RAYE, Olivia Dean Lead 2026 Mercury Prize Line-up
RAYE, Olivia Dean and Florence + The Machine will perform live at the 2026 Mercury Prize ceremony in Newcastle.
The ceremony takes place on 22 October at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It starts at 8:00 PM and will be broadcast by the BBC across its digital channels and radio stations, Billboard reported.
It is the second year in a row the show has been held at the venue. The ceremony was previously held in London until 2025, when it moved to north-east England.
The line-up covers almost the entire shortlist. Dove Ellis, JADE, Knats, Kojey Radical, Nia Archives and Suede are each confirmed to perform one song.
Pulp will also perform on the night on behalf of HELP(2), the War Child charity LP listed among the 12 Albums of the Year. Dave and Paul McCartney are the only two shortlisted nominees who will not perform live.
The shortlisted albums include RAYE’s This Music May Contain Hope and Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving. The rest of the list is Dave’s The Boy Who Played the Harp, Dove Ellis’s Blizzard, Florence + The Machine’s Everybody Scream, JADE’s That’s Showbiz Baby!, Knats’s A Great Day In Newcastle, Kojey Radical’s Don’t Look Down, Nia Archives’s Emotional Junglist, Paul McCartney’s The Boys of Dungeon Lane and Suede’s Antidepressants, according to the Mercury Prize.
Albums released between 30 August 2025 and 17 July 2026 were eligible for this year’s award. The 12 albums were chosen by an independent judging panel chaired by Jeff Smith, head of music for BBC 6 Music and Radio 2. The shortlist was revealed on 30 July.
For fans heading north, the ceremony sits alongside the Mercury Prize Fringe. The Fringe returns to Newcastle with a week of live music, events and new talent. Last tickets for the awards show at the Utilita Arena are on sale.
