Firevolt Festival 2026

7th – 9th August 2026
Whitebottom Farm, Stockport

This was the first year that I was unable to attend the full weekend at the awesome Firevolt Festival. I was gutted, but an event clash meant it was impossible to do both. Therefore my good buddy and brilliant photographer, Stephen Wood covered Fri & Sat, and I could attend the Sunday.

In it’s 5th year, this festival is going from strength to strength and pulls in the numbers every year! Organisers Bev & Stret always hand pick a scorching hot line-up, and this year was yet another cracking set of bands. You will find the festival in the beautiful countryside just outside Stockport, just through Etherow Country Park. It is a perfect setting, very laid back, apart from if you are at one of the stages where you get your face melted ! With lots of stalls around the venue offering tasty food and drinks and clothes, jewellery etc, there is something for everyone. The legendary double decker bus was on site again which saw some ad hoc bands playing on the top deck some evenings and the open top was great to chill and catch some of the lovely sunshine, and a great view of the Trooper stage and crowds! There is a good size campsite with spaces allocated for vans and sectioned off for tents, and glamping packages on offer. It continues to be one of the best festivals I have been to, and I highly recommend anyone new trying it, you will not be disappointed!

Here is our round up of the weekend, hope you enjoy!

Friday

Friday saw a fantastic line up for the first full day. Opening the main Bludsucker stage were the awesome mesmerising electronic art rock band from Manchester – Shape of Water, followed by Blues-rock group from Sheffield – Doomsday Outlaw. For the criminally insane, there to showcase their brilliant immersive theatrical show – Ward XVI. Storming the stage next were German hard rock band – The New Roses. Headlining the Friday night was Glaswegian rock band Mason Hill who are back in the game with new front man Tom Ward. They put on an epic performance.

Over on the Trooper Stage opening up were old school rock band – Takeaway Thieves who brought plenty of glam swagger! Fireheart next up who showed the crowd they won’t be beaten and are fired up by their passion of raw powerful rock music. This guy is busy this weekend as the first of his bands – Darren Wharton’s Renegade took the roof off the Trooper stage. The memory of legendary Thin Lizzy lives on with this awesome set of bangers.

Ricky Warwick & The Fighting Hearts Solo Artist and frontman of Black Star Riders, The Almighty and Thin Lizzy, Ricky, along with his backing band delivered an excellent collection of songs which had the crowd singing along and cheering. We were unable to stay for the final band which were Hellbent Forever a Judas Priest cover band, I heard they were fantastic!

Friday Slideshow

Saturday

Opening the Bludsucker stage were Crowley followed by Thieves of Liberty who hit the stage with their heavy blues-rock set and made sure the Firevolters were awake properly! Alt-rock trio Muddibrooke brought the noise with their no nonsense vibe and fantastic stage prescence. The 2nd performance of the weekend for Darren Wharton as he headed up Dare They got the crowd going with their set packed full of back catalogue bangers. The headline spot belonged to Massive Wagons who always bring their explosive set, and this was no different. Pyro packed, Baz jumping, crowd bouncing. A huge crowd pleaser.

Gracing the Trooper Stage first on Saturday to wake up the neighbours were Mchale’s Permanent Brew who delivered a fab set full of 60s & 70s inspired blues rock. This accomplished 5-piece are storming the UK blues/rock scene along with our Woody as their photographer! These Wicked Rivers filled the stage with their funky ornaments, lampshades and rugs. The fans were out in force to take in the Derby based rockers’ set full of old, and some new tracks thrown in.

Firevolt always has a good mixed bag of bands over the weekend, and this next one proves this. Wednesday 13 are a horror-punk heavy metal band who put on an visually impressive show as well as being musically credible. Donned the Duke of Spook, Wednesday 13 was presented with a birthday cake on stage for his upcoming 50th birthday, nice touch by Bev & Stret! Unfortunately we could not stay to see Thunder Hammer

Saturday Slideshow

Sunday

I arrived on Sunday (better late than never!) to an already buzzing, slightly hungover atmosphere. It was great to be back if only for the one day and so lovely to see lots of familiar friendly faces. I always feel welcome there, and got so many shouts of ‘Ange!’ it was brilliant. I tried to see Stret & Bev to say hi but they were both really busy 😦 Sending big hugs via this write up and hope to see you both soon.

I got started right away with my camera for the 3rd song of Haxan, running past Nigel to the pit and waving at him on the way past (This was my entry almost every time to the pit) The girls were on fire with their hard rock/bluesy type set, and got the crowd warmed up for sure! The main stage saw hangovers cured by Scottish metal band Pyroclast who have an 80s style heavy metal sound with bits of Maiden thrown in the mix.

Bringing it down a few notches with Jack J Hutchinson as he rocked out and showcased his riffs and solo skills. His rocky/bluesy songs are always catchy and has the crowd singing along. He had a good set of fans down at the Trooper stage! Blackpool boys Apriori were next up to smash up the main stage. A clear crowd favourite, the guys lapped it up and delivered their hard-hitting set with style. The fans sang along loudly and there were lots of band interaction. I have seen them a few times, and it’s always a top set.

Making enough noise for a 6-piece band were Macclesfield hailed 2-piece The Virginmarys What a band, and never seen a drummer like this one! He smashed the hell out of them drums! It is a very different sound, quite punky and raw, but it works, and they do it very well with just drums guitar and vocals. Up next on the main stage were rock band Cats in Space Their 70’s inspired set was well received by the crowd and saw some familiar faces on guitar (Sam Wood and Chris Childs) The vocals and harmonies worked well, and drew the crowds in.

Sticking with the lighter Sunday afternoon style rock, saw British rock band FM on the Trooper stage and brought their biggest fans down the front who were cheering and joining in the whole set. With 15 albums released and a 42-year career to date, they showcased their experience with their big choruses and powerful vocals.

It was time for the headliners of the weekend – the mighty The Wildhearts One of my personal favourite bands, and is always great to see Ginger rocking out. We were treated to pyros to kick off and us photographers were not allowed in the pit until song 3. From the off, the guys were on fire and were exploding into each song with raucous applause and cheers from the crowd. I was so happy to be mid crowd to jump around to ‘Suckerpunch’ Ginger clearly has a huge fanbase and people love seeing him, the crowd were bouncing. He continued his set randomly swigging from a JD bottle, and brought his dear doggie Maggie on stage. I loved this and I shouted her from the pit haha like she was gunna come to me 🙂 Ginger and the band were giving it their all, and it was so great to see Ginger at the top of his game following his recent diagnosis. I was super pleased to rock out to the encore as well ‘I wanna go (where the people go)’ My camera got a bashing about but what the hell. What a great headliner. So pleased to see the guys announce an upcoming tour, I will see you down the front at at least one of them dates! We love you Ginger!!

It was the end of yet another great festival put on by the organisers and volunteers. A huge thank you to all involved, for the festival of the year. Special thanks to Bev & Stret for giving us the opportunity year after year to attend and shoot this special event. Big shout to Nige for sorting us photographers and always having a smile for us. My personal thanks to Stephen ‘Woody’ Wood for being my right hand man, and producing the banging shots for Fri & Sat, he did an ace job and he said enjoyed it as a Firevolt Virgin 🙂