Preview: MiNT Festival 2026

In the May bank holiday weekend, MiNT Festival is returning to its home at Newsam Green Farm in Leeds. Billed as Yorkshire's biggest dance music festival, the varied line-up will bring some of the best names together in dance music for an exciting celebration of the genre. After a completely sold-out event last year and record levels of presale sign-ups this year, the standards are high, and with one of its strongest line-ups yet, the 2026 edition already looks promising.

On Saturday May 2nd, NEXUP RECZ will take over The Bunker stage. The record label, launched by Max Dean, seeks to carve an "indelible path in the new wave of house music", and the takeover at MiNT Festival is one of many steps towards achieving this, following on from their curation of an event at The Warehouse Project last autumn. The Bunker Stage will feature names such as Gaskin, Sidney Charles, Joss Dean, and Locky on the Saturday, but the true highlight is sure to come in the form of a special back-to-back set from Max and his cousin Luke Dean. With the smash-hit single 'Can't Decide' behind them, the set is sure to be one of the festival's many unmissable moments.

Rossi.'s HOME//GRXWN. are also taking over one of the stages on the Saturday, namely The Orchard stage, which, as its name suggests, is surrounded by trees. His own performance on this stage follows a show at YES in Manchester for BRITs Week in support of War Child, while the remainder of the stage's line-up contains acts including Jamback, Shanti Celeste, and Sally C, branching into minimal house and deep tech.

Another record label curating a stage is STERLING, who have released tracks from producers such as Silva Bumpa, Prozak and Oldboy who are all set to perform on the Saturday of MiNT Festival. Silva Bumpa is due to go back-to-back with Soul Mass Transit System, repeating the collaboration they brought to Manchester's nowhere in February. Other highlights from the stage include bullet tooth, as well as Manchester's own Megan Wroe who was recently included among Factory International and Adidas' Factory Sounds Class of 2026.

For some festivals, Sunday provides a day of calm after the chaos of the days before. This doesn't apply to MiNT Festival, however, as they have invited record label FUSE to curate The Bunker with a line-up featuring Dr Banana, Kepler, L.P. Rhythm, Marsolo , and many more. Enzo Siragusa will also appear on this stage, following the release of his track 'Kilimanjaro' via the label. MiNT themselves will curate The Orchard on Sunday, bringing Ewan McVicar, Luuk Van Djik, and Riordan along with them, as well as Obskür who delivered a high-energy set at last year's Parklife Festival. Following on from STERLING, Manchester-based record label UNFUSSY will curate a Sunday line-up at The Barn stage, hosting hometown heroes Faster Horses and Morgan Seatree as well as other acts including Kyle Starkey, La La and a selection of DJs and producers from their own collective.

In 2026, it's clear that MiNT Festival will continue their reign as the biggest and best dance music festival in Yorkshire. With a solid base of curators and performers, the event provides an early highlight during this year's festival season, drawing a largely student-age audience together for a weekend shining light on the sub-genres of dance music. For anyone looking for something to tide them over before Parklife returns to Heaton Park, look no further than Newsam Green Farm.

Credit: MiNT Festival / Selected Org