For one weekend every July, Sheffield becomes two festivals at once. The big one, Tramlines, fills Hillsborough Park with headliners and sells out months ahead. The other one is free, has no fences, and happens everywhere else: the Fringe at Tramlines, running Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 July 2026 across the whole city. We have listed every single Fringe set – more than 450 free gigs across 40-plus venues – in one planner, with a page for every act, so you can filter by day, search by name and build your own weekend.
What is the Fringe at Tramlines?
Tramlines began in 2009 as a free festival in Sheffield city centre, and when the main event moved to Hillsborough Park the free spirit stayed put. The Fringe is its descendant: a citywide takeover where pubs, bars, breweries and grassroots venues put on live music and DJs all weekend, almost all of it free entry. The centrepiece is the Fringe Stage on Devonshire Green, a free, family friendly outdoor stage showcasing the best of Sheffield’s music scene from afternoon until late.
The Fringe Stage on Devonshire Green, day by day
New for 2026, the Devonshire Green stage runs all three days, opening on Friday evening with a programme curated by Open Decks FC and headlined by broadcaster Dixie, with DJ Kavita Varu and Sheffield favourites Jesus Hairdo. Saturday mixes local talent and community performers, including Kiziah and the Kings, Malachite, Solar Love Society, Blue Street Brass and Tavira. Sunday closes with long-time Fringe favourites Jungle Lion and Shanghai Treason alongside Soul Division and a run of dance and community showcases, supported by the Sarah Nulty Power of Music Foundation. Bring a picnic blanket; it is free all weekend.
Pubs with a festival inside them
The classic way to do the Fringe is a slow wander between free gigs. Two of the longest running strongholds sit minutes apart in the Devonshire Quarter: Washinglines at The Washington and the Fringe weekender at the Hallamshire Hotel, both stacking local bands from doors until close, all weekend, for nothing. Between them they will get through more than fifty acts, from shoegaze and emo to funk, soul and one band called Captain Avery and the Cosmic Triceratops of Intergalactic Peace, which we mention purely because we can.
The West Street crawl
If you want maximum gigs per mile, West Street is unbeatable this weekend. The Beehive and The Cavendish share a terrace stage as well as running their own rooms; Molly Malone’s and The Wick at Both Ends keep bands and DJs going into the early hours; Tiger Works and cocktail bar Mr Wilson’s lean acoustic and soulful; and Maida Vale brings rockabilly, blues and an Amy Winehouse tribute. Nearby, Katie O’Brien’s on Mappin Street adds an Irish-flavoured weekender and The Forum on Devonshire Street runs three days of funk, indie and Britpop. None of it costs a penny.
Kelham, Neepsend and the DIY corner
Cross the river and the Fringe gets weirder, in the best way. Brewery tap Alder hosts everything from a mini big band to a live graffiti battle in its courtyard; CADS fills its Shalesmoor warren with noise-rock, garage-punk and grime; The Lughole crams over twenty hardcore and punk bands into three days; Shakespeares runs its beloved Shakelines; and Sidney & Matilda spreads four rooms of alternative bookings across the weekend, including editorial picks Femur, Drastic//Automatic and Tellyeaters. DIY institution Delicious Clam hosts Clamlines, its own festival-within-the-festival, and Exchange Street venue Plot 22 stacks Sheffield bass, jungle and garage royalty – including proto-dubstep pioneer Oris Jay – deep into the night.
Neepsend goes heavy: Yellow Arch
Out in Neepsend, Yellow Arch Studios hands its rooms to three days of free, gloriously loud music: Friday’s Tonelines for the low-end and the doom-adjacent, Saturday’s all-day JetFest curated by local alt-rockers Jetski, and Sunday’s Hardlines, an eight-band hardcore and punk send-off.
Beyond the centre
The Fringe does not stop at the ring road. In S6, Hillsborough Social Club and the Hillsborough Tap put on live acts and DJs a short walk from the main festival gates – handy for warming up before Hillsborough Park or winding down after it. South of town, Garden Sounds at Woodseats Community Garden is the gentlest stage of the weekend: folk duos, bluegrass and young performers from the TRACKS project among the vegetable beds. And at Hagglers Corner on Queens Road, a courtyard of funk, soul and jazz peaks with brass-fuelled local heroes Kiziah and the Kings.
Ones to watch, venue by venue
These are the sets we would build a weekend around – the official Fringe picks plus each venue’s flagship all-dayer, grouped by venue so you can plan one stop at a time. Every act across the whole weekend (more than 450 of them) is listed with times and a map on the full Tramlines Fringe programme.
Alder
Normal Village – Friday at 23:00
CADS
Reptile B – Friday at 23:15
Cheap Dates
Mouthparts – Sunday at 19:00
Delicious Clam
Clamlines 2026: Thursday (limited advance tickets) – Thursday at 19:30
Dearthworms – Thursday at 20:00
Clamlines 2026: Friday (limited advance tickets) – Friday at 19:30
Clamlines 2026: Saturday (limited advance tickets) – Saturday at 17:00
Hagglers Corner
Kiziah and the Kings – Friday at 20:30
Malah Palinka + Kick Back – Saturday at 19:00
Yarni Ensemble with Franz Von – Saturday at 20:30
Hallamshire Hotel
The Fringe At Tramlines @ Hallamshire Hotel – Friday
Cordelia Gartside – Saturday at 20:15
X2 Fast – Sunday at 16:30
Hop Hideout
Em Redfearn Art Exhibition Launch – Thursday at 12:00
Shakespeares
Shakelines – The Fringe At Tramlines @ The Shakespeare – Thursday
Sidney And Matilda
Femur – Friday at 22:00
Drastic//automatic – Saturday at 17:30
Tellyeaters – Saturday at 19:30
The Church House
Fringe at Tramlines at The Church House – Friday at 06:00
The Harlequin
Since Torino – Sunday at 15:00
The Washington
Cruush – Friday at 22:00
Washinglines – The Fringe At Tramlines @ The Washington – Friday
The Tivolis – Saturday at 20:45
Captain Avery and the Cosmic Triceratops of Intergalactic Peace – Sunday at 22:00
Yellow Arch Studios
Tonelines – The Fringe at Tramlines – Friday at 19:00
JetFest – The Fringe at Tramlines – Saturday at 12:00
Hardlines – The Fringe at Tramlines – Sunday at 15:00
That is only the shortlist. For everything else – the 3am Neepsend noise sets, the beer-shop acoustic sessions, the community garden folk afternoons – head to the complete fringe listings and filter by day.
How to do the Fringe
Dates: Friday 24 to Sunday 26 July 2026, with some venues starting Thursday 23. Cost: the Fringe Stage and almost every venue event is completely free, no tickets needed; a handful of indoor shows sell cheap advance tickets. Where: Devonshire Green plus pubs and venues across the city centre, Kelham Island, Neepsend and beyond. The simplest plan: open the fringe planner, pick a day and an area, start early, and let the music pull you from room to room.
Fringe at Tramlines FAQs
Is the Fringe at Tramlines free?
Yes – that is the point of it. Nearly every gig is free entry with no ticket, including the Fringe Stage on Devonshire Green. A small number of indoor shows, such as Clamlines at Delicious Clam, sell limited advance tickets for a few pounds.
Do I need a Tramlines ticket to go to the Fringe?
No. The Fringe is entirely separate from the main festival in Hillsborough Park. You can do the whole weekend without ever buying a ticket – plenty of Sheffield does exactly that.
When does it run?
The core weekend is Friday 24 to Sunday 26 July 2026, but several venues start on Thursday 23 July and a few sets run past midnight into Monday morning. Every set time is on the planner.
Is it family friendly?
Devonshire Green is free and family friendly all weekend, and daytime sessions at places like Woodseats Community Garden, Hagglers Corner and Hop Hideout in Leah’s Yard are relaxed and all-ages. Late-night pub and club sets are best treated as adults-only.
Browse the full Tramlines Fringe planner for times, venues and maps, or explore everything on in Sheffield this summer. If you run a venue with a Fringe event we have missed, tell us and we will add it.
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