The Penny Lane Weekender, a Liverpool festival that began in a pub's upstairs room, returns this weekend with a diverse lineup. The event, created in 2023 by post-punk band Pleasure Island, showcases local artists and has expanded to multiple venues.
Festival Origins and Growth
The first event was held at The Dovedale Towers, where John Lennon and Paul McCartney played with The Quarrymen in 1957. After a successful debut, the festival expanded in 2025 and now returns for 2026.
This year's festival runs from Friday, August 7 to Sunday, August 9, across venues on and around Penny Lane. Headliners include Scottish psychedelia band Helicon and British-Jamaican grime artist Reptile B.
Organizer's Vision
Sean Regan, Pleasure Island's frontman, said: "We’re having a great time here. We started out as punk squatters in an amazing derelict mansion, having fun in a wonderful piece of heritage…it almost felt like we were juggling with the crown jewels."
He added: "Then the penny dropped that we have an opportunity to do something really great and we shouldn’t waste it. So for this year’s festival we’ve got one of Glasgow’s most stellar guitar bands down as a nod to the genre we’ve built the festival upon, then spiked the rest of the weekend with all the up and coming stars to remind us to always keep looking forwards."
Full Lineup
The lineup includes Broken Down Golf Cart, Japanese Shite Raffle, Aggressive Soccer Moms (SWE), Drew Friel, Mumbles, The Empty Page, Pablo El Diablo, TERE!, Tom Collins, Crikey It's The Cromptoms, Bedroom Toys, Tax Party, Eels! Eels! Eels!, The People Assembly, Cheery, Maya Yenn, Dead Animals, Reptile B, Deviant Order, Oranj Son, Maybrick, European Taxis, Paint Me In Colour, Orlagh Niamg, Ellie Moon, S. Fearon, Victor Serge, Isis Moray, Quieting, and Veve.
Festival updates and set times will be posted on the Penny Lane Weekender Instagram account.
