Homegrown Festival 2026

The bands attract the fans, the venues attract the bands, the fans come back to the venue; it’s a beautiful three-way avenue that results in a flourishing creative community. There’s a mutual understanding amongst the three that you’re only as strong as your counterparts. Bands don’t come to places without the fans and fans seldom exist in a place without nurturing & diligent venues. It’s makes sense for these things to be kept in tip top health.

It’d be easy to say that Brighton is a lucky city to have all three in abundance, but this luck is the product of hard work, care, and a genuine love of grassroots music. All for very good reasons: it’s a really stunning thing to have a rich, vibrant tapestry of sounds oozing out from the dingy depths of our dive bars. It’s in these bars that friendships are formed, bands are started, bands blow up, the next wave are inspired, the cycle continues. There’s a reason Brighton is bustling & eyes around the world hold this little city in such high esteem. It’s a place where dedication & love are rewarded. Homegrown Festival is a celebration of all of that.

There’s a venue, a scene, a sound, a place for everyone in this small city. On any given night of the week, a simple stroll through town would lead you past basements with raucous punk blaring, attics with melodious folk sweetening an evening, large touring acts with sways of fans spilling out of venues, exuberant newcomers filling bars to their brims & rendering any chance of attending their 9am lectures an impossibility. There’s life and magic and soul and character on every street corner of Brighton. Music is as much a part of the fundamentals of this city as seagulls are… and this is what makes Homegrown Festival a possibility.

In terms of incredible venues, we rival that of the concrete metropolises of London & Manchester, but conveniently concentrated within simple walking distance of each other. This allows village levels of togetherness & community amongst gig-goers & bands, but with the resources and calibre of events of major cities. Homegrown Festival is a partnership between nine of these venues - Green Door Store, The Hope & Ruin, The Prince Albert, The Folklore Rooms, Rossi Bar, Daltons, The Pipeline, Revenge & Alphabet which has been added to complete the line - up for this third year edition of the festival.

Homegrown Festival is a chance for these venues to collaborate together & have a day to celebrate all the scenes that keep these places alive & thriving week in week out. Part of the fundamental ethos is to avoid hierarchy or curating stages by sound. Instead mixing bands of all ilks & sizes together. It’s a chance to welcome sounds into spaces they may not yet have ventured into, invite in crowds to a floor they may not have trod, and unite the different communities that make this city as special as it is.

The success stories of grassroots artists in this city is something to be proud. Every venue here has played host to local artists who’ve gone on to extraordinary things. It was only just before lockdown that Lime Garden played their first ever show, in the 60 capacity Rossi Bar with another emerging act called Lambrini Girls. Both have had truly remarkable rises since then selling out some of the bigger Brighton venues and taking not only the UK, but Europe & America by storm. Lambrini Girls are just completing a sold out Australian headline run too. It was with great pride we welcomed HotWax as a Homegrown headliner last year, the young group earned a loyal fanbase relentlessly playing the city’s underground circuit before eventual American tours with Royal Blood (another local) & headliners across the UK & Europe. Acts like these are an inspiration to the city & all continue to be so supportive of the bands, fans, and venues of Brighton; we’re lucky to have them! Success stories like this are continuously popping up, it’s exciting to think who on this year’s lineup is going to be the next to follow? Come catch them for yourself before the anyone else.

Once you’ve collected your wristband from the box office downstairs at The Hope & Ruin, the rest of the 11th April is yours. Prepare to bask in the vibrant fabric of upcoming textures and sounds. Seek out your favourite acts, take a gamble on something new, spend time with friends, meet new people, have a beer; definitely have a beer and enjoy a very well deserved sit down at the end of the day. It’s a chance to be part of something wonderful, something that’s been put on purely out of a love for music and people: there’s no queuing hierarchy or VIPS, everybody is a fan, everybody is equal, everybody is here to enjoy. There’ll be recommendations of acts coming at you left, right and centre; chances to dance, sing, mosh, sway, chat, laugh; and most of all to just soak in the sound of the city.

Now’s your chance to get a ticket, we’re well on track for our third sell-out in a row so be quick. Come find your new favourite act & be part of something special. We’re so excited to bring this festival to you again- see you on Saturday April 11th!