EppyFest 13

EppyFest, the eclectic music festival is back for its 13th year, and we're very excited to be continuing into the second decade of this live music event in fine style and with a typically vibrant line-up. EppyFest 13 will be happening on the weekend of Saturday 25th July and Sunday 26th July in 2026. We will be returning to our venue, Smokey Joe's Diner, at 16 Bennington St, Cheltenham, GL50 4ED. Below are our current planned timings and line-up, though these may change.

On the Saturday, doors will open at 6:30pm and we aim to finish by around 11:30pm.

Our big Saturday headliner announcement is Sunday Driver, a genre-blending band known for their unique fusion of English folk, Indian classical music, psychedelia, and steampunk aesthetics, creating a cinematic, imaginative sound with rich instrumentation (like tabla & woodwind) and narrative lyrics, often called "Spaghetti Eastern" or "Steampunk Folk," with a distinctive, evocative style that draws from literature and world cultures. The band have headlined events across the UK and abroad, and I'm very excited to be welcoming them to the Saturday of this year's EppyFest where they'll be bringing their eclectic, atmospheric, and culture-crossing music to our loyal EG family. They also released one of my favourite albums of last year, 'Silk and Filth', which you can check out here.

Performing as the 'middle act' on the Saturday, we're very happy to welcome Hoopy Frood. The sound of Hoopy Frood has been shaped by a wide range of influences, from Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, to Ozric Tentacles, Björk, Bob Marley, and Fleetwood Mac. They produce ethereal, mind-bending sounds, a unique blend derived from their influences—from classic rock to psychedelic electronica - but all infused with the spirit and creativity of the band. They released their excellent fourth album, 'Mostly Harmless', last year, which you can check out here.

And as for who will be kicking off the Saturday, we're very excited to welcome another new name to EppyFest, Not Soup, an eclectic, riff-driven four-piece experimental/psychedelic rock band from Birmingham, known for math rock, prog, and jazz rock influences, featuring mind-bending rhythms and subversive hooks. You can listen to a recent single from them here.

Then, on the Sunday, doors should open at 4:30pm, and we aim to finish by around 9:30pm.

Opening the Sunday of EppyFest 13, we're thrilled to welcome Phil Mercy for his first time performing at EppyFest. He was originally scheduled to be playing EppyFest 11, but we had to postpone unfortunately when Phil damaged his knee, but Phil is fully fit again now and eager to play for our warm and welcoming EppyFest audience. Phil is a composer and guitarist, perhaps best known as a founder member of the brilliant band Thieves' Kitchen, but in more recent years he's been working solo with his Blind Convergence project. Phil has twice wowed audiences at our annual Chrimbo Limbo live music events with his exciting improvisational guitar and electronics, which I've described as like Allan Holdsworth jamming with Boards of Canada. Phil's excellent second Blind Convergence album was released last year and you can check it out here.

The Sunday afternoon will continue with Living in Shadows, the excellent band from Gateshead, led by award winning vocalist Zoe Gilby and multi-instrumentalist Andy Champion, who combine alt pop and progressive rock, whilst also reflecting their background in jazz. They bring a winning combination of warmth, great tunes, and stunning technical expertise and I can heartily recommend their captivating second album, 'Neon Burning' from 2024, available to check out here.

Following Phil Mercy and Living in Shadows, it is my great privilege to announce that our Sunday headliner will be The Pete Roth Trio, featuring Pete on guitar, Mike Pratt on bass, and no less than the incomparable Bill Bruford on drums. The Pete Roth Trio strives for an intimate, relatively unscripted music that thrives in small places and dark corners. Jazz, funk, contemporary classical, Dvořák. Nothing is sacred. It’s not retro. It’s not comfortable. It’s just brilliantly unruly. We are of course deeply honoured that the legend that is Bill Bruford will be playing at EppyFest this year, the man who has played with everyone from Yes, King Crimson and Genesis, to his own bands Bruford and Bill Bruford's Earthworks. But at EppyFest, don't expect a medley of his greatest hits, instead expect an intimate, improvised, and deeply interactive experience. The music unfolds as a conversation between the three members of the trio and the audience, where every performance becomes a unique exploration of sound, texture, and connection. For more details and videos of the trio performing live, see https://www.peterothtrio.com/

Advance tickets are available now for the whole weekend, as well as day tickets for just the Saturday or the Sunday, plus a small number of Sponsor tickets, for those of you willing to pay a little extra to support the festival this year & for the future. Sponsor tickets come with an EppyFest 13 poster & maybe some extra goodies (TBC).