Today, Cardiff’s Sŵn Festival unveils the second wave of names for its 19th edition, taking place across the city over Thursday October 15th to Saturday October 17th. Returning in the beefed up format of three full days of programming that made 2024 and 2025 banner years for festival, Sŵn 2026 is packed to the rafters and is proudly part of Cardiff Music City Festival (2nd-17th October) for the third year running, building an ambitious annual collaboration in Cardiff across two weeks, which includes Llais and the Welsh Music Prize.
Described by DIY Magazine as a bastion of “fearless programming,” this year’s edition of the festival continues to pull together a veritable who’s who of local, national and international talent, with some of the buzziest new names out there joined by gems of the Welsh music scene. As always, Sŵn continues to use its platform to champion the stars of tomorrow as well as those making some of the most game-changing, leftfield music. So, cosy up in one of Cardiff’s many warm and friendly independent venues and prepare to find your new favourite artist.
Leading the second batch of names announced for this year’s festival are Manchester quartet Westside Cowboy. Undoubtedly one of the breakout indie-rock success stories of recent years, the band hit Cardiff hot off the heels of releasing their hugely anticipated debut album It Goes On. In age of algorithms, they’ve crafted perhaps the year’s most exciting debut by simply figuring out what feels good, and following it into the horizon. Don’t miss them in Cardiff for what’s sure to be a celebration of an album that’s bound to have Mercury and Brits judges’ ears twitching soon enough.
Impeccably cool London trio bar italia make their Sŵn debut this year bringing their recently released fifth album Some Like It Hot to town. Their hook-laden songs reveal an organic musical dexterity, which, combined with their unique vocal styles and romantic, deadpan lyricism has quickly singled them out as critical darling, lauded everywhere from The Times to Crack Magazine.
Another surefire highlight for this year’s festival comes in the form of a set from the inimitable Murkage Dave. A truly unique songwriter, his music, loosely pop but informed by indie, outsider art, and an instinct for storytelling, is built on honesty, empathy, and fearless social commentary. Dave’s latest album, Brut Thoughts, was released earlier this year to considerable acclaim for its cathartic soundtrack to life in late-stage capitalism with sonic nods to Talking Heads, Sampha and The Streets. Essential Sŵn viewing, to say the least.
Also back with new music this year are London six-piece Gently Tender. Born from the ashes of Palma Violets, the sextet trade in indie-rock that evokes the British countryside through its lavish use of lush harmonies and pastoral melodies, well exemplified by recent EP This Was Once Fields, the follow-up to their widely lauded, Matthew E White-produced debut album Take Hold Of Your Promise! Delightful sonic pastures await.
Impossibly prolific and infinitely relatable, Isle of Wight bubblegum grunge trio ugly ozo head to Cardiff stacked with an arsenal of bangers from across their myriad singles and EPs released over the past few years. Led by sisters Jessica and Boo Baker, they’ve become one of the most ubiquitous names on the pages of new music websites and magazines with acclaim from notable tastemakers including DIY, The Line of Best Fit, Steve Lamacq and even Iggy Pop.
Another act taking 2026 by storm, London-via-Manchester quintet Truthpaste fresh from releasing their hugely buzzy debut EP I Don’t Know Either earlier this year in a collaboration between the highly influential Dirty Hit label and trendsetter imprint Memorials of Distinction. Expect a hugely infectious fusion of folk, pop and electronic flourishes. Meanwhile, with her debut album BODYSCANNER due out later this month, Berlin-based, Austria-born post-club trailblazer Uche Yara heads to Cardiff with a bag packed to bursting with alternative pop, R&B, indie and woozy dub.
That’s not all, though. Continue scanning a little further and you’ll find all sorts of gems added to this year’s proceedings in today’s announcement. Brighton’s Lemonsuckr bring frenetic, exhilarating and danceable post-punk to the Welsh capital, while Twenty One Children bring riotous, DIY punk from Johannesburg in a storm of noise, soul an defiance.
Formidable Dutch-British collective KLÄMP – which features members of IDLES, Sex Swing, Pulled Apart By Horses and more – are set to blow the roof of the joint with their heady mix of krautrock, breakcore and industrial, while Irish shoegazers Pebbledash offer sound worlds to get lost in and Beak> bassist Billy Fuller offers similar levels of immersion with his new solo project rooted in kosmiche-inflected, hauntological electronica.
This year’s Sŵn Connect conference is also now announced for Friday October 16th at Cornerstone in Cardiff – watch this space for speakers to be unveiled soon but expect a mixture of seasoned industry voices and fresh perspectives for those looking to break into, or just understand more of, the music industry.
Earlier this year, Sŵn announced a stacked first wave of names for the festival which included the likes of breakout Irish folk star Dove Ellis, London soul visionary Bel Cobain, thrillingly abrasive indie-rockers Cardinals, the newly solo Dana Margolin, synth-pop-via-post-punkers Working Men’s Club, singular shapeshifting collective HMLTD, Scottish indie-pop staples Lucia & the Best Boys and tons more in between.
Sŵn 2026 is once more multi-venue across all three days of programming. Venues this year include: Tramshed, Clwb Ifor Bach, St. John’s Church, Jacobs Basement, Fuel, The Canopi, Tiny Rebel, Little O’Neill’s and Porter’s.
Adam Williams, Head of Music for Sŵn, offers the following on this year’s festival: “In a world that surrounds us with negativity, it’s been extremely uplifting to work on Sŵn’s 19th edition. 2026’s lineup is filled with incredible new music. Today, we welcome a whole host of new names to this year’s festival, with particular highlights ranging from Bar Italia to Uche Hara to ugly ozo, Gently Tender to Westside Cowboy to Murkage Dave and beyond. There’s really something for everyone and we can’t wait to welcome you all to Cardiff in October.”
Sŵn Festival remains as accessible and community-focused as ever – once again offering a wide array of schemes to make tickets as widely available as possible and to offer in-roads into the festival. Payment plans for tickets are available as well as concession tickets for young people, students and Blue Light account holders, while the freshly-opened volunteer programmes and the apply to play scheme also return. Sign up to the mailing list to be notified about all the latest.
Tickets for Sŵn are on general sale now with instalment plans available, while day tickets are now available for purchase too. Head here for ticketing options and more info: https://swnfest.seetickets.com
Sŵn Festival is an award-winning multi-venue music festival based entirely in Cardiff’s city centre, which has been running since 2007. Since its inception, the festival has been focused on new music, emerging artists and homegrown acts.
