Arts Preview 2026: The year ahead in pop
Winter, spring, summer or fall, all you gotta do is trawl (the listings) and you’ll find a whole host of great music lined up for 2026, writes Fiona Shepherd
WINTER The year begins, as the last one ended, with our grassroots music venues in need of punter patronage more than ever, so if you can’t hold off two weeks until Celtic Connections kicks off its latest edition, send some love in the direction of your local howff. Glasgow’s big folk hoolie has plenty to offer from 15 January, including tributes to Dick Gaughan and Warren Zevon, the return of the Cauld Blast Orchestra after 20 dormant years, The Unthanks marking their own 20th birthday, international guests Buena Vista Allstars and Orchestra Baobab, must-see soul family band Annie and the Caldwells and Emmylou Harris playing in a velodrome.
Beyond Celtic Connections, Glasgow indie trio The Fratellis celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of their debut album Costello Music with hometown shows on 26 and 27 February. But if it’s new Scottish music you’re after, Edinburgh troubadour Callum Beattie releases his latest album Indi and shanty sensation Nathan Evans presents his debut collaboration with fraternal duo Saint Phnx, called Angels’ Share.
Veteran thrash metal outfit Megadeth bow out with their final, self-titled album in January and other big beasts enter the album fray in February, including Charli XCX and Mumford & Sons. Robbie Williams returns with Britpop, his first new album in over six years, and plays an intimate (for him) show at Barrowland on 4 February. The mighty Gorillaz release The Mountain at the end of the month and then scale the Hydro in March. And after a year of teasing and three different title changes, Lana Del Rey might release her tenth album and it might be called Stove.
SPRING Come the spring, Karine Polwart tours her Fringe hit Windblown to Edinburgh, St Andrew’s, Inverness, Glasgow, Stirling and Perth. CMAT embarks on her rescheduled Barrowland mini-residency (2-4 March) while fans of more conventional country music can mark the start of festival season at Country 2 Country, taking over the Hydro from 13-15 March. Terminal V hosts its latest massive rave party at the Royal Highland Centre on 18 and 19 April and by the end of April it’s allegedly safe enough to step outdoors for the Mull Music Festival, followed in May by the diverse attractions of Skye Live, Knockengorroch Festival, the Kelburn Jazz Festival and the Queen’s Park Spring Weekender, the latter all the more bittersweet following the passing of Optimo founder JD Twitch last year.
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Rapper Dave plays the Hydro on 4 March, while veteran popsters Blue and Louis Tomlinson juke it out for your affection on 27 April. Squeeze resurrect their unreleased concept album Trixies, written when Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook were still teenagers, for release in March. Super Furry Animals reform for a 30th anniversary tour in May, including two shows at Barrowland, and Haircut 100 reunite with frontman Nick Heyward for the first time in 40 years, stopping by Glasgow’s Pavilion on 10 May.
Gigs of the season, however, will surely be David Byrne’s much anticipated Who is the Sky? tour, arriving at Glasgow’s Armadillo on 6 and 7 March, and Glasgow and Edinburgh dates with the imperious Kraftwerk – sadly not playing in a velodrome. Also, Lana Del Rey might release her tenth album and it might be called Stove.
SUMMER Edinburgh’s inimitable Hidden Door festival of music and art, now with Creative Scotland funding boost, returns to an as yet undisclosed venue from 3-7 June. Otherwise, ’tis the season for massive outdoor shows. Take That resurrect their spectacular Circus tour at Hampden Park on 12 and 13 June, and Metallica and Calvin Harris play the same venue on 25 June and 1-2 August respectively. Meanwhile, Murrayfield welcomes country star Luke Combs on 24 and 25 July and Bon Jovi on 28 August.
Scotland’s biggest al fresco festival TRNSMT moves to June (19-21) with Lewis Capaldi, Richard Ashcroft and Kasabian headlining on Glasgow Green. Neil Young is the pick of the Glasgow Summer Sessions shows at Bellahouston Park, performing with his band the Chrome Hearts on 29 June, while The Cure, Florence & the Machine and Lorde head up the Edinburgh Summer Sessions line-up at the Royal Highland Centre.
Garbage, James Taylor, Snow Patrol, Deacon Blue and Callum Beattie all grace Edinburgh Castle esplanade in July, with the latter also popping up at Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival in the Highlands. Over in Dundee, the Discovery Festival welcomes The Libertines and reunited boy band Five, among others, to Slessor Gardens.
On a more bijou level, the magnificent Scissor Sisters play Summer Nights on the Southside at Glasgow’s Queen’s Park on 30 August and Belle & Sebastian mark 30 years since the release of their first two albums, Tigermilk and If You’re Feeling Sinister, on 26 and 27 June at Kelvingrove Bandstand, the hometown venue they campaigned to save. Lana Del Rey might release her tenth album and it might be called Stove. But please don’t quote us on that.
AUTUMN Autumn gig highlights range from Cabaret Voltaire to Cat Power (both at Barrowland), while The Proclaimers continue to buck the trend for playing one enormo, expensive show and get out and about around the country on their autumn tour. Dunfermline, Dundee, Dumfries, are you with me?
By the end of the year, there may also be new albums from The Rolling Stones, Stevie Nicks, Foo Fighters, Paul McCartney, The Black Crowes and a reformed Alabama Shakes, while Massive Attack have announced they will bodyswerve Spotify to release “work created in the recent past”. And Lana Del Rey might have released her tenth album and it might be called Stove…
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