The State Fayre Festival 2026 line-up has been announced and they’re exploding out of the gate with stellar stars like Neil Young and Kings of Leon. The brand new festival is being positioning as ‘the UK’s largest BBQ and music festival’ right from the get go. Judging from the initial line-up, they’re more than ready to make good on their promise of celebrating good times, good music and good food.

State Fayre Festival: June 26-28, 2026 – Hylands Park, Chelmsford

Festival Republic and Live Nation have joined forces for this new weekend camping festival at Hylands Park, Chelmsford with a capacity of around 30,000 Americana-loving festival goers.

These big hitters promise a blend of contemporary and classic rock, Americana and folk music across three stages.

UK BBQ festival, FUME – co-founded by @eatingwithtod – will host The FUME Pit, featuring award-winning pitmasters and vendors from the UK and abroad.

There will also be an array of vegetarian and vegan food, live food talks and demos, and whiskey, craft beer, cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks.

Alongside the music, food and drink there will be a variety of state fair rides, activities and camping options, including boutique camping. We’ll keep you up-to-date with details as they are announced.

“We are thrilled to unveil a brand new camping festival that builds on the phenomenal UK growth in Americana, rock and country over the past few years. We’re so excited to present this music in an immersive outdoor setting complete with the authentic food, activities and big open skies of an American state fair.” – State Fayre’s organisers Anna-Sophie Mertens and Alex Simmonds of Live Nation

State Fayre Festival 2026 Line-up

Credit to the State Fayre Festival organisers for launching with such a strong line-up, and for including the day splits so early on. Here are the confirmed artists so far, with many more still to be announced. We’ll keep you updated, of course!

Friday June 26, 2026

Kings of Leon, The Black Crowes, Kingfshr, Max Mcnown, Nina Nesbitt, Bec O’Malley, Dug.

Saturday June 27, 2026

Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts, Elvia Costello & The Imposters with Charlie Sexton, Kip Moore, Sierra Ferrell, Muireann Bradley, Caroline Grace.

Sunday June 28, 2026

The Lumineers, Counting Crows, Amble, Dylan Gossett, The Coral, KT Tunstall, Avery Anna, Buffalo Traffic Jam

Headliners

Kings of Leon

The first ever headliner of State Fayre will be Kings of Leon. They had a metaphoric rise – reportedly signed by RCA before the band had played live together and before several band members had mastered their instruments. Yet they easily proved themselves with the catchy hit Molly’s Chambers, and a big break supporting The Strokes (that was a great show!)

Sex on Fire and Use Somebody moved into our brains in 2008 and the rest is history – they’ve sold 20 million albums and nearly 40 million singles worldwide and counting. Kings of Leon have plenty of festival headlining experience already including Coachella, Glastonbury, Roskilde and Lollapalooza.

Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts

Yes, actual Neil Young! He and The Chrome Hearts are kicking of the next UK and European leg of their Love Earth world tour in Manchester before headlining concerts and festival appearances across France, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy.

At State Fayre, you can expect to see Spooner Oldham (keys), Corey McCormick (bass, vocal), Anthony LoGerfo (drums), Micah Nelson (guitar, vocal), and Neil Young (guitar, piano and vocals – of course).

The Lumineers

Since being founded by Wesley Schultz (lead vocals, guitar) and Jeremiah Fraites (drums, percussion, piano) in 2005, The Lumineers have found success in blending rock and Americana with storytelling prowess. With five studio albums, they’ve earned 24 #1 hits across multiple radio formats, 6 billion streams, and 22 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

TL;DR – The Ho Hey band.

More highlights

The Black Crowes

Formed by brothers Chris and Rich Robinson in Georgia in 1984, The Black Crowes broke through with a string of hits in the early 90s. After extended breaks, they reunited in 2019 and promise a thrilling, loud live show.

Counting Crows

Counting Crows are one of our favourites here at Music Closeup, with one of those of multi-million selling debut albums in the U.S. that was worth the hype – and more. They’ve released seven studio albums and sold 20 million records.

Since we shared She Talks To Angels by The Black Crowes, we’ll stick to that theme with Angels of The Silences by Counting Crows.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters with Charlie Sexton 

Legendary British singer-songwriter Elvis Costello has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Halls of Fame. It’s testament to the quality of the lie-up that he’s not even a headliner. He will be performing with his acclaimed band The Imposters, featuring longtime collaborators Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher alongside Charlie Sexton.

Max McNown

Max McNown recently released the stripped-back EP Both Sides of the Blade, honouring his acoustic roots.

“Both Sides of the Blade’ begins with a cold conversation over coffee in the morning between a couple who’s lost their spark. The song follows a romance gone numb, and its desperate desire to feel something… anything… once again.” – Max McNown

The 24-year-old has already released two albums and earned 500 million streams and performed at Lollapalooza and C2C.

Here’s a video of performing on The Kelly Clarkson Show. So how about I go ahead and dive down the rabbit hole of Kelly Clarkson videos on my algorithm while you tell your friends about the new festival you’re going to next year. Deal? See you at Counting Crows!

State Fayre Festival 2026 Tickets

General tickets for State Fayre Festival 2026 go on sale at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, 28 November 2025.

If you’re a PayPal customer, a limited number of tickets will be available starting at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, 26 November 2025, for up to 48 hours. T&Cs apply.

There is also a State Fayre pre-sale (Thursday, 27 November 2025 at 9:00 a.m.), if you sign up to their mailing list for the access details.

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