The stars are aligned.
Both figuratively and literally.
Cross the Tracks 2026 has conjured together: one of London’s, heck even the UK’s, best festival line-ups this year; a scorching 31-degree forecast; and won their lengthy legal battle to continue for another year, boasting their 7-year streak.
We’ve always said the Brockwell Live events signal the start of summer, but now that’s not even an opinion.
If you’ve secured tickets or are still thinking about it, this one’s for you.
Behold, your Cross the Tracks 2026 agenda.
Brooke Combe – 14:40 – Main Stage
We’ve had Brooke Combe on our radar for years now and solidified her as a must-see live while supporting Miles Kane in 2022.
Since then, she’s gone from strength to strength and is still labelled as a rising star. With her latest release, How Can I Tell You? (To Love Me More) in her repertoire, this set could be a real foothold for her summer ahead – and yours.
Worth going down early? Absolutely.
Lady Wray – 15.20 – Terminal
If Cross the Tracks is about soul’s past, present and future, Lady Wray is the axis where all three meet.
The former Nicole Wray has spent the last few years quietly becoming one of modern R&B’s most reliable album artists, and 2025’s Cover Girl – a gospel‑rooted, Big Crown‑released record stuffed with hand‑clap grooves, doo‑wop harmonies and funk basslines – has been talked up as her most fully realised project yet. Her Brockwell Park set should feel like both a sermon and a street party.
Bel Cobain – 16:10 – The Caboose
London-based singer-songwriter Bel Cobain is not the place to go if you want to shelter from the heat. The soul melters you’ll hear here are not for the faint-hearted.
The Caboose is known, tipping its hat to the next generation of London jazz and alt‑soul. Her live shows stitch together smoky jazz harmony, spoken‑word intimacy and hip‑hop‑leaning rhythms that will pull any passerby in with the gravitational pull of a moon.
Bricknasty – 16.40 – Locomotion
Bricknasty’s slot on the Locomotion stage brings a very different strain of soul to Brockwell Park: chaotic, funny, slightly unhinged and deeply emotional.
Onstage, vocalist/guitarist Fatboy and crew swing from quiet confessionals to distorted blowouts, a volatility that has made them cult heroes across Ireland and beyond.
Exactly the kind of act you stumble across at a festival and obsess over all summer.
Obongjayar – 18.40 – Terminal
Obongjayar’s early‑evening Terminal set starts the drum‑heavy catharsis. Rhythms impossible to ignore and a signature voice that has frequencies that immediately lift the mood.
I saw him writing some tracks on a morning walk in Ruskin Park once and have admired that moment ever since.
He’s been out of the spotlight for a while and has a lot of history of collaboration with Little Simz – can we expect an extra sprinkle of magic for this set? A must-watch either way.
Mereba – 19.00 – D-Railed
I found Mereba by chance in 2019 when I overheard someone playing Kinfolk and did a frantic ID search. Lucky me.
It’s been an explosive upward trajectory since then. Mereba’s Cross the Tracks appearance lands right in the afterglow of 2025’s The Breeze Grew a Fire, with it being the first UK festival appearance since.
Joy Crookes – 19.30 – Main Stage
Now, you couldn’t really call it London’s greatest soul festival without including South London singer and songwriter Joy Crookes in the line-up this year.
Fresh off the buzz of her newest album, Juniper, Joy Crookes has been established as one of the country’s most outstanding vocalists and a once-in-a-generation artist.
With a live show that’s been battle-tested on Glastonbury’s Pyramid & The Other Stage, expect her set to bridge the warmth of Skin with the heavier, more cinematic palette of Juniper, in a slot that feels like a homecoming.
Knucks – 20.30 – D-Railed
Knucks brings the kind of understated star power that has made him a cult figure in UK rap.
It’ll be the first time his second album, A Fine African Man, has been performed at a UK festival. That record doubled down on his strengths: dense narratives, plush horn‑flecked production and a diaristic look at masculinity and success, all of which should turn his set into a rap heads’ highlight rather than just a festival tick‑box.
Alternative: KOKOROKO. They arrive at Cross the Tracks looking less like a cult London jazz outfit and more like a fully global proposition, midway through a world tour that takes their horn‑stacked afrobeat to everything from Hollywood Bowl to North Sea Jazz. This clash makes me sad.
Little Simz – 19.30 – Main Stage
And of course, headliner, Mercury Prize-winning artist **Little Simz.
This is her first-ever headline festival performance at Cross The Tracks 2026. A testament to her unstoppable growth, questioned by no one.
Her latest EP, Sugar Girl, is a wild detour that devout fans and curious newcomers alike will find irresistible. When an artist takes a swim in a hedonistic side quest like this, you’ve got to dive in with them.
For Cross The Tracks 2026, you will either leave soothed. Cleansed. Or dripping in sweat and hair all over the place. Also cleansed, I guess.
Either way, it has to be one of the best ways to kick off a London summer.
Be warned. After your first visit, it’s incredibly hard to stop going.
Tickets are still available, but be quick.
