Tick­ets for Beard­ed The­o­ry 2026 are fly­ing out super fast this year. So if you’re think­ing about it I’d advise you to say yes! pron­to, to the friend­liest fest out there and nab those tick­ets now. There’s more pres­sure than ever this year on fes­ti­val tick­ets, in part due to Glas­ton­bury’s upcom­ing fal­low year.

Beard­ed The­o­ry 2026 (21st to 24th May) has already announced some of their line­up – many of the artists are like mem­bers of the BT fam­i­ly and have appeared reg­u­lar­ly over the years.

Here’s a few who will be back for 2026! Heart­worms graced the Wood­land Stage in 2023 with a storm­ing set to open the fes­ti­val on Thurs­day. Cardiff indie punk out­fit Pan­ic Shack made their debut in 2024, appeared again in 2024 and are back again for 2026. And Beans on Toast is a long-stand­ing favourite… he also pro­grammed an after­noon on the Wood­land Stage two years ago.

Fat Dog and Fero­cious Dog… so the Fat ones appeared last year on the main stage with front man Joe Love spend­ing much of the set get­ting down with the crowd. Rous­ing folk-punk band Fero­cious Dog are Beard­ed vet­er­ans of many years stand­ing and they always get a great recep­tion from the crowd. And mega-pop­u­lar cud­dle­some Get Down Ser­vices also return after play­ing to a packed Wood­land stage last year. 

The Dub Pis­tols have been a sta­ple of the fes­ti­val, with Bar­ry Ash­worth and the boys down for a DJ set in 2026. And do check out Bar­ry’s very own fes­ti­val called Mucky Week­ender, a dance-heavy 3‑day shindig mid Sep­tem­ber, set to close your festie sea­son in style.

Sun­day is fan­cy dress com­pe­ti­tion day – keep a look-out for the theme announce­ment for 2026. If you’re spot­ted in the crowd and get hauled out on stage, you just might win your­selves tick­ets to the fol­low­ing year’s shindig. Last year’s fab­u­lous win­ners are the two ladies pic­tured top left – inter­pret­ing ‘Teenage Dreams’ in their own, very imag­i­na­tive way.

Nev­er mind if you don’t win, The Bar Stew­ard Sons of Val Doon­i­can will cheer you up with some laughs (and good songs). Last year, they even sailed out into the crowd, with plen­ty of help­ing hands guid­ing them along the way.

If you’re attend­ing Beard­ed The­o­ry with chil­dren you can reg­is­ter for the famous BT school that will keep them busy dur­ing school hours on Fri­day, but places are lim­it­ed so make sure you enrol asap.

Final­ly, don’t for­get to vis­it the Some­thing Else Tea Tent, Beard­ed’s cozy and friend­ly spot for a great line­up, lots of chairs and a nev­er-end­ing sup­ply of cakes.

Beard­ed The­o­ry fes­ti­val 21 to 24th May 2026 

All pho­tog­ra­phy ©oliviarosen/gourmetgigs.com