Raye, Harry and You: Stereoboard's Guide To The Best Tours In The First Half of 2026
Monday, 02 February 2026
Written by Stereoboard
We could all do with a pick me up at this time of year, so what better way to do that than by giving yourself something to look forward to? Here, we’ve pulled together details of some of the most hotly-anticipated tours set to hit the UK and Ireland in the first half of 2026. Go on, live a little.
February
One of the year’s biggest tours is set to get underway in February, with Raye’s arena plans taking in a massive four nights at London’s O2 Arena (and another in May for good measure). Her This Tour May Contain New Music Tour, supporting her second LP ‘This Music May Contain Hope’ will also find the vocalist playing two night engagements at Manchester’s Co-op Live, Glasgow’s OVO Hydro, BP Pulse Live in Birmingham and Dublin’s 3Arena as she builds towards the follow-up to 2023’s star-making ‘My 21st Century Blues’.
Also, with things still being a little bit raw this early in the year, there are a couple of major opportunities to get some things off your chest when Deftones and Florence + the Machine hit the road for their respective arena runs. Off the back of last year’s critically-acclaimed ‘Private Music’, Deftones will call upon their decades-deep catalogue of alt-metal jams to please fans young and old alike at shows in Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Dublin, Cardiff and London, while Florence Welch and gang will take theatre, gothic emotion and songs from last year’s ‘Everybody Scream’ to Belfast, Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Sheffield, Manchester and London, for two nights at The O2.
Also in February: Alter Bridge, Ashnikko, DMA’s, Earl Sweatshirt, Franz Ferdinand, Halsey, Jason Derulo, Kaiser Chiefs, Motionless in White, Of Monsters and Men, Sleaford Mods, The Beaches
March
This summer is poised to be one of the biggest in Dave’s life as the rapper headlines Reading and Leeds, but before all that there’s the not-so-small matter of his March arena tour behind ‘The Boy Who Played The Harp’. Orbiting four shows at The O2 in his hometown of London you’ll find two nights at Manchester’s Co-Op Live and further dates at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro and the Utilita Arena in Birmingham. Following a similar trajectory this year are Damon Albarn and Gorillaz, who’ll swing their cartoon forms through arenas in Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Cardiff, Nottingham, Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin this month in anticipation of a June blowout at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in support of their upcoming album ‘The Mountain’.
Showing everyone how to do it, though, is Lily Allen. The big story of last year in pop was her coruscating ‘West End Girl’, which set tongues wagging to the point that her March theatre run — stopping in Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, Manchester, Nottingham, Cambridge, Bristol and Cardiff on its way to two nights at the London Palladium — sold out in a nanosecond. No wonder, then, that she almost immediately added a massive arena tour to her summer schedule in response, with three gigs at The O2 in London the headline act of a tour that also includes stops at enormodomes in Newcastle, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, Cardiff and Birmingham.
Also in March: 5 Seconds of Summer, Basement Jaxx, David Byrne, Gunna, Happy Mondays, Holly Humberstone, Kesha, Laufey, Lily Allen, Poppy, Renee Rapp, Sigrid, Sombr, The Feeling, The Vaccines, Thundercat, Tyler Childers, Wu-Tang Clan
April
Olivia Dean’s The Art Of Loving Tour has just kept on getting bigger and bigger, mirroring the groundswell of support behind the London singer-songwriter’s sleek, critically-acclaimed 2025 LP of the same name. It now features a mammoth six nights at The O2 in her hometown, with her four April dates now joined by two more in June, alongside two apiece in Glasgow and Manchester. No one’s doing pop-rock quite like Dean is at the moment, with her blend of west coast sheen and neo-soul obviously striking a chord.
Love him or loathe him, Yungblud has been almost omnipresent of late. Following his star-making showing at Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning send off for Ozzy, his stock has sky-rocketed. If you want concrete evidence, look no further than his collaborative EP with Aerosmith and the extra shows that have been added to his Idols World Tour due to demand, with arena stops in Sheffield, Liverpool and Belfast joining an already stacked itinerary featuring gigs in Dublin, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham, London and Manchester.
Also in April: Amber Mark, Belle and Sebastian, Big Thief, Blue, Freddie Gibbs, Imelda May, James, Jessie J, Leigh-Anne, Louis Tomlinson, Maggie Lindemann, President, Rick Astley, Skye Newman, The Damned, The Prodigy, Tori Amos
May
Stadium season starts here! Take That have been playing the biggest venues in the UK and Ireland for decades now, and the response to The Circus Live Tour has been predictably huge. The man band — the trio of Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald — will get things underway with two shows at St. Mary’s in Southampton at the end of May before playing three apiece at Coventry’s Building Society Arena and the Olympic Stadium in London. There’ll be four nights at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium for good measure, along with stops in Sunderland, Cardiff and Dublin. That’s a lot of greatest days.
Closer to the other end of the experience spectrum is Madison Beer, who has put out three records in five years while amassing some serious pop buzz. Touring for her latest, ‘Locket’, will take her to The O2 in London and Manchester’s Co-Op Live, with both shows doing brisk business on Stereoboard’s Hottest 100 tickets list over the past few weeks. Don’t miss out.
Also in May: Billy Ocean, bbno$, Doja Cat, Flea, Kojey Radical, Kraftwerk, Paul Simon, Pixies, Sofia Isella, Super Furry Animals, Tame Impala, The Charlatans, The Human League
June
This is the big time. Stacked doesn’t quite do June justice when it comes to big-name tours, with some of the most iconic acts in rock and pop set to hit the UK and Ireland for enormous outdoor shows. You wanna rock? Not a problem. But what kind? Some gleaming, road-tested anthems with Foo Fighters, maybe? Or some gloom to set against the summer sun with The Cure? Maybe some old-school riffing with Neil Young? Or something a little heavier with Metallica? Something more theatrical with My Chemical Romance and the return of their Black Parade concept? It’s a lot to mull over before you even consider getting your country on with Zach Bryan or Garth Brooks.
Fancy something a little poppier? Well, hot off the presses we have Harry Styles’ already record-breaking 12 night Wembley Stadium residency in support of his new record ‘Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.’, while there’s also a London derby to savour as a post-Super Bowl Bad Bunny takes over Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Boyzone bid a fond farewell at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. Or, if that doesn’t tickle your fancy, what about a date with The Weeknd? Abel Tesfaye’s After Hours Til Dawn Stadium Tour will get underway with two nights in Manchester before swinging back later in the summer for the small matter of five nights at Wembley Stadium and two at Dublin’s huge Croke Park.
Also in June: Alanis Morissette, Barry Manilow, Becky Hill, Beverley Knight, David Gray, Deacon Blue, Def Leppard, Embrace, Five, Garbage, Kneecap, Skunk Anansie, Teddy Swims, The Kooks, The Offspring, The Streets, Tom Grennan, Two Door Cinema Club
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