FESTIVAL REVIEW: YNot? Festival, Pikehall Farm, Derbyshire, Thursday 30th and Friday 31st July 2026
Y Not Festival has always felt like one of the UK’s best-kept secrets. The Derbyshire festival has never lost the friendly, independent atmosphere that helped make its name in the first place and the 2026 edition was no different.
Thursday
The YNot? Festival left a great impression on us when we were last there in 2024 with countless bands that have since become more established and this year’s line-up is no different with bands such as The Reytons, Inspiral Carpets and Keo to name just a few. After negotiating an early finish for work at noon we drove directly to Pikehall Farm and were there pitching the tent by 5pm, this meant that we had to miss out on Deco but we could hear it all from the Paradise Peaks campsite, entry to the festival was a breeze with no hiccups, the staff were all so helpful from the outset and it stayed that way for the full weekend.
The arena was already lively with Hard-Fi on stage by the time we got in although we did get to hear their two biggest hits Cash Machine and Living For The Weekend so no complaints there. Northern Irish rockers Ash played at the Download Festival this year and we can totally understand why they were invited, some of the explosive guitar playing from vocalist Tim Wheeler was verging on metal at times with his self-styled guitar. They had forty-five minutes on stage and it seemed to pass so quickly, Fun people and Ad Astra sets the standards high from the off while the big hitters Girl From Mars and Shining Light give the crowd an early weekend boost of energy. 9/10
After the high energy start to the weekend we headed over to The Pit tent for The Slates, the West Yorkshire band impress us with a set filled with indie rock songs such as What Have You Done?, Hello, Don’t You Know and Calling Up. There was a surprise song to end the set as The Slates raise the energy levels with a cover of Rage Against The Machine song Killing In The Name Of, the band are getting a chance to showcase their musical talents now and the crowd are loving it. 8/10
There was only one band left to close our Thursday night, a band we are seeing tonight for the first ever time too, that band is The Libertines, Pete Doherty’s wild days are well behind him now as he puts on a fine performance to end a decent opening night of music in the sunshine. They entertain the thousands that have turned out with a twenty-track setlist that ended with the crowd pleaser Don’t Look Back Into The Sun, Pete Doherty and Carl Barat share vocal duties and it added to the excitement in the crowd as they took turns in singing, the performance was explosive throughout and the standout tracks for us would be What Became Of The Likely Lads, Merry Old England, Can’t Stand Me Now and Time For Heroes. We loved every minute of this performance and look forward to seeing them on tour in the near future. 10/10
Friday
Upon return to the campsite we were happy that the tent is still intact, for us camping is a necessary evil at a festival and the continuous stream of chatter and drunkenness kept us awake until the small hours. At exactly 9am on Friday morning there is a sudden racket coming from the direction of The Big Gin stage, who could possibly be making all this noise at such an early hour? Why it’s none other than tonight’s headliners The Reytons working through their soundcheck! And amazing it sounded too. A quick check-in at the media tent reveals that we have an interview with Pale Waves later in the day so that has put a spring in the step already … In fact we even had the chance to see Pale Waves work through their soundcheck in The Quarry tent as we awaited local lad Liam Taylor Jackson taking to the stage. Liam put on an entertaining half-hour performance that took us up nicely to 1.30pm when rising Wigan band The Lilacs took to the main stage. They will release debut album Keeping Up With The Joneses on 2nd October, we are so looking forward to the album release. Vocalist Ollie Anglesea had a nice rapport with the fans as they worked through top tracks such as Vicarage Road and Grace. Watch this band grow during 2026! 8/10
Reverend and the Makers always bring some light hearted fun to a festival, Jon McClure may have two broken ribs after falling from a Lambretta recently but that didn’t stop him being his usual charismatic self. We can’t think of a better way to spend a Friday afternoon in the sunshine than with The Rev, the set opens with the energetic Bassline and Open Your Window before Haircut, a song dedicated to the actress Vicky McClure (no relation). The crowd are well up for this performance as we all bounce around to Heavyweight Champion Of The World and Heatwave In The Cold North. Our personal favourite is Out Of The Shadows, a track that has boundless energy while Jon’s wife Laura McClure takes a turn on vocals for the ska-inspired He Said He Loved Me, what a great start to the day. 9/10
Freddie Halkon makes his debut on the Big Gin stage, we only caught half the set before heading off to interview Pale Waves, we have seen Freddie live enough times now to realise that he has a big future ahead of him.
A quick dash up to the Giant Squid tent to see the end of the Lizzie Esau set allowed us to hear her biggest song to date Bleak Sublime before The Royston Club took to the main stage. These Welsh lads never let us down, running through a set with six songs from the Songs For The Spine album including the brilliant Cariad and The Patch Where Nothing Grows. Blisters and 52 were also great to hear live again just a few weeks after we saw them support Kings Of Leon in Glasgow. 9/10
For any fans of Two Door Cinema Club German indie rockers Kytes were a decent choice to check out, we only caught fifteen minutes of the set from the Munich band but what we did see was enough to convince us that they are well worth checking out on the upcoming tour later in the year, the vocalist especially caught the eye with his raw energy on display.
Florence Road have had a very good start to 2026, we caught their show at QMU in Glasgow a couple of months ago so knew what to expect, having toured with the likes of Olivia Rodrigo and The Last Dinner Party recently they have been thrown straight into the limelight. Storm Warnings and Heavy are played early in the set and that was enough to work the crowd into a frenzy, we are sure that Florence Road have made lots of new fans today. We can’t wait to see what happens next with this all girl Irish quartet, vocalist Lily Aron in particular put in a mesmerising performance. 9/10
We have been following The Covasettes since Sound City, Liverpool in 2023 and saw them on the last tour, with debut album Honeymoon Forever now behind them they have come on leaps and bounds. Be Mine and Twit Twoo were the songs that resonated with us, vocalist Chris Buxton works the crowd so well during the forty-five minute set. 8/10
We caught half an hour of the Dizzee Rascal set and the first thing that struck us was the connection he had with the crowd who seemed to be enjoying every minute of the performance. The longer we listened then more we were pulled in, it’s not really a genre we would listen to but festivals allow these opportunities.
After performing on the Big Gin stage in 2024 Manchester’s Pale Waves are back to headline in The Quarry tent attracting a big crowd for the occasion. This was the biggest clash of the weekend for us, with The Reytons due to start at 9.15pm we had to miss out on the last fifteen minutes of the Pale Waves set but not before getting to hear our personal favourite Glasgow, this song was written about our home city so it resonates so much for us. The cover of Cranberries classic Zombie was being sang back to the stage by everyone around us, the band told us earlier how much they love playing this track live and also revealed that album number five is well into the making with a release date some time in 2027 being on the cards, we can’t wait for that one! It turns out we only missed out on three songs in the end – She’s My Religion, Kiss Me Again and Jealously – we are hoping to catch Pale Waves play in Edinburgh on 11th August. 10/10
The Reytons have just returned from touring in the USA, what was standing waiting for them at YNot was something very different though as thirty thousand enthusiastic fans awaited tonight’s main headliners for one of the most astonishing shows of the year so far for us. The 1975 inspired stage set up has a row of shops – namely Istanbul Barbers, Clifton Food and Wine and Better Bet – with a row of houses sitting above and that’s where vocalist Jonny Yerrell appears from, the scene is jaw-dropping. What happened next was unreal as the set opens with Red Smoke and every single person in Pikehall bouncing around, there are red flares going off all around us, we haven’t witnessed scenes like this at a festival! That’s the Reytons for you though and let’s not forget that they are an unsigned band, the sense of community among the fans is very noticeable, it’s basically like one big party. The first new track from the upcoming album A Love Letter To A Broken Town is Jukebox, they played this one on the USA tour but this is the first UK play, next up is personal favourite Antibiotics that has a couple arguing in the flats above adding to the occasion, they will be using this stage set for the upcoming Autumn UK tour, we honestly can’t wait!
A wee trip down memory lane for a few of the more established tracks such as Harrison Lesser and Retro Emporium keeps the energy flowing while the middle of the eighteen-track set has a few more personal favourites with Cash In Hand & Fake Id’s, Market Street and Slice Of Lime. Market Street in particular almost feels nostalgic now as they look back on their antics from the younger days. Album four will be released on 7th August and we would put our money on it being another number one album, we are privileged to get the live debuts of Best Night Of His Life and Busker’s Paradise tonight especially when Lucy Spraggan joins the guys on stage for Busker’s Paradise, this is a moment to remember as Lucy appears from the houses above the stage to the delight of the crowd. For those in the crowd that had any energy left we still had Kids Off The Estate to sing along to, this is THE Reytons signature tune if there had to be one, we’re all kids off the estate really aren’t we? The punky Low Life ends a set that won’t be forgotten for a long time by all those that were there to witness it, the YNot organisers have pulled a blinder with this one, well done to everyone involved. No label, no backing, all Reytons … we’re all Reytons really. 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
