Last day of Rock N Roll Circus Norwich 2026 and today the headliners are those Nutty Boys, Madness – after Thursday’s super set from James, The Streets topping the bill in gritty style on Friday and the Kooks smashing it on Saturday.
Second year in Norwich, the festival sold out on all-but day 1 – expanded from three to four days this year. Do check out the coverage of the previous three days in our “Live Zone”..
Headline stars Madness appear on stage from behind a curtain and the roar goes up. I was struck by the vast age range of fans here and really into this band; from young school kids to grandparents. It was a non-stop living juke box of their greatest hits, opening with their 1979 cover of the Prince Buster 1965 Blue Beat ska track “One Step Beyond”. Pretty much every man, woman and child dancing their backsides off; from the barrier at the front to the very back of this huge Big Top.
Suggs aka Graham McPherson tells us: “It’s lovely to see you all on the last night of our summer season, and where better to spend it than at the rock and roll circus”. He adds: “A long time ago when you were just a twinkle in your grandad’s eye, seven teenagers turned up to Top Of The Pops, back when Kid Jensen was the presenter; and he was in his 40s then! And we won’t mention the others from back then!”, a reference to certain dodgy BBC DJs from back in the day. Leave it Suggs!
Madness were an excellent end to an excellent four days of great music; from the legends and from the new discoveries and future stars. And not to forget the brilliant circus stuff.
A unique festival, combining music and all the fun of the circus; this year there is even an elephant attraction, but before protestors flock to the site, fear not. Jagger is actually an amazing mechanical elephant who can be seen wandering the site daily, often with the smartly uniformed ringmaster by his side.
This year, the event boasts around 40 live artists and 40 circus acts – including high-wire artist Ellis Grover, who has been part of Rock N Roll Circus since the beginning and now tours internationally with Gary Barlow and Take That.
With a bigger festival site, a larger Big Top, expanded hospitality areas, and an ambitious new circus spectacular, building on the momentum of a city recently crowned the national winner in The Sunday Times Best Places to Live Guide 2026.
With just two stages – main stage in the Big Top, and The Discovery stage outside, right next door – there are zero clashes of any bands and artists you really want to see. Alternating the acts between the two stages. The event has a 9,000 capacity per day.
Today we caught sets from: Madness, Ocean Colour Scene, The Selecter, The Wailers, The Beat featuring Ranking Jr, David Rodigan, Sound System 79, and NR Ska. Plus lots of fabulous circus action.
Many folk sporting black and white chequered prints and Fez hats, ahead of the Madness festival finale. Clear blue skies and warm today, after heavy rain on Friday. The circus Big Top providing a cool environment to sit and relax.
The Discovery Stage offered up a really cool bunch of new and rising star bands across the four days. Sunday was a Ska and reggae vibe and went down well. Pretty big crowd waiting for NR Ska to start. Performing covers of the Ska and Reggae greats.
A wee technical issue with one of the guitars was sorted out while the singer told us she had decided this was a good time to give out some badges, laughing as she threw a handful into the crowd. Also on this stage, Sound System 79 keeping it as busy today as it has been across the four days. The crowd dancing in the sunshine as they did to the previous band NR Ska.
A really fabulous set from The Selecter, fronted by the inimitable Pauline Black OBE. She modestly announces the band as a “2-Tone band from Coventry”. She looks like a classic “Rude Girl” in sparkly silver double breasted jacket, shiny black satin shirt, black ‘sta-prest’ drainpipe trousers and black and white two-tone tassled-loafers. Plus of course, trademark pork pie hat. Dapper as ever.
Talking of fashion statements, Pauline clocks a bunch of folk at the front donning red fez hats, obviously ready for Madness to do their thing, and she cheekily comments: “You’re still wearing those!” PB still in great voice, and the Big Top became a sweaty dance floor, with thousands bouncing up and down to such The Selecter classics as “To0 Much Pressure”, “On My Radio”, “Three Minute Hero” and “Missing Words”.
One of the best performances of the four days. Millie Manders could learn a few lessons watching Ms Black and this band!
Bob Marley’s legendary band The Wailers were also inducing a mass dance session to their global hit after hit. Such feel-good music. I am not sure if there are any original members in this current line-up, but it didn’t matter.
The songs are the stars – timeless and beloved. Far too many hits to name, but if you can recall them, it is a good bet this band played ’em. Sounding awesome too.
One quick aside here; spotting an empty wheelchair at the front near the barrier, our witty photographer Liam took a shot of it, and when asked by security why he was taking a picture of an empty wheelchair at The Wailers show, he said: “They must work miracles!” The editor saw the image and added his comment: “Was this shot during ‘Get Up, Stand Up”, by any chance?” Daft pair!
Another commendable performance in the Big Top was from the evergreen Ocean Colour Scene…
Frontman Simon Fowler opened the set alone on stage for the first song, on his acoustic guitar to a very full tent. 
Guitarist Steve Cradock – who also plays for Paul Weller, drummer Oscar Harrison and the rest of the band joined Simon from song # two and onwards.
A really strong set, sounding as good as their records. “The Day We Caught The Train”, “The River Boat Song” and “Travellers Tune” among a selection taken from their 17 Top 40 singles and their six Top 10 hits.
The biggest name on the second stage today, was The Beat featuring Ranking Jnr, who is Matthew Murphy, son of the late Ranking Roger who was co-founder of The Beat, and who sadly died in 2019 of a brain tumour.
The band sounding great today and delivering a high energy set featuring the hits such as “Mirror In The Bathroom”, “Tears Of A Clown”, “”Stand Down Margaret”, “Can’t Get Used To Losing You” and a UK # seven hit in 1980, “‘ Too Nice To Talk To”, which Matthew dedicates to “the ladies in the crowd because they are too nice to talk to”.
Kicking off the main stage today is Millie Manders and The Shutup, with some aggressive punk rock. A bit of a jolt for early on Sunday when many are still shaking off hangovers from last night. Plus this style of music doesn’t seem to fit with the day’s Ska and Reggae offering from Madness, The Beat, The Wailers, NR Ska, and Sound System 79.
Heavy guitar riffs and borderline screaming at times. Calm down love! Millie observes: “Wow it’s a bloody big tent. We only have 20- 30 mins to blow your tits off”. Some mums and dads hurriedly exit with their young kids at the utterance of “tits”. Not clever Millie.
I found the topics in the songs a wee bit immature for such an angry-looking gal; such as getting riled up about online dating and egos, it all feels a bit yawn-inducing and irritating to be brutally honest. Should have been on the smaller second stage and a night-time slot. [One bloke in the crowd next to me was heard to mutter to his friends, “I wish this Millie Manders would actually shut the f*** up!”]
Veteran DJ and broadcaster David “Ram Jam” Rodigan MBE OD (75) pops up solo on stage with his decks and was a lovely contrast to the abrasive musical rants of Ms Manders and her bandmates The Shutup. But for Mr Rodigan’s set, everyone enjoyed a journey through time and the best of reggae and ska. Naughty David asks the crowd if they felt “Ganja” should be legalised. A rousing cheer would suggest the answer was in the affirmative!
He says the first song that turned him on to Jamaican music was Millie Small and “My Boy Lollipop”, before he played that classic good-time track. Quirky factoid about that song: the long-standing “urban myth” that Rod Stewart played the harmonica on that track, is BS. It was played buy a guy called Pete Hogman.
Rock N Roll Circus 2025, which we covered, was superb. But the expanded 2026 version topped that for sure.
Really, really fun four days. A very family-friendly vibe and when the rain was paying a rare visit, that Big Top came into its own. A unique festival event for the UK, mixing music with circus, and one which we hope thrives and is back in 2027 and beyond. Se ya’ll there!
- If you cannot wait until next year, hurry to grab a ticket for Rock N Roll Circus at Sheffield’s Don Valley Bowl this coming August bank holiday weekend: 27th -30th August. The Kooks, The Streets, Wunderhorse (sold out), and Richard Ashcroft (low tickets) headline.
* CHECK OUT OUR COVERAGE OF DAY 1, 2 & 3 *
Photos by Liam Battersby
Words by Kerry Louise
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