Folk Music Festivals in the UK
We are now updating the festivals for 2024. After last year's Covid problems, we are a bit behind with things, but WILL be adding events, and hope that more virtual events take place as well.
Use our earlier year links for just now.
If you are a folk / traditional / acoustic music festival organiser and your festival's site is not listed / updated, just drop us a line with the details that we typically display. (See the Contact page.)
The UK folk music scene is a large and vibrant music genre, with folk and traditional music clubs in almost every town in the the country. Folk music festivals are an important part of the folk or traditional music scene. They give artists a chance to showcase their talents to a much larger audience than the average folk music club will provide. I don't know anyone who has gone to a festival and not returned with news of some new band that impressed them. (Okay, a group that was new to them anyway.)
Finding a folk festival has now become easier. We aim to list almost all the festivals in the UK. If you know of one that's missing, do let us know, so we can update the lists. We have arranged the festivals by country and by date, as well as our famous Big List which covers all those festivals that we know about. Festivals starting within the next five weeks can be found on our This Month page.
The list of music festivals is initially compressed when displayed, to make scrolling through it easier. Clicking on a festival name expands the details to show the festival location, dates, ticket prices and a brief summary of the event.
Prices - concession prices, early birds, full adult and family prices would complicate our listings, so we tend to list either the full adult price, or the adult early bird price if it is available for a long time. Perhaps next year we'll list all of them.
We have taken a slightly liberal view in our interpretation of a folk festival, in an attempt to include as wide a variety as possible (we don't usually include dance only festivals, but there are a few). Better to have a wider choice than you wanted than miss out something that you would really like to know about. And we make a point of visiting every web site listed, to check the festival is on and the site is live.
And now we have a shop here selling folk music cds - give it a visit!
Some festivals that are starting soon.
William Kennedy Piping Festival
Location: Armagh
Date: Thursday 14th November 2024 for 4 day(s)
Full Price: £
Contact for info: info@wkpf.org
Website: wkpf.org
County: County Armagh
Country: Ireland
Scots Fiddle Festival
Location: Edinburgh
Date: Friday 15th November 2024 for 3 day(s)
Full Price: £
Also available TBA
Contact for info: info@scotsfiddlefestival.com
Website: www.scotsfiddlefestival.com
County: Midlothian
Country: Scotland
Melton Winter Festival
Location: Melton Mowbray
Date: Thursday 12th December 2024 for 2 day(s)
Full Price: £
Also available tba
Contact for info: adrian@meltonfolk.com
Website: meltonfolk.com/festival/winter-festival/
County: Leicestershire
Country: England
West Coast Folk Festival
Location: Blackpool, Winter Gardens, FY1 1HL
Date: Friday 10th January 2025 for 3 day(s)
Full Price: £167
Contact for info: solidentertainments@live.co.uk
Website: westcoastfolkfestival.co.uk
County: Lancashire
Country: England
Straw Bear Festival
Location: Whittlesea
Date: Saturday 11th January 2025 for 2 day(s)
Full Price: £
Also available Concert and day tickets, from £12
Contact for info: info@strawbear.org.uk
Website: www.strawbear.org.uk/
County: Cambridgeshire
Country: England
Celtic Connections
Location: Glasgow
Date: Thursday 16th January 2025 for 18 day(s)
Full Price: £40
Also available TBA for 2025
Contact for info:
Website: www.celticconnections.com/
County: Strathclyde
Country: Scotland
Member of a folk music club? Then help your fellow folk fans by placing a link to our site on your club's website, thus spreading the news about festivals in the UK to more folk music enthusiasts.
Help the music grow.