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Hampton Court Palace Festival Returns With Nine Nights of Summer Music
Nine nights. Three thousand seats per night. Henry VIII’s Tudor courtyard. Hampton Court Palace Festival is back for its 31st year, running from 10 to 20 June, and several dates are already sold out with limited tickets.
The lineup this year mixes legacy acts with some genuinely smart bookings. Here’s every confirmed date, what tickets cost, and what you need to know before the remaining seats go.
The full 2026 lineup
| Date | Artist | Ticket status |
|---|---|---|
| Wed 10 June | David Gray | Limited tickets |
| Thu 11 June | David Gray (second night) | Limited tickets |
| Fri 12 June | OMD | Limited tickets |
| Sat 13 June | Pete Tong Ibiza Classics | On sale |
| Tue 16 June | The Stranglers | On sale |
| Wed 17 June | Nile Rodgers & CHIC | On sale |
| Thu 18 June | Elvis Costello & The Imposters with Charlie Sexton | On sale |
| Fri 19 June | Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Palace Disco | On sale |
| Sat 20 June | 80s Classical with Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra | On sale |
David Gray gets two nights. White Ladder came out in 1998 and went on to become the tenth best-selling album of the 21st century in the UK. Both of his dates are already flagged as limited on the official site.
Nile Rodgers & CHIC return after a sell-out in 2024. Sophie Ellis-Bextor rides the Murder on the Dancefloor revival that’s been building since Saltburn. The Stranglers and Elvis Costello were the latter announcements, added in February.
The 80s Classical closing night
Saturday 20 June is the one to watch if you want the biggest crowd energy. 80s Classical brings original artists performing their hits backed live by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.
Confirmed performers:
- Kim Wilde
- Nick Kershaw
- Go West
- Roland Gift
Plus orchestral sing-alongs covering Queen, ABBA, and Eurythmics. If you’ve ever wanted to hear Don’t You Forget About Me performed with a full string section inside a Tudor courtyard, this is probably your only chance.
What it actually costs
Tickets are sold per night, not as a festival pass.
- Weeknight standard seats — from £94.75
- Saturday standard seats — from £111.25
- VIP options — King’s VIP Dining Experience and Queen’s Garden Experience available on select nights. Prices on enquiry.
- Luxury picnic hampers — pre-order available. Collect on arrival and eat in the East Front Gardens before the show starts.
All tickets via hamptoncourtpalacefestival.com.
What makes this different from a normal gig
Three things, and they’re why people keep coming back.
The setting. Base Court is the intimate Tudor courtyard inside the palace itself. Not a field. Not an arena. Not a park with a stage bolted into it. You’re watching live music inside a building that’s been standing since the 1500s, and the acoustics bounce off five hundred years of brickwork. Capacity is capped at three thousand. Most arena tours sell ten to twenty times that per night.
The gardens. Gates open from 5:30pm, which means you get a couple of hours in the East Front Gardens before the music starts. The palace opens “after hours” specifically for festival-goers. You can walk the grounds, eat your picnic hamper on the lawns, and pretend you’re a Tudor courtier with a glass of champagne. Or a can of something from the bar, nobody’s judging.
The intimacy. Three thousand seats means you can actually see the performer’s face. David Gray at the O2 is David Gray in the distance. David Gray at Hampton Court is David Gray twenty rows away in a courtyard built for kings. That proximity is the whole point and it’s why tickets go quickly despite the price.
Practical bits
- Where: Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey, KT8 9AU
- When: 10-20 June 2026 (nine performance nights, no shows on 14, 15 June)
- Gates: Open from 5:30pm each night
- Seating: All seated
- Getting there: Hampton Court rail station is a 5-minute walk. Direct trains from London Waterloo take about 35 minutes. Parking is available on site, but it fills up.
- Age: All ages
- Produced by: Festival Republic in partnership with Historic Royal Palaces
What’s already selling fast
David Gray’s two nights (10th and 11th) and OMD (12th) are all flagged as limited tickets on the official site as of early June. If either of those is the one you want, don’t sit on it.
The Saturday nights (Pete Tong on the 13th, 80s Classical on the 20th) historically sell fastest because weekends, and this year’s closing night with the Royal Philharmonic is the kind of booking that attracts people who don’t usually go to festivals.
Nile Rodgers sold out in 2024. He’s likely to do it again.
Everything’s at hamptoncourtpalacefestival.com. Book the night you want, not the cheapest one available, because at three thousand capacity, you don’t get a second chance once a date sells.
