Buying a festival ticket before the lineup is announced is always a gamble, but with Tramlines, the odds are ever in your favour – not to mention the fact it’s cheaper to buy tickets early doors. I always snap mine up the second they go on sale, and then spend the next six months dying to know who’s playing.
And last month, the festival finally revealed who’s invited to Sheffield’s biggest party – and it’s one of their strongest to date.
More than 50 acts and three main stage headliners have been announced for the three-day Hillsborough Park event, all set to appear over five stages from Friday, July 26 to Sunday, July 28, including a selection of big name artists, emerging talent, comedy and more.
Read more: 11 reasons to buy a ticket to Tramlines Festival 2024
Over the past few years, we’ve seen headline slots from Sam Fender, Kasabian, Madness, Nile Rogers and Chic, The Courteeners, Stereophonics, Noel Gallagher and Richard Ashcroft.
While in previous years we’ve seen fan-favourites return to The Sarah Nulty Main Stage, this year, all three main acts will be making their debut appearance at the 40,000-capacity event. Headlining the 16th edition of Tramlines for 2024 will be Paolo Nutini (Friday), Jamie T (Saturday) and Snow Patrol (Sunday).
Here’s the current line up poster, with ‘loads more’ to be added, including The Open Arms and Library Stage announcements:
Here’s who I’ll be making sure to see at Tramlines 2024:
There’s only one way to end the night at Tramlines festival, and that’s partying to the headliners at the main stage, so you’ll be sure to catch me down the front for Paolo Nutini singing my heart out to Last Request, Jenny Don’t Be Hasty and Pencil Full of Lead. He’s been on my to-watch list for a while now, so I’m very excited for Friday night. Equally, I’ve never seen Jamie T or Snow Patrol live despite them having been gracing my playlists for over a decade.
The big names don’t end there, though, with with key support slots coming in from Bombay Bicycle Club who’ve just announced their new Fantasies EP, and returning to the Sheffield festival will be chart topping, Tom Grennan, who I’ve missed in previous years, so I’ll be making a real effort to get to his set.
And what will be one of the most highly anticipated performances of the weekend, a home turf appearance from Sheffield legends, The Human League with their first UK show of the year. Iconic is an understatement.
Headliners over on the second stage, officially known as T’Other Stage are one of the finest Britpop bands of the 90s, The Charlatans, as well as the Brit-Award winning Holly Humberstone, and the Mercury-nominated Yard Act who’ve been teasing out a slew of joyful new singles from their forthcoming album, The Overload.
Bringing the Murder to the Dancefloor will be Sophie Ellis-Bextor who will no doubt have a jam-packed crowd following the resurgence of her single thanks to Saltburn. Other acts I’ll be catching live for the first time include The Snuts, Birmingham brothers Peace and the Queen of Dance Annie Mac.
But mostly for me it will be a host of bands and artists I’ve seen previously, which I’m not at all mad about because I bloody love them! I’m talking about Miles Kane, The View, who only returned to festival stages last year after a long hiatus, and Geordie misfits Maximo Park, who have long been one of my favourites. Not to mention alt-rock outfit The Mysterines who I’ve seen support Arctic Monkeys and Primal Scream in the past, and Bedroom High Club, who played locally last summer.
Sheffield’s Biggest Party is not just about the established or the headline talents, as anyone who has been will vouch for, but a vibrant festival packed full of emerging new and local talent. This commitment led to Tramlines winning the ‘Best Festival For Emerging Talent’ at the 2023 UK Festival Awards. Tipped for great things, festival-goers at Tramlines should make time to check out sets from former busker Dylan John Thomas – another rising star having sold out the Barrowland Ballroom three times in 2023 in his home city, Glasgow as well as Dublin’s garage punk trailblazers Sprints and Radio 1 playlist fave Flowerovlove.
Operations Director of Tramlines Festival, Timm Cleasby commented “I’m delighted to release the first wave of acts for Tramlines 2024. There are some great bands on the line up! Securing headliners like Paolo Nutini, Jamie T and Snow Patrol is a fantastic testament to the reputation of Tramlines – and the hard work of our booking team – and, as always, they’re joined by top Sheffield talent including The Human League, Everly Pregnant Bros, Coco, and Otis Mensah, with many more to follow.
“As always, we’re incredibly grateful for the support of the people of Sheffield following the challenges of 2023. We were blown away by the Sheffield spirit over the event weekend and have been overwhelmed by the amount of sign ups we’ve had for our ticket presale, launching on Thursday 25th at 12pm. We’re very happy to have reached a new 5-year deal with Sheffield City Council, preserving the future of the festival. We are working hard with SCC on improvements to Hillsborough Park to ensure it remains an excellent public space throughout the year..”
The comedy lineup is one of the strongest to date, including Lucy Beaumont, Angelos Epithemou, Jon Richardson, Justin Moorehouse, Andrew Maxwell and loads more, while The Open Arms as alway is packed full of quirky entertainment and includes the return of Barrioke feat. Shaun Williamson. Its family friendly area packed with quirky things to do, a revamped offering of independent food traders, bespoke craft beer and ale, vintage clothes stores, plus roaming entertainment, which altogether make Tramlines one of the best-value three-day festivals in the country, and the reason I return year after year.
Read more: Review: Tramlines Festival 2023 – a jam-packed weekend of music, mud and memories
