{"id":312846,"date":"2025-08-02T21:02:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T21:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/312846\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T21:02:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T21:02:24","slug":"40-acts-not-to-miss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/312846\/","title":{"rendered":"40 acts not to miss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tramlines<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Press)<\/p>\n

Fri 25 July 2025 9:09, UK <\/p>\n

Back in the day, Tramlines<\/a> was free. Initially, the Sheffield festival was for the community, hosted mainly at Ponderosa Park, but also scattered throughout the city\u2019s venues, meaning that the city would be buzzing for that weekend in July. Then, in a tale as old as time, the suits got involved, it moved out of town, tickets got more and more expensive, and suddenly, it didn\u2019t feel like something Sheffield owned. <\/p>\n

So what did they do? Replaced it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2018, Tramlines moved over to Hillsborough Park and into a 30,000 capacity field-style festival, a tram ride out of town. I understand it, really I do. The people who organised the festival deserved the payday, and as operations were levelling up, including bigger names and needing a bigger budget, the decision to sell out to a corporation<\/a> made financial sense. But, to a hefty degree, it failed at what was always the core of the weekend.<\/p>\n

Sheffield has an incredible scene, but you\u2019d be excused for not realising it. Caught between the bigger cities of Manchester and Leeds, it\u2019s a spot that\u2019s always been stuck in the shadows despite being a breeding ground for greatness. When I say that, of course, I mean Pulp, Arctic Monkeys, Self Esteem, Richard Hawley and Co, but I also mean all the bands there right now, playing the city\u2019s amazing independent venues, poised to draw in major crowds this weekend despite not being on the Tramlines lineup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because, while the official lineup is good, especially this year with Pulp taking over the park for a major homecoming, it\u2019s like every other one this year. You see the same names on there that will be doing a tour of all of those mid-sized festivals. They\u2019ll drop into Sheffield for the day, only hit up Hillsborough, play, pile back into their vans and leave to go to Y Not or somewhere else. Their sets will be good, the beers will be expensive, and the day will go as every festival day always does.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Femur<\/a>(Credits: Jacob Flannery)<\/p>\n

But in town, it\u2019ll be bustling with all sorts of people at every corner. Following the decision to move the festival out into the field, the Sheffield scene has basically ignored it. To them, Tramlines still lives in the city centre and in all the venues they\u2019re playing year-round. Thus, the Tramlines Fringe was born, keeping the initial shape and energy of the festival going through local venues and artists organising themselves, putting on their free lineups and ensuring that this is still a weekend where the town remains full of music.<\/p>\n

Since then, it\u2019s become beloved. It\u2019s not just that Sheffield bands get bookings and are busy for a weekend, but it\u2019s now also an event that people travel in for, with names like Flat Party and Sweet Unrest coming up from London for 2025\u2019s lineups, or Mouse Teeth coming over from Leicester to play. <\/p>\n

In those three names alone, there\u2019s the kind of variety that the official festival lineup struggles with. Flat Party deliver pure Britpop-inspired indie, Sweet Unrest lean more towards punk, and then Mouse Teeth will be up there reading poems<\/a> to truly genreless musical backing. Elsewhere through the weekend, as Sheffield\u2019s finest play, Life Aquatic Band can be categorised with no easy label beyond a promise they\u2019ll make you smile, and Sister Wives bring Welsh language beauty while Mickey Nominomo channels Baxter Dury.<\/p>\n

Mostly though, regardless of genre and style, what Sheffield acts do best is being a perfect reminder of the DIY spirit. This is a scene that truly supports one another and supports itself. You\u2019ll see one band in the crowd cheering on another, you\u2019ll see people carrying instruments through the street, stopping to chat to one another, both on their way to their next slot. That\u2019s what Tramlines used to be about, so that\u2019s what Sheffield made sure Tramlines Fringe maintained. <\/p>\n

While the official lineup boasts big names, it also bears the markings of the way the industry can become one-note. As the Fringe remains community-run, it stays community-shaped, rich and exciting with intrigue and range, and welcoming anyone into the free-for-all\u2014and also promising better pints than the ones you\u2019ll get in a branded paper cup. <\/p>\n

A playlist of acts to catch at Tramlines Fringe 2025<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Mouse Teeth \u2013 \u2018The Original Of Laura\u2019<\/li>\n
  2. Whitehorse \u2013 \u2018Doesn\u2019t Come Close\u2019<\/li>\n
  3. Any Old Iron \u2013 \u2018Holdout\u2019<\/li>\n
  4. Mickey Nomimono \u2013 \u2018Hot and Cold\u2019<\/li>\n
  5. Life Aquatic Band \u2013 \u2018You Can Do It\u2019<\/li>\n
  6. I Set The Sea On Fire \u2013 \u2018Beff Jezos\u2019<\/li>\n
  7. Shelley Byron \u2013 \u2018Silly Goose\u2019<\/li>\n
  8. Sweet Unrest \u2013 \u2018Waste My Time\u2019<\/li>\n
  9. Teah Lewis \u2013 \u2018Underweather\u2019<\/li>\n
  10. Junk \u2013 \u2018Whatever You Want\u2019<\/li>\n
  11. Spanish Horses \u2013 \u2018Summerhouse\u2019<\/li>\n
  12. Good News \u2013 \u2018Orange Juice In The Shower\u2019<\/li>\n
  13. Nervous Pills \u2013 \u2018Cheetah\u2019<\/li>\n
  14. Sister Wives \u2013 \u2018YnCanu\u2019<\/li>\n
  15. Hallan \u2013 \u2018Lilian\u2019s Regret\u2019<\/li>\n
  16. Ten Eighty Trees \u2013 \u2018Stay At Home\u2019<\/li>\n
  17. Floodhounds \u2013 \u2018Psychosemantics\u2019<\/li>\n
  18. Flat Party \u2013 \u2018Shotgun\u2019<\/li>\n
  19. Life Aquatic Band \u2013 \u2018No End In Sight\u2019<\/li>\n
  20. Surf Jaz \u2013 \u2018Lindo\u2019<\/li>\n
  21. FlatStanley \u2013 \u2018Arthur\u2019<\/li>\n
  22. Femur \u2013 \u2018Watch Me, Watch You\u2019<\/li>\n
  23. Dearthworms \u2013 \u2018Strike Low\u2019<\/li>\n
  24. Plum Jr. \u2013 \u2018My Day\u2019<\/li>\n
  25. Drastic\/\/Automatic \u2013 \u2018Dead Dead Data\u2019<\/li>\n
  26. Mouse Teeth \u2013 \u2018Playing The Hermit\u2019<\/li>\n
  27. Any Old Iron \u2013 \u2018Caterwaul\u2019<\/li>\n
  28. Flat Party \u2013 \u2018Paranoia\/Delicate Dawn\u2019<\/li>\n
  29. Good News \u2013 \u2018New Dawn\u2019<\/li>\n
  30. Sweet Unrest \u2013 \u2018Falling For You\u2019<\/li>\n
  31. I Set The Sea On Fire \u2013 \u2018Iodine\u2019<\/li>\n
  32. Flat Moon \u2013 \u2018Schleep\u2019<\/li>\n
  33. Jumper Boy \u2013 \u2018Times New Roman\u2019<\/li>\n
  34. Bones Ate Arfa \u2013 \u2018Vineyard\u2019<\/li>\n
  35. Bonk! \u2013 \u2018Wave\u2019<\/li>\n
  36. Bait Britain \u2013 \u2018Glencoe (No Place Like Home)\u2019<\/li>\n
  37. Junk \u2013 \u2018Headache\u2019<\/li>\n
  38. Cleaver Blue \u2013 \u2018Moving On Too Soon\u2019<\/li>\n
  39. Polat \u2013 \u2018Breakaway\u2019<\/li>\n
  40. Archy & the Astronauts \u2013 \u2018Bite The Hand\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Press) Fri 25 July 2025 9:09, UK Back in the day, Tramlines was free.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,393,114135,4884,1039,1620,108429,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-312846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-far-out-40","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-homepage","13":"tag-sheffield","14":"tag-tramlines","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114961196324224238","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}