Ragged Bear 2026
Venue: Queens HallTown: Nuneaton
Date: 30th - 31st October 2026
Website: https://www.raggedbear.com/
Ragged Bear is my final festival of the year, and always a great one to end on. 2026 pulled out all the stops and gave, in my opinion, the best line-up to date with high quality from first to last. It's a one venue festival, in a pub that knows how to look after its beer, with the main stage upstairs on Saturday and free smaller acts in the main bar Saturday and Friday evening. This year there was also a new venture with a well attended craft fair nearby and a shanty crew, along with regulars Erstwhile Morris; no hankies, big sticks, in a darkened room.
Saturday's main stage was incredible; ten acts you'd travel a long way to see and phenomenal value for the entry fee. It isn't just the acts that count, but the running order. The pace and energy levels rose steadily through the day. The Lauren South Trio eased us in with a beautiful set. Lauren has a wonderful voice and writes beautiful songs that are well presented. It was noticeable this year that the crowd were in early and thoroughly enjoyed her set. Liam Vincent And The Odd Foxes absolutely smashed it. Their edgy folk rock approach went down a treat with some driving rhythms. It's always good to see True Foxes and, once again, I think they picked up a lot of new fans. Their songs can be quite personal and that gives an intimacy to their set along with a few laughs. Their albums are well worth getting.
Man The Lifeboats are festival favourites for a good reason, alt-folk with a real swagger guaranteed to get the audience dancing they scored a big hit. Nick Parker with Ben Wain slowed the pace to gives us a chance to get our breaths back but has some beautiful songs and "The Half Of The Moon" stands out. It was another lovely set, very well received.
Of course, it wouldn't be Ragged Bear without Greenman Rising storming the stage. With a couple of new members recently they gone from very good to brilliant. It was a rollicking set with their own versions of shanties and sea songs the audience couldn't wait to join in with. "The Bonny Ship The Diamond" got the crowd in good voice and the girls raised a few cheers when they added a new verse to "A Drop Of Nelson's Blood". As a now seven piece band, and everyone was present for the second gig in succession, the musicians feed off each other with all playing an essential part.
Rumac gave a full on set and uses electronic to give his accordion the feel of an orchestra. All the tricky in the world doesn't count unless you're a very good musician and he is a very good musician. The Haar are becoming stratospheric and may well be the first Grammy nominees to play the festival. If you want a whole package these are the ones to see. Adam Summerhayes is a world class fiddle player, Murray Granger one of the best accordionists you'll every see and Cormac Byrne an exceptional bodhran player. Add to that the divine voice of Molly Donnery and you have an act that's stratospherically good.
Last, but certainly not least, if you want to close a festival with an almighty bang then send for Skinny Lister. There's so much energy they were probably powering the lights and sound system with plenty to spare. Folk punk with shanty in the mix as well the set the room alight and the audience didn't stop moving. It was a great end to a great day.
Downstairs needs mention as well. Mainly local bands playing across a wide range of style. Warming us up on Friday Brian Stone And The Masters Of None are probably the most landlocked pirates you'll ever find. Rosetta Fire and Shanghai Treason also did well and for a pub room they all brought the audience in to listen to them, which can be unusual. Saturday was equally as good, but too many to mention.
Ragged Bear has to be the best value festival there is and draws a loyal following along with people only just discovering it and wishing they'd done so sooner. Steve Bentley and his team work so hard and mention has to go to Ollie and Willow on sound who were spot on all day. There's also the New Gurkha Café directly opposite that does the best naan I've ever tasted. What's not to like. Get 30th October 2027 in your diaries now.
Tony Birch - Words & Pictures
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