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Blood Orange’s Rally Festival in London reveals stacked line-up
Music•February 21, 2026 at 11:50 AMNational

Blood Orange’s Rally Festival in London reveals stacked line-up

By Laura Molloy•NME Music News

Smerz, Daniel Avery and James K are among those set to perform at the Southwark festival this August The post Blood Orange’s Rally Festival in London reveals stacked line-up appeared first on NME.

The line-up for the Blood Orange-curated 2026 edition of London’s Rally Festival has been revealed – check out all the details below.

Last year, it was announced that Blood Orange – the artistic project of musician, composer and producer Devonté Hynes – would headline and curate the mainstage at this year’s edition of the festival in Southwark Park.

The community-driven music and arts event is set to return on Bank Holiday weekend, Saturday August 29, and will mark the fourth instalment of the festival.

Blood Orange will be co-curating the main stage line-up alongside NTS Radio, GALA and Bird On The Wire. With their chosen artists, they are aiming to “build on a legacy of championing visionary artists across alternative, electronic, and experimental music”.

Now, the entire line-up has been shared. Per a press release, the day will draw from “the fringes of experimental electronics, alt-pop and leftfield club music.”

Daniel Avery is among the performers, set to take to the stage with a full band to play material from his new album ‘Tremor’.

Smerz and james K are also on the line-up, as well as Jump Source – the live electronic project of Montréal-based DJs and producers Priori and Patrick Holland, who will be making their debut UK performance.

Elsewhere, the day will see performances from GENA (featuring Liv.e & Karriem Riggins), keiyaA, YHWH Nailgun and Kiss Facility (Maya Alkhateri & Sega Bodega), dexter in the newsagent, mark william lewis, spirit blue, Tariq Al-Sabir and thred.

Tickets to Rally go on sale on March 2, and will be available here. You can find a full line-up below.

It comes following the artist sharing ‘Essex Honey’, his first full-length album under the alias in six years, and going on to play multiple nights at London’s Alexandra Palace.

In a four-star review of ‘Essex Honey’, NME shared that the record contained “stunning reflections on the meaning of home”.

“Running throughout ‘Essex Honey’ are reflections on British identity and the complexities of being a Black British man from an Essex suburb,” it read, before calling the LP “the most organised sketchbook, one which perfectly encapsulates this particular moment in time”.

The album also landed at Number 15 in NME‘s list of the Best Albums of 2025, with the entry reading: “On ‘Essex Honey’, Dev Hynes channels the loss of his mother and the echoes of past grief into shimmering orchestral pop that traces his return to the London suburbs.

“Ambient R&B, jazz flourishes, field recordings and hushed vocals from Lorde, Mustafa, Zadie Smith and others flow with soft elegance, shaping a masterful reflection on loss and belonging.”

The album contains collaborations with Lorde, Caroline Polachek, Brendan Yates, Mustafa and more.

In other Blood Orange news, the artist recently covered The Smiths’ classic track ‘How Soon Is Now?’ in Los Angeles, and joined forces with AIAIAI to design some new limited edition headphones.

The post Blood Orange’s Rally Festival in London reveals stacked line-up appeared first on NME.

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