Melting Vinyl dedicated to bringing creative artists to Brighton & Kent

port of cool festival

Port of Cool

Saturday 25th July 2026

At The Sidings, Newhaven

Doors 1:15 pm

Price Various

WELCOME TO THE PORT OF COOL
at The Sidings, Newhaven
(Part of the Towner BN9 programme)
on Saturday 25th July
at 1.15pm – 11.15pm
Under 14s to be accompanied by an adult

Tickets:
£25 Early bird
£30 full price
£20 for BN9 residents.

We’re incredibly excited to announce a brand-new day-long music festival coming to the coastal industrial landscape of The Sidings, Newhaven.
Brighton’s beloved Family Store are collaborating with Look Again to create a one-day music festival, the first of its kind in the town.
We’ve bought a carefully curated mix of live music, DJs, local food, ABYSS craft beer, independent traders and perhaps a little bit of ritual to the day.

The Sidings is located 200 meters from Newhaven Town railway station and bus stops for the 12 and 12a buses from Brighton & Eastbourne. (Please note, the 12x and 13x stop at Newhaven town centre only and not at the station).
There is free but limited parking in front of The Sidings, with more available just a short walk across the bridge at Dacre Road and West Quay car parks.

The Artists:
Embracing the very best in alternative, underground and left-field music. Some names you’ll recognise; all of them are guaranteed to leave an impression.
The line-up so far includes:
MEMORIALS (Headliners), Paddy Steer, The Baby Seals, Minor Dents, Nick Granata (Broadside Hacks), M.Woodroe, Charlie Keen’s Silver Birch, Nuclear Whale and Crab.
Plus DJ sets from Inner Strings and Ian Parton (The Go! team) + more.

A limited batch of Early Bird tickets is available now. Be quick — once they’re gone, they’re gone.

Please note that due to the site’s size, we can’t offer tickets to anyone under 18. Under 5s are free. Five and over are permitted, but must buy a standard ticket and be accompanied by a responsible adult.

MEMORIALS
With their album ‘Album All Clouds Bring Not Rain’ out on Fire Records earlier in the year, we were immediately drawn in. With a sound that carries a multitude of genres from Psyche, avant-pop, Folk, Free-Jazz and much more it’s a bit like Nico fronting Can but also something completely its own.

PADDY STEER
Hacked and homemade instruments. Cosmic drum led space funk. A stage outfit to die for and an unforgettable performance that you’ll remember for a long time.
We’re overjoyed to get the master that is Paddy Steer at our first-ever Port of Cool on the 25th of July. He’s a legend and a delight. You’d be daft to miss it!

THE BABY SEALS
Garage-punk trio of lasses playing heavy, fuzz-laden noise with melodies, harmony and humour. Poking fun at the patriarchy, getting older and maybe wise and shopping in Aldi.

NICK GRANATA
A member of Shovel Dance Collective: an act at the forefront of the UK’s alt-folk revival scene. Nick will be performing tracks from their new album (out July 24th) ‘My Heart is Running Backwards! A Martial Artist! With a Closed Fist! Woof!’ a deeply fun listen that tackles deeply personal subjects at the same time. A disarmingly charming listen and watch.

M.WOODROE
M. Woodroe brings their grunge- and angle-punk-inspired voice (à la The Julie Ruin, Babes in Toyland, Bull in the Heather-era Sonic Youth) to our first-ever Port of Cool. With their debut EP out via Venn Records later in the year and new single ‘Sweetness, Sweetness’ dropping soon, this is a great chance to see a solid Brighton band on the rise.

MINOR DENTS
After dropping their already sold-out EP ‘Sitting With The Fish’ earlier in the year, we were already enamoured with Minor Dents’ sound. Mixing motorik beats with vocals, drums, keys, cornets and more we’re sure that their sound will set you right as you progress thru the day at the Port of Cool.

CHARLIES KEEN’S SILVER BIRCH
Having performed with the likes of Keg, Caroline and Squid, Charlie has quietly been forming the musical project of Shruti box, Ambient Jazz and folk stylings, a trombone and more, into a wonderful sound that we’re excited to bring to the days line-up.

CRAB
Backed by a very much in check drum and bass pairing that keeps things under control and fronted by a budget mix of Captain Beefheart/Alan Vega and a fired art-school teacher that will attempt to play any instrument put in front of them, meet Crab.
Having supported the likes of Lydia Lunch and Henge, they’ll be bringing their brand of acid-psyche punk and songs about dinosaurs and Richard E Grant to the Port of Cool.

NUCLEAR WHALE
Ensconced amongst an array of wires, machines and technology he’ll take you a journey of improvised modular based collage, mixing drone, glitchy beats, spoken word and sample based imagery to create a woozy and delirious tapestry. Touch the black monolith, smash the tapir.

IAN PARTON (The Go! Team)
Ian is the founder of iconic Brighton band The Go Team. Expect a selection of psyche, soul, weird world music to throw some shapes too.

INNERSTRINGS
If you’ve been to a Psyche show or similar in Brighton, Lewes and beyond in the past 10 years and there have been some wild visuals to take you on the journey: it’s likely Innerstrings was involved.
Working with live feed projections, digital glitch and more, Innerstrings are a mainstay of the scene and a dab hand at merging all those musical influences into a similarly Psychedelic musical journey.

Further information from Port Of Cool.

port of cool festival

Port Of Cool

port of cool festival