RADAR Festival 2026 reveals final headliners Skindred and Thy Art Is Murder, plus eleven more bands

The award-winning, genre-busting RADAR Festival has unveiled another raft of world-beating bands for its 2026 lineup, to join the previously announced Animals As Leaders (UK festival exclusive), The Pineapple Thief and Northlane.

Headlining RADAR's Friday will be Australian deathcore heavyweights Thy Art Is Murder for a UK festival exclusive, supported by Chelsea Grin (UK festival exclusive) - marking RADAR's heaviest ever day. On Saturday, the festival is headlined by Welsh ragga metal legends Skindred - and Sunday sees a much anticipated, emotional return for Australian proggers Voyager (UK festival exclusive).

Full list of bands announced today:

Skindred 
Thy Art Is Murder
Chelsea Grin
Voyager
Vianova
Graphic Nature 
Pintglass 
Ghost Iris
CLT DRP
Royal Sorrow
Sixth Wonder
Rozemary 
Maebe

Tickets are available from: www.radarfestival.co.uk/tickets

Full lineup so far: 
Animals As Leaders (UK festival exclusive)
Skindred
Thy Art Is Murder (UK festival exclusive)
Northlane
Protest The Hero (UK festival exclusive)
Voyager (UK festival exclusive)
Chelsea Grin (UK festival exclusive)
The Pineapple Thief
unpeople
Graphic Nature
Vianova
Ten56.
Pintglass
Ghost Iris
CLT DRP
Siamese
Sheoru
Heart Of A Coward
Employed To Serve
Cage Fight
Elwood Stray
Hacktivist
Black Gold
Royal Sorrow
Dali
Ihlo
Benthos
Seething Akira
Rozemary
Luna Kills
Maebe
Eville
Dacara

Co-founder and co-organiser of RADAR, Catherine Jackson-Smith, comments: 

"RADAR 2026 was already a powder keg and now Skindred are the lit match we’ve all been waiting for. One of the most electrifying live bands of the UK scene, they bring unfiltered energy and cheerful mayhem to Manchester and guarantee chaos for your Saturday night entertainment.

"Joining them, Thy Art Is Murder turn up the intensity. This is going to be heavy as all hell and a day that will be as brutal as it is memorable. Chelsea Grin bring their sharpened edges to the stage for a set that has been requested since we began RADAR, and because we love mixing it up, we’re also presenting the heroic Voyager on the same line-up for a masterclass in melody, colour and prog energy. 

"We have a wave of acts that are pushing the scene forwards in every direction: tech-metal ones-to-watch Vianova, the delightfully feral Graphic Nature and the only lads off site you need to entertain you: Pintglass. Add in the crushing precision of Ghost Iris and the rising firepower of Sixth Wonder. Discover Royal Sorrow with us, math-rockers Maebe and baddiecore Rozemary. 

"Beyond the music, RADAR remains the meeting point for creativity, tech and play. Dive into masterclasses, coffee shop chats, discover gear, meet your heroes and head to any of our quiet spaces for a breather. As ever, our no-clash schedule means that you don’t have to choose because you can get it all."

Alongside the acts announced, RADAR's commitment to a musical and gaming paradise continues: their music and gaming market will return. Expected to be wowed by a retro arcade, the best new instruments and music tech, and many more besides. 

Also demonstrating their commitment to new bands, RADAR will continue to donate a portion of ticket sales proceeds to Music Venue Trust and Save Our Scene's Liveline Fund, in order to support grassroots music venues.

More information on RADAR Festival:

RADAR - the UK's most exciting progressive music festival - moved to Manchester for its 2023 edition, the third iteration of the festival.

RADAR pride themselves on providing a first home for the best international artists - previous years have seen Dirty Loops' (2022) and The Callous Daoboys' (2023) first UK shows; it was also the first festival to provide a headline slot for Sleep Token (2023). 

RADAR 2025 saw a stellar headline set from darkwave heavyweight Carpenter Brut and metalcore legends UNDERØATH, alongside some of the hottest talent from the UK and further afield.

Joining this stellar list were RADAR 2024's Friday headliners - synth royalty The Midnight, making their UK festival debut. Accompanying them were Saturday headliners TesseracT, as the UK prog metal titans delivered a special War Of Being album set. Finally, closing the festival on Sunday, modern progressive titans Leprous performed a world-first live, by request fan set. 

RADAR 2023 had Friday headliners Sleep Token joining Periphery (Sunday) and Igorrr (Saturday) among a host of the best from the UK and global progressive underground.

RADAR capped their intensely impressive 2022 by winning the Best New Festival Award at the UK Festival Awards on 6th December in Manchester, and were shortlisted for Best Small Festival and Best Metropolitan Festival at 2023 and 2024's UK Festival Awards.

With their mixture of international talent and confirmed homegrown success, RADAR Festival has already positioned themselves as a champion of forward-thinking, guitar-led progressive music. No genre boundaries, welcome to all, RADAR Festival was launched in 2019 to acclaim, with performances from Animals As Leaders, Agent Fresco, Rolo Tomassi, among others. Following the COVID hiatus, RADAR Festival 2022 expanded to three days with triumphant appearances from Leprous, Haken, Dirty Loops, Plini, Conjurer, Soen and more.

RADAR Festival is all about pushing boundaries - this year introducing fresh genres to the line-up and stages - and this is just the beginning. 

For more information:
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Twitter: @RDRfestival // Website: www.radarfestival.co.uk