Rock N Roll Circus Review: Possibly Our Favourite Weekend of the Year So Far

Photography by Shotlores

Rock N Roll Circus has firmly established itself as a must-see fixture of Sheffield's entertainment schedule over the past few years. For us at Sheffield Magazine it has fast become our most anticipated festival of the year, and with this year's edition, it has only enhanced it's reputation in our eyes. With an insane mix of established festival favourites, UK music icons and some of the most exciting bands around, Rock N Roll Circus 2026 was possibly it's most triumphant yet, even despite the rain. Here, a week on from the curtain call, we look back on what has become our favourite weekend of the year.

Thursday

Matt Codd

The festival had something of a lowkey start this year, not in terms of the lineup, more everything surrounding it. 2026 is the first time, in our memory, that Rock N Roll Circus has really been affected by the weather. It rained briefly last year, but this year was very different. Don Valley Bowl was hit with downpours almost immediately and as a result, it was a much more subdued event on Thursday.

However, because of the rain and other commitments, our first day started much later than anticipated, with the first act we caught being Sheffield legends Milburn, not exactly a bad way to start a weekend. Joe Carnall and company were celebrating twenty years of their seminal album Well, Well, Well, and what a celebration it was. Between the band themselves and the crowd under the Big Top, the energy was absolutely electric as they ploughed through a set full of crowd favourites and deep cuts.

From there it was our first short trip over to Stage 2. One of the main changes for this year's edition of Rock N Roll Circus was the move from 3 stages to 2, which meant that all weekend long there were no clashes between artists, which was a fantastic move in our books as it meant some of the crowds drawn in by some of the newer artists were much larger than they otherwise might have been. That was the case that evening for Aussie alternative band Day We Ran. Thankfully the rain had stopped by this point, probably thanks to the Aussies themselves who treated us to a heavy taste of the Gold Coast with their harmonious and melodic soft rock, a pretty good warm up for the main act we'd say.

Last up on Thursday was of course the headliners The Kooks. You would be hard-pressed to find a more established or season band to headline the first night of your festival and watching them, it's so easy to see why they continue to earn these slots. The band were also celebrating their own anniversary with 20 years of their debut LP Inside In/Inside Out falling in 2026. This album formed a large part of my growing up so to hear it live in full (if not in order) was a real treat. Mix that in with countless others of their hits from the following years and you get a really solid headline set complete with huge hits like 'Naive', 'She Moves In Her Own Way' and 'Always Where I Need To Be' with more softer slower numbers like 'Westside' and 'See Me Now'. 'Naive' was of course the highlight of the set, their biggest song and one of the biggest singalongs of the weekend brought Thursday to a rousing finish.

Friday

Maisie Ellis

After managing to dodge the morning drizzle, we arrived at Rock N Roll Circus for day 2. 

What this festival does best is creating atmosphere. There are plenty of brilliant photo opportunities and everywhere you look there is a performance going on, whether it’s acrobatics, juggling or fire tricks. Even if you fancy a sit down outside the main tent, it is impossible to be bored. Where else can you have a pint while Dumbo’s answer to a pantomime cow wanders past you?

We made our way to see what food Rock N Roll Circus had to offer and it was a fine selection. We opted for a halloumi gyros and a Yorkshire burrito (which, if you have not heard, is a roast dinner in a Yorkshire pudding wrap). One word: banging. 

While enjoying our food, we caught Ellur’s set. Hailing from Halifax, singer-songwriter Ellur is no stranger to the Yorkshire ways and revelled in the sound of hundreds of audience members chanting “Yorkshire!” before jumping into each song. Her sound is a mix of Adele-esque pop ballads and Brit-rock which was great for warming up the crowd and getting everyone dancing. 

With back-to-back sets, it was soon time for Babyshambles in the Big Top. Aerial artists in glittery bodysuits were just finishing off a performance to Muse’s version of 'Feeling Good' and then Pete Doherty and co. took to the stage. Doherty somehow manages to wear a felt hat and a shirt with braces and remain cool. His voice is still incredible after decades of performing and we were treated to some very Doherty dance moves while the crowd even got a couple of pits going to some of their jumpier songs. 

Before the main event, the circus performers delivered their “spectacle show” which was amazing. I could not decide where to look: aerial artists with ropes and hoops swung overhead, a tightrope performer walked above the crowd and onstage a fire show was taking place, all while AC/DC’s Thunderstruck blasted across the tent. 

Finally it was time for The Streets. Mike Skinner is currently on tour performing his first album, A Grand Don't Come for Free, in full. The staging was theatrical, with the famous bus-stop as the main set. At one point, Skinner pays homage to Sheffield’s own Arctic Monkeys by scrawling “you’re not from from New York City, you’re from Rotherham” on the front of the bus stop (and no, the double “from” is not a grammatical mistake on our part - let’s just put it down to some mysterious Skinner genius). 

The album is narrative-led so experiencing the album in full was a really immersive experience. The backing vocalists were incredibly talented, particularly Roo Savill who sings the parts of the narrator’s girlfriend. The experience was only slightly dampened by a man I could not seem to move away from, who only knew the gist of the words to the songs but still confidently shouted through the set. “Sjbjeiuewkfn ice cream!! Jsdhnerkiiuh McDonald’s car park!!”

Skinner closed the set and the night with some fan favourites from other projects. In true Streets madness, the stage became a collection zone for small animals including tiny plastic ducks that an audience member had thrown on stage and Skinner arranged in a line as well as a balloon dog someone had passed to him, which he taped to an amp on centre stage. Skinner is a brilliant showman and really knows his audience. 

Saturday

Matt Codd

Saturday was the only sold out day of this year's festival, and for our money it was the strongest lineup too. It is also a hopeful sign for festivals to come because, as good as The Kooks were on Thursday, it's refreshing to see headline opportunities go to newer bands, just like today with Wunderhorse. The fact that it sold so well too hopefully means we're in for more of the same in the coming years.

As was the theme with this weekend though Saturday started out with rain, however unlike the two days preceding this, the rain didn't really stop. That didn't dampen anyone's spirits today though, we were gutted to miss Gurriers and have heard nothing but rave reviews from their set earlier in the day but we did make it down just in time for Westside Cowboy, and how happy we are that we did.

One of the most talked about bands around at the moment, hot off the back of releasing their hugely well-received debut album It Goes On and having taken a quick trip down the M1 to Don Valley Bowl after gracing Leeds Festival earlier in the day. Despite the whirlwind they've been on, the band are full of energy throughout a raucous performance. They never fail to impress anyone who sees them with their fantastic harmonies between all 4 of the members, their ability to glide up and down in tempo easily, all anchored by incredible drumwork and crashing guitar melodies. It was one of the highlights of the weekend.

Next up out in the rain were Yorkshire natives the north. Another massively hyped emerging band, they managed to draw a pretty sizeable crowd on Stage 2 in the rain but as soon as they started their set the rain was easily forgotten. Despite their youth, the band have an incredibly distinct sound, largely thanks to the raspy vocals of frontman Billy Memphis. It was a breathless set full of energy both on stage and in the pit, culminating in a huge singalong to the band's debut single 'Soundtrack Your Soul'.

Back in the Big Top next for current festival favourites Fat Dog. A Fat Dog is hard to put into words in many ways, mainly just how enjoyable it is. The band made their name initially through their raucous performances more than any of their music, but once they started releasing music in 2023, their reputation only grew and grew. Frontman Joe Love seemed to spend as much time in the crowd as he did on stage, making it incredibly difficult for anyone to not be invested in the performance, not that their chaotic and enrapturing techno-punk sound let you tear your attention elsewhere.

A quick dash outside saw an even bigger crowd waiting with anticipation for another band generating a heap of buzz in Bleech 9:3. A pretty big theme of Saturday's lineup, apart from the wall to wall quality on display, was the breathlessness with which these bands and the crowds hit each set. This was perhaps displayed best through Bleech 9:3. Another band with minimal music released, but who have built a burgeoning reputation off the quality of their output and their insane live shows. Even when you may expect those shows to be a bit tamer at a festival, the band ensure that isn't a possibility. From opener 'Jacky' to closer 'Ceiling' the band blitz through their stellar self-titled EP, new release 'Figure 8' and a little teaser of upcoming material, all the while spurred on by the whole crowd singing amongst endless mosh pits. If the ground wasn't already muddy from the rain, this left it in one hell of a state.

Back undercover under the Big Top we got to take in Baxter Dury. A truly distinct performer in almost every way. His set feels almost like a throwback as he paces about the stage in his sharp suit, throwing all sorts of enigmatic shapes on top of a retro-futuristic sound that all feels of the past but incredibly forward thinking. Baxter's spoken word delivery is thoughtful and punchy at all times and he's ably supported by an unbelievably tight band. The whole thing crescendos with the funky 'Allbarone' and the silky smooth, Fred again featuring 'Baxter (these are my friends)'. I caught Baxter at Tramlines last year but didn't fully appreciate his genius like I could here, it was a real tour de force.

Finally for our Saturday we were treated to a masterful headline slot from Wunderhorse. If you don't know Wunderhorse by now, you've surely been living under a rock, they're one of the latest bands to breakthrough in the 2020s guitar revival, and a pioneer in many ways. They're also a band developing at breakneck speed, so breakneck in fact that they've already begun to drop some of their earlier hits from their setlist.

Before that though the band saunters onto stage brimming with confidence and excitement before launching into 'Midas', the title track of their sophomore record. The noise under the Big Top is genuinely breathtaking, from the distorted grunge-y guitars to Jacob Slater's impassioned lyricism to the crowd hitting every word. It's one hell of a marker and is mirrored right through the set, especially towards the end with the ever-incredible 'Teal' and set closer 'Rain'.

It's an incredible reminder of just how powerful pure guitar music can be when wielded with skill. Slater and co do just that, all seemingly possessed by the wall of sound they create. There's no real room for sentiment here, some of their biggest hits like 'Purple' and 'Leader of the Pack' are somewhat surprisingly nowhere to be found, replaced by more and more of their second album, but the set doesn't suffer for it in the slightest. They're a worthy headliner and are sure to take that spot at even bigger festivals going forward.

Sunday

Meisha Garvey

Sunday was our final day at the circus, and though we were nervous to face the muddy fields after Saturday’s downpour, the anticipation for legendary Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft kept us going. Luck was on our side though and it turned out to be a beautiful, warm day…for the most part. 

For our first artist of the day we strode confidently through the mostly dry mud, to the Big Top tent ready for Sheffield’s own Everly Pregnant Brothers. We were shocked to find the tent mostly empty after a line up rejigging, sadly they’d performed earlier than expected and had already finished!

We were gutted, but thankfully not for long, because Mancunian indie rockers M60 were absolutely killing it on the Second Stage. We were treated to guitar heavy melodies and the powerful, passionate vocals of Matt Morton as they performed popular songs from their repertoire like ‘Darling’ as well as some much anticipated new songs not yet released. We’re sorry to say we can’t remember the names, but from what we heard, their next album is looking very promising, fan’s are in for a treat!

After a short scran break to feast on an amazing chicken Yorkshire pudding wrap with all the trimmings (Rock n Roll Circus really went all out with the food vendors this year) we once again hit the Big Top. Reigning from the Brit-pop era of the 90’s, Liverpool’s Cast have a huge catalogue of absolute bangers and everyone was loving their set, the energy in the tent was electric. The majority of the crowd we would estimate to be in their 40-60s and you could just feel that they’d been transported back to their heyday. Cast played classics like 'Fine Time', 'Sandstorm' and 'Walk Away' and showed that more than 3 decades later they still have the gift of creating insanely catchy pop hooks with 'Poison Vine', a hit from their new album Yeah Yeah Yeah.

After Cast, we checked back into Stage 2 for rising Indie-pop artist SOFY and her very talented backing band. She definitely showed why she was runner-up in BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge talent search, with her high energy performance, banter with the crowd and very relatable lyrics. We particularly enjoyed euphoric, synth and piano heavy '50/50' which was a pretty optimistic song about finding the silver lining in uncertain times—definitely a good message to spread in this era’s very uncertain times. 

Once SOFY finished her set, we went west for West Yorkshire rockers Embrace, who have been on a jam-packed touring schedule this year celebrating their 30th anniversary. Unlike a lot of bands that would be tempted to fully…embrace the nostalgia (sorry had to) and play a set list of their classics, Embrace had a mixed list of songs from like their latest album like 'Road to Nowhere', 'Stop' and 'Coming Home', with favourites like 'All You Good Good People' and 'Come Back To What You Know'. Coldplay cover 'Gravity' was a great way to start winding down the set, like the Zuton’s 'Valerie' or Dolly Parton’s 'I Will Always Love You', some cover songs just become more identifiable and popular by the cover artist and with Embrace’s heavy acoustics and the gravelly dulcet tone of Danny McNamara they just make 'Gravity' better and very much their own. 

Fully chilled out after 'Gravity' and their 'Ashes' encore, we took a break and retired to the VIP village for bevs and delicious pizza. It was a much needed break, but sadly we missed the rest of the Second Stage performances, only resurfacing for Big Top’s The Fratellis and Richard Ashcroft.

The Fratellis were insanely good, their stage presence is just immense and you can’t help dancing. With their bright lights, almost ska-like brass band and melodious female backing singers, the Scottish rockers had a lot going on. They also gave us a lot of merch envy, we need to get our hands on the Jack Daniel inspired Fratellis top Jon Fratellis was wearing. If you’ve ever been to any indie club night there’s a very high chance you’ve danced your heart out to The Fratellis (The Leadmill, 42’s, I’m looking at you). With it being 20 years since their iconic Costello Music album, we heard a lot of their best songs from it. Opening their set with a bang with 'Henrietta' and closing it similarly with 'Chelsea Dagger', we sang along, we danced along, we tasted our sweet youth again and were left buzzing and ready for the headliner.

Which we didn’t have to wait long for, because last but certainly not least was Richard Ashcroft, and he definitely didn’t disappoint! He kicked off his headliner set with 'Break the Night With Colour', before treating us to some of the best hits of The Verve. Ashcroft’s stage presence is still magnetic and he oozed charisma as he hyped up the crowd. His dedication to Dolly Parton singing 'Music is Power' was a beautiful tribute that had us all in our feelings and then he followed it up with 'A Song For Lovers', a smooth almost country-esque rock song from his solo career. Unfortunately, or fortunately since it was the end of the night, the heaven’s decided to open up and sheets of rain came bouncing down. We desperately wanted to stay for the encore, which would surely be 'Bittersweet Symphony' but we knew how difficult leaving would be with the crowd and mud, we made a strategic decision to make an early exit.

We’re still heartbroken about it, but we did catch recordings of Ashcroft’s encore songs 'Sonnet' and 'Bittersweet Symphony', so we didn’t completely miss out.

It was a slightly bittersweet end to an absolutely fantastic weekend, but we enjoyed every bit it and can’t wait to do it all again next year—but hopefully with a lot less mud and rain! We can only hope up North.