Jelly Roll, Madness, Simply Red Lead UK Festival Announcements

Country to Country Adds Manchester

Country To Country Festival returns to the UK for three-days of live music, March 12-14, 2027 with a revolving line-up of country music’s biggest stars and most-exciting newcomers travelling between London, Glasgow and, for the first time, Manchester.

This year’s headliners are CMA, ACM and Grammy Award-winning Ashley McBryde , CMA and ACM Award winning Riley Green and CMA, ACM and Grammy Award-winning Jelly Roll .

All three artists will headline C2C for the first time, marking a new era for the festival. C2C will be Jelly Roll’s debut UK headline shows, whilst Riley Green returns to the UK for the first time since his sold-out tour in 2025. Ashley McBryde’s return to C2C as a headliner will mark the peak of an incredible journey, with the artist first performing in the UK at Country To Country in 2018 on the Spotlight Stage, playing across the UK and returning to C2C throughout the years.

They are joined by Cooper Alan, Midland, Cole Swindell, Jackson Dean, Dasha, Chase Matthew, Carter Faith, Emily Ann Roberts, Kashus Culpepper, Blake Whiten, Mack Geiger and Laci Kaye Booth.

The CMA Spotlight Stage will now appear in all three cities, marking further expansion of the festival. Showcasing the future generation of country music in the main arena, C2C and the CMA are delighted to announce Late Night Thoughts, Colin Lynch, Chandler Walters, Benny G, Owen Riegling, Jason Scott & The High Heat, Greylan James, Lanie Gardner and Belles will all be performing in London, Manchester and Glasgow.

Brittany Schaffer, CMA’s Incoming Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Bringing the CMA Spotlight Stage to all three cities this year is a wonderful reflection of C2C’s continued growth and the appetite UK fans have for what’s next in Country music. This lineup shows just how global our genre has become, with artists from around the world sharing the stage. As a trade association, CMA works year-round, well beyond our awards show and festival, to support the people who power this industry. Part of that work is helping artists build careers beyond the US and supporting our growing community of international industry members, and it’s a joy to see it come to life at C2C.”

For the first time, C2C will take place in Manchester. The event will be supported by Manchester Accommodation BID, a ground-breaking initiative led by the city’s hotel and serviced apartment providers to help bring new events to Manchester and Salford. Taking place at AO Arena, C2C Manchester will spread across the city centre, with artists performing at New Century during the weekend.

The London show takes place at The O2, which celebrates its 20th anniversary next year , and The OVO Hydro will be the host venue in Glasgow, Scotland. For the past decade, C2C had Belfast, Northern Ireland as its third UK stop, taking over Belfast’s SSE Arena, but that’s no longer the case in 2027.

Rock N Roll Circus Debuts In London

Madness are the first headliners for Rock N Roll Circus’ inaugural London edition at Gunnersbury Park, 2027, marking the group’s only outdoor summer show in the UK capital next year.

Rock N Roll Circus will bring its award-winning combination of live music, circus performers, food, drink and entertainment to the capital for four days July 22-25.

Joining Madness, who’ll take the stage on the Saturday, July 24, will be acclaimed New Zealand collective Fat Freddy’s Drop, Big Special, The Wailers, and London reggae star Hollie Cook, alongside the incredible Rock N Roll Circus performers, with more names still to be announced.

For Madness, the Gunnersbury Park show will be something of a homecoming celebration. Formed in Camden in the 1970s, the band went on to become one of Britain’s most successful and enduring groups, creating a distinctly British sound that brought together ska, pop, soul and the unmistakable humour and personality that became known around the world as the Nutty Sound.

Rock N Roll Circus Festival Director Ali O’Reilly said Madness were the perfect band to lead the festival’s first wave of London announcements: “Madness is a part of London’s musical history and a band whose songs have been passed from one generation to the next. That really fits what Rock N Roll Circus is about. You can come with your friends, your family, bring the kids for their first festival-style experience, or come because you’ve followed Madness for decades.

To have Madness headlining our first London edition at Gunnersbury Park, during such a landmark period in their career, is incredibly exciting. And with Fat Freddy’s Drop, The Wailers and Hollie Cook joining them, we’re already building a fantastic day of music and circus!”

The London debut will add a new chapter to the growing Rock N Roll Circus story, joining its established editions in Norwich and Sheffield rather than replacing them, as the independent festival continues to grow its series of major live music events across the UK.

Speaking of the other editions: Following a huge four-day 2026 edition at Earlham Park, Rock N Roll Circus will return to Norwich Aug. 19-22, 2027, while Sheffield’s Don Valley Bowl will welcome the Circus back Aug. 26–29, 2027. Further headliners and line-ups for London, Norwich and Sheffield will be revealed in the coming months.

The full general public on sale for the inaugural London edition of the Rock N Roll Circus launches Friday, Oct. 2.

Simply Red To Headline Inaugural Somerset Sounds

Simply Red have been announced as headliners for the inaugural new UK summer festival Somerset Sounds, scheduled to go down at The Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton, Somerset on Sunday, Aug. 22, 2027.

The performance marks the finale of their “Summer Funk ’27” UK and European tour, offering fans an exclusive final opportunity to see the band wrap up their summer run.

Simply Red will lead a debut lineup alongside Heather Small, and Grammy Award-winning soul collective Soul II Soul.

The announcement marks the first major artist reveal for Somerset Sounds, a joint venture delivered by Somerset County Cricket Club in partnership with award-winning live entertainment promoter Full Fat 360.

Oli Bartlam, founder, Full Fat 360, commented, “Somerset Sounds represents a bold new chapter for the Cooper Associates County Ground, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to launch it with an iconic headliner like Simply Red. Mick Hucknall and the band have delivered some of the most timeless tracks in British music history, making them the perfect act to set the benchmark for what this event is all about.

“We wanted our very first headliner to reflect the scale of our ambition. Bringing a globally renowned, multi-platinum act to Taunton signals our commitment to making Somerset Sounds a flagship summer event for the entire South West. It’s about creating unforgettable live experiences right here at the Club while driving cultural and economic energy into the community.”

Ticket prices start at £62.50 ($82.88) for General Admission and £95 ($126) for Gold Circle, with hospitality options also available. More information on https://somersetsounds.co.uk.

Somerset Sounds: New UK Festival Launches In 2027

Simple Things Expands

Simple Things has unveiled its curated guest lineups and the last remaining artist additions, completing the bill for the multi-venue takeover on Nov. 7 in Bristol, UK.

Cobrah, Squid, Shabaka, and Jeremy Deller have each handpicked a bespoke selection of acts, carving out four distinct sub-universes within the broader Simple Things program.

Pioneering electronic visionary Cobrah channels club, hyperpop and ballroom energy into her takeover, bringing together fashion-art provocateur Muchas Problemas, the fierce DJ Latex, unfiltered erotic pop-techno of Only Fire, and French producer and vocalist Coucou Chloe.

Squid lean heavily into leftfield post-punk, erratic math-rock and urgent noise with Bristol’s own post-punk/folk-improvisers Minor Conflict, Berlin trio 13 Year Cicada’s fractured polyrhythmic chaos, and the boundary-pushing Glasgow drum-and-synth punk duo Comfort. Squid’s own guitarist Anton Pearson will also perform a rare solo set.

Shabaka shapes a deeply spiritual and rhythmically complex lineup rooted in international avant-garde jazz and global percussion traditions with Joy Guidry, Ugandan rhythmic collective Arsenal Mikebe, and acclaimed drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar.

Jeremy Deller merges heritage folk absurdity and rave culture for his showcase with is own Acid Brass project, Mermaid Chunky, and Grubby Mitts headed by multidisciplinary artist Andy Holden.

Completing the final overall additions to the festival bill are three new acts: Bristol’s experimental improvisational supergroup MONOSUM; the genre-blurring indie-jazz fusion of Belfast outfit Esmeralda Road; and the high-energy club sounds of PIXY.

Extending beyond the main Saturday event, the 2026 edition OF Simple Things has expanded into a full weekend experience, kicking things off on Friday Nov. 6 with an official opening party at Shredenhams, headlined by Australian fuzz-rock titans Psychedelic Porn Crumpets.

Final tier three tickets are on sale, starting at £72.50 ($96).

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_Originally reported by [Pollstar](https://news.pollstar.com/2026/10/01/uk-lineups-jelly-roll-at-c2c-uk-madness-at-rock-n-roll-circus-london-debut-simply-red-at-somerset-sounds-premiere-more/)._