a century feels like the right place to celebrate a community that has done the same.

Liverpool Irish Festival is proud to present this thematic collaboration as part of an ongoing series of bespoke programmes and a performance that is becoming a firm fixture of the Festival calendar. Grab your tickets whilst you can.

♿: We have created spaces for eight wheelchair spaces. These are linked with companion/carer spaces. To purchase one of these, please pick your wheelchair space (highlighted yellow at the point of booking). We will automatically save the seat next to your reserved space for your companion/carer. You will be charged one concession priced ticket for the two spaces on your selected row.