Festival Review: This Feeling By The Sea 2026 – Friday
DAY ONE
This Feeling By The Sea | Photo by: BuckoPhotography
If you ever want to catch bands right on the edge of blowing up or even before they’ve properly got one foot on the ladder, then This Feeling nights are exactly where you need to be. Any time This Feeling have got a stage at a festival, you’d be mad not to stick your head in for half an hour, even if you don’t recognise a single name on the poster. More often than not, that unknown band ends up becoming one that you’re obsessed with a couple of years later, leaving you gutted you missed the chance to say “I saw them back then.”
Now an annual pilgrimage for grassroots music lovers, This Feeling By The Sea in Bridlington has become one of the best showcases of emerging guitar music anywhere in the country. Two days inside the stunning art deco surroundings of Bridlington Spa, packed with wall-to-wall music, pints, mates and that unbeatable community spirit you only really find on the grassroots circuit, it’s impossible not to fall in love with the place.
Day one however, didn’t exactly get off to the dream start. Still feeling half scrambled after seeing The Prodigy the night before and now somehow another year older too we dragged ourselves to Manchester Piccadilly for what should’ve been a simple three-hour trip to the east coast. Instead, it was absolute chaos, two cancelled trains, a replacement bus to Sheffield, then watching our connecting train pull away literally a minute before we reached the platform. Six hours later, slightly broken and fully hanging by this point, we finally rolled into the ridiculously windy seaside town of Bridlington.
Still, the second we arrived at Bridlington Spa all the travel drama disappeared. If you’ve never seen a gig there before, get it on your bucket list immediately, having already seen Oasis, The Prodigy and Ian Brown there over the years, I already knew this weekend was going to feel special.
The Indie Masterplan | This Feeling By The Sea | Photo by: BuckoPhotography
Walking into the venue and getting hit with “Happy Birthday!” from every direction instantly sorted the mood out too. I probably looked about ten years older than I actually was after the journey and the hangover combo but the atmosphere inside the Spa was unreal from the off. No egos, no cliques, just one massive family brought together by guitar music.
We headed upstairs to the Session room for our first band of the weekend, this was Leeds outfit Astoria, this summed up exactly what This Feeling is all about, discovering that next band before everybody else catches on. We’d only heard of Astoria a couple of days before the festival, but what we’d already heard massively caught our attention. Sadly, thanks to the travel nightmare, we only caught the last two songs of the set but even that was enough to leave us wanting more. One of those tracks turned out to be their new single ‘Hey Now’, released the following week and it already sounded like a tune built for bigger rooms.
After a quick chat with the lads afterwards, it’s safe to say we owe them a proper full-set review next time because we’ll definitely be catching them again very soon.
The Cases | This Feeling By The Sea | Photo by: BuckoPhotography
Being late through the doors meant we spent a while slightly out of sync with the set times, so we only managed snippets of both The Cases and The Cavs too. Even so, The Cases pulled a seriously impressive crowd considering they were on around 5pm. The buzz around them right now feels massive and they’ve got that look of a band ready to properly take off over the next year or two.
After countless hugs, birthday pints and catching up with familiar faces, we finally settled in properly for our first full set of the weekend and Cruz absolutely delivered it.
Cruz | This Feeling By The Sea | Photo by: BuckoPhotography
Cruz have quietly built themselves a loyal following over the last few years and it’s easy to understand why. They’ve got that timeless indie sound running through everything they do but it never feels dated, there’s still something fresh and modern about them. ‘Take Off The Pressure’ instantly dragged both die-hard fans and curious passers-by into the set and you could almost see people discovering a new favourite band in real time.
‘California’ brought one of those proper unity moments too, arms round shoulders, pints in the air, everybody singing, exactly what these festivals are all about.
The band also treated us to a new track, believed to be called ‘More Of The Same’ and it slotted naturally into the set like it had already been there for years. Definitely one to keep an eye out for.
Closing with crowd favourites ‘Disco Colour Beams’ and ‘Life Of Misery’, Cruz walked off having undoubtedly won over another wave of fans. On a personal level, it was brilliant seeing them on a bigger stage too, they looked completely at home up there.
We stayed around the main ballroom stage for the rest of the evening and one thing This Feeling absolutely nailed across the entire weekend was the flow. There was never enough downtime for things to drag but always enough time to grab a pint, have a catch-up and get ready for the next band.
Girlband! | This Feeling By The Sea | Photo by: BuckoPhotography
Then came Girlband! and they absolutely detonated the place. Blending punk, indie and straight-up attitude, Girlband! don’t just command attention, they demand it. There’s swagger, bite and chaos running through every tune.
‘21st Century Suffragette’ had the whole venue bouncing within seconds, once the drop kicked in, it was absolute limbs at the barrier. Somehow ‘Thelma & Louise’ raised it another level entirely, to the point where you could genuinely feel the ballroom floor shaking beneath you.
Ending on ‘Not Like The Rest’ was the perfect finish too, with the crowd’s “Ohhhh ohhhh oh oh” still echoing around the dome long after the band had walked off stage.
You could tell just how much work This Feeling had poured into the weekend as well. Every detail had been thought about. From Jericho Keys DJing between bands on the Friday, to John Kennedy doing the same on Saturday, there was never a dull second. Soccer AM’s Fenners introducing bands with his usual cheeky banter only added to the atmosphere too. There were no dead spaces anywhere across the festival just constant movement, noise and good vibes.
The Rosadocs | This Feeling By The Sea | Photo by: BuckoPhotography
Next up came one of the weekend’s guaranteed highlights, The Rosadocs. Honestly, if you ever want certainty that you’re about to have a class time at a gig, just go and watch The Rosadocs. Small venue, big venue, festival slot, doesn’t matter because they always deliver.
We probably saw them more than any other band last year well maybe not Reytons but somehow they still keep getting better every single time.
Coming out to Pulp‘s ‘Common People‘ is a masterstroke for a Sheffield band too. The whole room instantly turns into a giant karaoke before they’ve even hit the stage, then ‘At Your Door’ kicked in and Bridlington Spa absolutely erupted.
Throughout the entire day, nobody had been repped harder on the merch front than The Rosadocs either. Their football shirts were absolutely everywhere, once the band hit the stage, it became a sea of bouncing orange under the ballroom lights.
‘Bittersweet’ brought a slightly moodier edge to proceedings, but that trademark massive Rosadoc chorus still hits like a train. It’s one of those songs where fans don’t just sing along because they know the words, they properly mean every line.
‘The Ladder’ saw Keelan and Myles dancing together almost like a modern indie version of Status Quo and you could tell the band were absolutely loving every second of the reaction they were getting.
The jaw-dropping moment of the set came during ‘Cross To Bear’ with Keelan’s vocals sounding powerful enough to crack the art deco ceiling above everyone’s heads.
As always, ‘Run Away Instead’ finished things in chaotic fashion, with Keelan climbing onto the barrier and partying with the crowd while the rest of the band carried on grinning their heads off behind him. Watching the chemistry between the lads on stage is half the fun with The Rosadocs, they still look like they’re having the best night of their lives every single time they play.
It was another massive set from a band that fully deserve every bigger slot coming their way.
Another thing that really stood out all weekend was how supportive everybody was of each other. Bands playing the following day like Breeze and Montello were already milling around as fans, watching sets and soaking the atmosphere up themselves.
The Indie Masterplan x This Feeling | This Feeling By The Sea | Photo by: Nikki Wilson
Then there’s Mikey Jonns, basically Mr This Feeling himself wandering around taking everything in. What makes Mikey special is how genuinely buzzing he gets from seeing other people enjoy themselves, you can tell the whole thing means everything to him. He even stopped for a hilarious hat swap with our Nikki, trading his trademark red-and-black gingham hat for her pink fluffy one for a photo.
Radio X legend John Kennedy was another huge presence across the weekend too. One surreal moment came when he tapped me on the shoulder to ask about the origins of ‘Who The Fuck Is Alice’ becoming the part of the intro music for headliners The Lilacs. Fascinating bloke, could honestly listen to him talk music for hours.
The Lilacs | This Feeling By The Sea | Photo by: BuckoPhotography
Right now, The Lilacs are probably one of the most loved grassroots bands in the country and watching their rise has been unreal. From catching them at tiny festival slots a couple of years ago to now selling out venues like Manchester Ritz and Academy. Victoria Warehouse in Manchester is next on the list, their growth has been ridiculous.
They’ve earned this moment too, from opening This Feeling By The Sea in 2023, to sub-headlining under Stone last year, 2026 felt like their time to shine as headliners.
After chants of “HERE WE, HERE WE, HERE WE FUCKING GO!” bounced around the ballroom, the band exploded into ‘Where’ve You Been Hiding’ and the place instantly lost its head. Everybody singing every word back, everybody bouncing and Olly Anglesea’s grin throughout the whole thing just made the connection between band and crowd feel even bigger, such an infectious smile.
‘Sticky Dancefloors’ nearly caused structural damage to Bridlington Spa, the floor was absolutely moving underneath everyone from the constant pogoing.
One genuinely lovely moment came before ‘One More For The Road’, when Olly gave a shoutout to Lilacs hero Sam Birchall, who sadly couldn’t make the festival the previous year during his fight against cancer, seeing Sam getting to play the festival as an headliner was beautiful.
The acoustic cover of ‘Don’t Marry Her‘ was another standout too. Olly jokingly warned the crowd he’d “probably fuck this one up,” but the second the lights came up and the entire ballroom started singing every word back at him, there was never any danger of that happening.
Old favourite ‘Sally’ still getting a place in the setlist was another brilliant touch for long-time fans too.
Before ‘You’re Not That Daft’, there was a huge shout out for the afterparty upstairs in the Session room and by that point, plenty of people already looked up for it and being daft drunk was definitely on the cards.
New single ‘Girl Behind The Bar’ sounded massive too, released only the week before, it already felt like a future fan favourite and a proper exciting first taste of the debut album.
‘Grace’ brought another brilliant crowd moment, with Olly dedicating it to Sam Birchall before saying, “Look at his hair! Get in!” which received a massive cheer from the crowd and rightfully so.
Then came ‘Vicarage Road’ to close the night, confetti flying everywhere, people on shoulders, pints in the air and the ballroom floor once again shaking beneath everyone’s feet. This completed the headline slot that felt completely deserved.
The Lilacs | This Feeling By The Sea | Photo by: BuckoPhotography
Even after all that, nobody wanted the night to end so it was back upstairs in the Session room hosted by Louise Schofield. it was chaos in the best possible way, bands, fans, photographers, DJs, everybody mixed together like old mates. You’d see musicians who’d just smashed a set an hour earlier now stood with a pint enjoying the tail end of the night. That’s the magic of This Feeling, there’s no divide between artist and crowd.
After a quick mess about with Jacob and Liam from Montello, we finally admitted defeat and called it a night and if day one was that good while running on fumes, hangovers and birthday drinks, then day two already had all the signs of becoming an absolute belter.
Tickets for The Feeling By The Sea 2027 are on sale now and available here: https://thisfeeling.co.uk/bythesea/
