Here at Dork, we’re no strangers to Rockaway Beach’s unique brand of New Year nonsense.
2026 tested even us though, kicking off so close to the festive period that we’d barely finished eating our turkey before checking in to Butlins and locating the arcades. Not that we’re complaining – there really is nowhere we’d rather be than watching bands in Bognor Regis during a near arctic cold snap.
There’s a captivating bliss which comes from seeing Prima Queen live. They’re an immediate hit at Rockaway, finding a sweet spot between campfire smoothness and electric alt-rock chops. ‘Eclipse’ finds a new life as the New Year Moon beams down over Butlins, ‘Back Row’ is swooning and ‘Meryl Streep’ shouts out to the famous actor who the band are sure is in the audience. It’s a confident statement for a band easy to fall head over heels for. JM
“It’s the second night after New Year’s – you’re a bunch of fucking animals!” laughs Soft Play’s Isaac Holman as he looks out at the absolutely rammed Rockaway main stage. The band are in their imperial phase right now, smashing huge festival slots with the confidence that comes with years of experience.
The set leans heavily on latest album ‘Heavy Jelly’, proving that the duo aren’t the types to bash out the greatest hits and call it a day. It helps that tracks like ‘Punk’s Dead’ and ‘Act Violently’ are just as vital as anything from the band’s early years. Isaac and Laurie are having fun with it too, demanding the crowd blow synchronised vape clouds between songs and bantering with a yellow hat-clad stag do who are dominating the moshpit throughout.
By the time final song ‘The Hunter’ rolls around, Soft Play have well and truly put their stamp on the weekend. It’s a blistering 90 minutes, which shows that they’re just as vital as they were when they first burst onto the scene over a decade ago. JH
How do you follow a performance like that? If you’re Antony Szmierek, you bring an afterparty energy to the second stage, complete with pocketfuls of confetti and at least one shout-out to Butlins legend Stephen Mulhern. Okay, he does forget a few of the words and plugs the gap with references to Bognor Regis and the stag do we mentioned earlier, but that just adds to the surreal charm of the weekend. The crowd are more than on side, too, with questionable dancing from the front to the back of the venue – potentially helped along by the fact he’s playing at midnight on the Friday. Delightfully silly and with a ridiculous hit rate considering he’s just one album into his career, Antony Szmierek truly feels like the spirit animal of Butlins Bognor Regis. JH
Home Counties take to Rockaway Beach like ducks to water, and something about the Butlins air makes their set today even more crackerjack than usual. ‘Spain’, ‘You Break It, You Bought It’, ’Spain’, and the fizzing ‘Humdrum’ are infectious disco ball bangers from start to finish. Hell, there’s even time to ask about the best pub in Butlins during ‘Meet Me In The Flat Roof’. It’s a short and sharp reminder that Home Counties can take on any stage and make it their own. JM
“We are going to make history as the first band to make everyone lose their shit at Butlins. Now open up that fucking circle,” proclaim GANS, putting their money where their mouth is with the explosive ‘I Think I Like You’. As crowdsurfing spins out of control, GANS leave their mark with a pill-punk fuelled firework display. JM
And speaking of pill-punk, Adult DVD start 2026 with the dancefloor front and centre in their minds. They explode across the stage with womp-y bangers and a laser focus, blasting through the likes of ‘Do Something’, ‘Doomsday Prepper’ and ‘Because I Like It’. Rockaway Beach gets to experience something which is becoming clearer and clearer to those in the know – this band is an absolute force of nature. JM
With a new album just days away, Dry Cleaning give a New Year’s sneak peek to the faithful, airing unreleased bangers alongside old classics. Singer Florence Shaw is the focal point of a whirlwind of sound, standing her ground as she opines on everything from gaming PCs (‘Don’t Press Me’) to whether the local zoo will have otters or not (‘Kwenchy Kups’). ‘Gary Ashby’ is a particular highlight, with the song’s tale of a lost family tortoise getting a semi-happy ending as it’s dedicated to the tortoise of someone in the crowd – presumably one which isn’t out exploring the world. JH
In what is their second-ever UK show, Chest bristle with the intensity of modern post-punk but with the DNA of a band leaning into electronic and pop in equal measure. They don’t wait around for you to like them – they just ram themselves firmly in your face. Whipping through cuts in a manner that brings to mind Gurriers in full flow, their limited UK experience is no barrier to moshpits opening up without any command to cuts like ‘Blood On Your Doorstep’, ‘Entertainment’ and ‘Going Clear’. They’re a perfect distillation of what Rockaway Beach is all about – a new favourite band has thrown their name firmly in the ring. JM
Panoramic ambition radiates off Ellur as Sunday evening bears witness to an artist sitting on the cusp of something truly transformative. The shimmering ‘The Wheel’ grips the festival’s second stage close while ‘Yellow Light’ is a dazzling slice of Sam Fender-sized songwriting that feels ripped straight from Ellur’s diary. JM
Coach Party open the cavernous main stage with a bang on Sunday evening, blasting straight into ‘Do It For Love’ with the force of a hurricane. It’s a shot of energy that’s sorely needed on day three, and across their hour-long set, they show exactly why they’re such a great live band. The tempo barely dips throughout, even with singer Jess Eastwood complaining that after a solid month of festive food, she’s “not the person she was in November”. Perfectly setting the stage for English Teacher’s headline slot, Coach Party continue to prove just how fantastic they are. JH
It falls to English Teacher to pull the curtain close on Rockaway Beach 2026, and their rise to headline status feels intrinsically linked to the heart of what makes this festival so great. Lighting up Butlins’ vast Studio 36 like a beacon through the darkness, they rip through early highlights ‘R&B’ and ‘Broken Biscuits’, kickstarting 2026 in the same way they dominated 2025. ‘Toothpick’, one of two unreleased tracks aired during the set, is a whirl of entrancing piano and jangling Cranberries-esque guitar swings. As ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’ and ‘Nearly Daffodils’ light up a firework display of their own mesmerising making, English Teacher show just why they’re a uniquely brilliant band who feel like they’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of what they’re capable of. JM
Come Monday morning, the seagulls are wheeling overhead, the music is finished, and there’s just one final buffet to enjoy. Extending the Christmas break by three extra days may have aged our bodies by at least a decade, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Roll on 2027 for another weekend in the best place on Earth.
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