A new festival called State Fayre is launching in the UK next summer, and it will see headline sets from Kings Of Leon, Neil Young, and The Lumineers.
Set to run between June 26 and 28 at the Hylands Park in Chelmsford, Essex, the new event is branded as the UK’s largest music and barbecue festival.
Designed to celebrate rock, country and folk, the inaugural edition will bring “a true taste of Americana” to the UK, and draws inspiration from American state fairs, long summer nights and tailgate parties.
Topping the bill for the first night of the 2026 festival will be Kings Of Leon, who are recognised as one of the biggest alternative rock bands of the last 20 years, and dropped their latest album ‘Can We Please Have Fun’ last year.
On the second night, it will be folk legend Neil Young and his band The Chrome Hearts who top the bill, having just played mammoth sets at BST Hyde Park and Glastonbury earlier this year. They will be performing as an extension of their ‘Love Earth World’ tour dates.
Finally, The Lumineers will close out the final night, and were handpicked by organisers as they have “become one of the most successful and influential bands of their generation, blending alternative rock, Americana, and heartfelt storytelling”. The slot comes following the Wesley Schultz-led band releasing their new album ‘Automatic’ earlier this year.
Others on the bill for State Fayre 2026 are The Black Crowes, Elvis Costello & The Imposters with Charlie Sexton, Counting Crows, Amble, Kingfishr, Dylan Gossett, Sierra Ferrell, Max McNown, KT Tunstall, and The Coral. More artists are set to be announced at a later date.
Visit here to buy tickets, which go on sale next Friday (November 28) at 9am GMT.
According to organisers, other than music spanning across three stages, the UK BBQ festival FUME will host The FUME Pit on-site, featuring award-winning pitmasters and vendors from across the UK and beyond, and there will also be live food talks and demonstrations, whiskey, craft beers and cocktail bars plus non-alcoholic drinks options, and more on offer.
“We are thrilled to unveil a brand new camping festival that builds on the phenomenal UK growth in Americana, rock and country over the past few years,” said organisers Anna-Sophie Mertens and Alex Simmonds. “We’re so excited to present this music in an immersive outdoor setting complete with the authentic food, activities and big open skies of an American state fair.”
Young’s aforementioned headline slot at Glastonbury was given a four-star review, and described by NME as “a headline set that proves that sometimes, there’s still power to be found in an old-school approach”.
“It is, in short, the definition of no frills,” it read. “It’s testament to the power of Young’s songwriting, then, just how brilliantly it all works, how little the momentum drops.”
Since then, the music legend has announced a 50th-anniversary re-release of his 1975 album ‘Tonight’s The Night’ and shared that he was removing his music from Amazon Music.
As for Kings Of Leon, the news of the upcoming festival appearance comes as the band recently confirmed details of a 2026 tour, and teased a Christmas song.
