The final day of Tramlines started for me back at The Leadmill Stage with Junk. The festival landed right in the middle of their tour, but there was no sign of tiredness. They had great energy and built their own world on that stage. It’s always great to watch a band who make great music but, more than anything, look like a group of friends having loads of fun together.
Next up at The Leadmill were Dublin four-piece Brooki. Their sound pulls together folk, grunge and 90s alternative influences, but live it was the vocals that immediately stood out. Sarah Brookfield’s voice was mesmerising and full of raw emotion, drawing the audience into every song.
I then headed over to The Open Arms for Sia Raw. The band have been described as genre-defiant, and their blend of rock and soulful textures made for a really enjoyable set. Another emerging act I was very glad to catch.
Later at The Open Arms were Eighty Eight Miles, making their Tramlines debut during a festival run. There were clearly some returning fans in the audience, but also plenty of people discovering them for the first time, and they were very good at pulling everyone in. Their audience interaction was brilliant throughout, including introducing one song as being inspired by boy racers waking them up at 2am. Very relatable. The whole performance was captivating, and they definitely left with a few more fans than they arrived with.
Then it was over to the Sarah Nulty Main Stage for Wet Leg. They’re always excellent live, and Tramlines was no exception. Photographing them did involve fighting through an impressive amount of haze to actually see what was happening on stage, but the atmosphere out in the crowd was great. Even while I was walking around the festival, I could hear the set carrying across the park and found myself singing along. Definitely one of those performances that takes over the whole festival for a while.
Back at The Leadmill, Florence Road were one of the performances I had been most excited to see. Their rise over the last couple of years has been ridiculously quick, and judging by the signs being held up at the front, plenty of people in the tent had already been following them for a while. They were absolutely incredible. The whole set felt atmospheric and incredibly polished, without losing any of the excitement of watching a band who seem to be right in the middle of something huge. The tent was full of returning fans alongside people seeing them for the first time, and they completely lived up to the hype.
My final set of Tramlines 2026 was Wolf Alice on the Sarah Nulty Main Stage. I think this might have been the most wholesome crowd I was in all weekend. Everywhere I looked there were groups of friends jumping around, singing at each other and just looking completely delighted to be there. The energy across the whole field was so joyful. Wolf Alice matched it with a huge full-production show and some really interesting staging. A brilliant way to close out the festival.
All in all, Tramlines was a great weekend, but Sunday did feel noticeably quieter from a LOUD WOMEN perspective. With five stages to choose from, there were still a few hours where there wasn’t anyone fitting the remit for me to cover. Hopefully future line-ups will see more women, trans, non-binary and gender-diverse artists represented across every stage.