Festival Review: Future Days 2026

Future Days returns for a memorable day of dance punk and future talent, spotlighting bands like Adult DVD, Warmduscher and GANS all in one place with an evening of chaos and good vibes

When pitching a festival to anyone else, on paper, being the festival that got PISS before anybody else did in the UK on their festival slots doesn’t sound like a compliment due to the band’s deliberately antagonistic name. But Future Days in fact booked one of the most visceral; powerful performances of 2025 before anybody else and established themselves once again as a tastemaker festival of unparalleled proportions that has signified an unstoppable torrent of festivals leaping at the opportunity to put them on their bill in subsequent months, putting Man/Woman/Chainsaw, Lynks, TTSFU, Gurriers and Honeyglaze all on the same billing as well as proudly sporting local talent.

Now they’re back; having cashed in the goodwill for an upgrade – they now have beer ON TAP, but more importantly they’ve expanded to two days – putting Working Man’s Club, Ulrika Spacek, SILVERWINGKILLER and more on the Friday ahead of a packed out Saturday full of rising stars and packed out names, split between two venues with a warm sense of ‘college prom night’ feel to it, kind of appropriate given that this is bands that will be big in the future. Every one here has a glorious path to festival headliners ahead of them. Unfortunately - I cannot make the Friday due to other commitments (other commitments being Ditz at Dingwalls); but I’m here bright and early doors for a lavish all-dayer that was impossible to say no to.

First band on is our curtain raiser set Personal Trainer. Based out of Amsterdam – their frontman expresses his outlook on the world through oddball songs that revel in giving you the unexpected; perfect for festivals that booked bands with names like PISS. Their setlist includes tracks like ‘Scrambled Egg’, ‘Human Assholes’ and ‘Rug Busters’ – all pulled from the album ‘Human Assholes’. Singer-songwriter Williem Smit is exciting; whimsical and offbeat; these songs meander but instead of meandering negatively they are built around purpose and deliberation. ‘Object Permanence’ adds a recorder ensemble to its loud quiet indie rock, and there are touches of hidden depth here – as the third album that Smit has made under the Personal Trainer umbrella, playing almost entirely songs from it (we get two from ‘Big Love Blanket’ and ‘Still Willing’) it’s a testament to its uniqueness. In terms of getting everyone in the mood you couldn’t have asked for a perfect warm-up.

There is a bit of filtering back and forth between the outside and in as the smaller, predominantly local acts get the chance to play on the stage outside. It is for bands like Ollie Cook; returning from last year, and Pebbledash, that get really shine, a promising shoegaze outfit. The next band on the main stage here is 1,000 Rabbits, who I caught play at Chat’s Palace earlier in the month and they really establish themselves as a modern Black Country, New Road in tone. Their new EP is full of wonderful promise and everyone is in a dancing mood from the off, they are here to dance and here to have a good time. This escalates quite quickly into moshing for hometown heroes Gans, but 1,000 Rabbits are probably one of the best performers of the whole night, now very well crafted and in their element. They are – as described by my friend who came to see Future Days with us last year; a hybrid of Piss & Man/Woman/Chainsaw, the arthouse sensibilities of Man/Woman/Chainsaw mixed in with Piss’ visceral rawness. ‘White Horse’ is a highlight – “and you talk / and you fuck” the repetition howls to the wind. ‘Virgin Soil’ is just as brave.

One of the prospects that enticed me the most about Future Days was getting to see a Gans hometown show and they didn’t disappoint; giving off as much energy as headliners to be and then some. Having previously seen them supporting Big Special; their energy is propulsive, electric and daunting – the dance rock energy raw and electric. This is the theme – dance/punk – for the weekend; there’s no room for shoegaze on the main stage like TTSSFU last year. This is pure electric, punkified moshing energy – the crowd is electric and bursting full of life. The pits are wholesome and friendly: “I THINK I LIKE YOU” lifelong friends Woodman and Thomas Rhodes roar towards the audience; who respond in kind. Birmingham likes GANS very much and their promise – of a record being “good for the soul” is very much apt – GANS are good for the soul and then some.

Adult DVD had End of the Road festival dancing on their strings with circle pits; crowd-surfers and more, the dance-punk energy coming full through in their festival performance. They have the same kind of explosive, propulsive, “I’m going to combine mosh pits with the club raves” energy that has given life to bands like Getdown Services and Fat Dog in recent years; and that’s reflective in the energy their crowd gives back. Adult DVD are high tempo, full of bravado and appropriately lively – we’re in party mode here and the Future Days bookers have done a very good job at booking bands that keep the good, wholesome vibes going – everyone looks after themselves in the pits and you have people launching crowd-surfers in the air when they declare “anyone who crowd-surfs gets a free lighter”. This is a band that have mastered their first record and have the confidence of a band that knows they’re good.

They have echoes of Hot Chip; and have pulsating synths with grooves you can dance to. Harry Hanson is completely confident and full of energy, and the combination of guitar, bass and drums with the injection of electronic music really works. The rhythm of ‘Coffin Dodger’ goes down an absolute treat, one of my favourite songs of the year so far – “call me egotistical I want to see my funeral,” Hanson bellows – and the fans revel in response. These are a band with only more songs to come – and you can’t help but engage with their performance.

Headliner Warmduscher bring the crowd to a melting pot, sticking with the disco-punk of the evening theme. The variety is focused on the smaller stage as the dance punk is drifted into the main room; creating a moshing energy that doesn’t let up from last year; and it’s fascinating to watch the festival evolve; with SILVERWINGKILLER on the Friday. In comparison here Warmduscher are excellent – spawning out of the Windmill scene with plenty of bite and chaos. They have a kind of Getdown Services feel to them with Fat Dog energy – they’re a Windmill band; after all – ‘Wild Flowers’ really light up the place.

‘Fatso’ too is full of gradience and groove.  This evening might have been called a tribute to Hot Chip as that’s what Warmduscher drift into as well; you’re seeing the best of the scene today evolve with a fearless attitude that proves they’re capable of lighting up a room. Clams Baker Jr, the alter ego of  Craig Higgins, plays music as if you’re at a hardcore show – and you’ll need more than earplugs for this one – it’s going to blow the roof off. It does – and it is electric: ‘Midnight Dipper’ also swirls – you can’t have a Warmduscher song without it – they are the band that’s more likely to appear on a lineup supporting Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in Brighton than anything else, with the kind of lyrics like “three fingers up my arse, let’s go…” that is present on ‘Wild Flowers’ that offer a maverick style of stripped down unpretentiousness. And that’s what Future Days is – stripped down unpretentiousness by all accounts, some of the best we’ve ever got – the Windmill scene band taking the dance punk of the evening and making it electric that’s impossible to resist jolting the crowd into life.

For my second year Future Days once again seems like a resounding success; a more reigned in perhaps but the freedom of two days allows for this. It is chaotic, freewheeling; with plenty of good (and vegan!) food – and a room full of both a band and a crowd that actively wants to be there. I’ve already committed to 2027. With no more festivals like our dearly departed Wide Awake; it might be the next best thing.

Photography by @robertbarrett_photography