Teesside’s premier emerging music festival announces massive first names for next year’s town centre takeover. The Gathering Sounds is back – and the first wave of artists for 2026 already makes this look like the festival’s biggest statement yet.
Leading next year’s lineup are Birmingham indie favourites overpass, Belfast breakout band Basht. and Manchester shoegaze risers TTSSFU, with Good Health Good Wealth, M60, Shelf Lives, Charlie Floyd, Swindled and Daisy Brown also joining a stacked opening announcement for Stockton’s rapidly growing new music festival.
Returning on Saturday 26 September, the multi-venue event will once again transform Stockton town centre into a full-day celebration of emerging music spread across venues including KU, ARC, The Georgian Theatre, The Link, The Social Room, The Green.
Gathering Sounds – the kind of event where fans catch bands in intimate venues long before they jump to packed-out academy tours, major festival slots and national radio playlists.
The festival that has brought acts like KEO, Royston Club, Sports Team , The Ks , The Lottery Winners , ZUZU, Red Rum Club, anthtony Szmierek, fat dog, CVC and Stone to Stockton ‘
overpass arrive in Stockton with serious momentum behind them. Topping the first announcement are overpass, the Birmingham four-piece currently riding a huge wave of momentum across the UK indie scene. Built around towering choruses, emotional songwriting and widescreen indie ambition, the band have rapidly evolved from grassroots buzz act into one of Britain’s most talked-about young guitar bands.
Fresh from sold out headline tours and support slots with The Wombats, Inhaler and Wunderhorse, overpass arrive in Stockton carrying serious anticipation around their forthcoming debut album Elsewhere, Always. Songs like “Union Station” and “Is This Real?” channel the uncertainty and intensity of modern twenty-something life into huge festival-sized indie anthems, while their live shows have developed a reputation for euphoric singalongs and emotional release. It feels exactly the right moment for the band to hit Gathering Sounds – right before things potentially explode into something much bigger.
Basht., TTSSFU and Good Health Good Wealth bring noise, chaos and unpredictability. Joining them are Belfast indie-rock outfit Basht., whose rise over the last year has turned them into one of Ireland’s most exciting new live bands. Blending swaggering guitars, explosive choruses and relentless energy, the band have built serious word-of-mouth momentum through chaotic live performances and increasingly packed-out shows.
Manchester project TTSSFU brings a darker, shoegaze-inspired edge to the lineup. Built around fuzzy guitars, dreamy vocals and thick grunge textures, the project has steadily developed a cult following thanks to music that feels equally indebted to ‘90s alternative rock and modern bedroom-pop melancholy. Their arrival adds another layer of depth to a lineup already packed with different sounds and styles.
Then there’s Good Health Good Wealth – one of the most unpredictable acts on the bill. The London duo have become favourites on the UK festival circuit thanks to live shows that blur together dance-punk grooves, spoken word, indie and electronic music into something genuinely chaotic and impossible to categorise properly. At a time where so many guitar bands feel interchangeable, they bring something completely different.
Manchester outfit M60 continue the city’s tradition of producing massive indie hooks built for festival crowds, while Shelf Lives add snarling post-punk electronics and high-speed intensity to the first announcement.
Charlie Floyd and Daisy Brown lead strong North East presence. As always, though, one of The Gathering Sounds’ defining strengths remains its commitment to regional artists alongside nationally hyped names.
High rising Newcastle indie songwriter Charlie Floyd, taking his musical cues from the likes of Beck, arrives at next year’s festival as one of the North East’s most exciting emerging artists, building momentum through emotionally direct songwriting, sharp indie instincts and increasingly impressive live performances. Blending introspective lyricism with soaring guitar-driven moments, Floyd feels part of a new wave of regional artists beginning to push beyond the North East and onto a national level.
Stockton artist Daisy Brown also joins the lineup following growing attention around her soulful indie-folk songwriting. Mixing folk textures with pop and R&B influences, her music has steadily earned attention across the region thanks to understated but emotionally rich songwriting and vocals that feel both intimate and expansive.
Sunderland five-piece Swindled also return following a huge breakthrough year which has seen the band earn a spot at the BBC Radio one Big Weekend, BBC Introducing backing, festival appearances across the country and growing attention for their theatrical art-pop live shows packed with matching suits, sharp harmonies and complete on-stage chaos. Their latest single “Loved Up and Worried” only adds to the growing sense that they are becoming one of the North East’s next breakout bands.
Elsewhere in the first announcement are Cutscene, George Bailey, I See Orange, James Witham, Marketplace, Marrick, The Dream Machine and The Kellows, with organisers confirming many more artists are still to be announced over the coming months.
With more acts, stage partners and special guests still to come, The Gathering Sounds 2026 is already shaping up to be another landmark moment for Stockton’s growing reputation as one of the UK’s most exciting destinations for grassroots live music.
Tickets now on sale: https://www.fatsoma.com/e/7q076phu/la/wry7
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