The Mercury Prize has revealed the artists who will perform at its 2026 ceremony, which is held for the second year running at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena.
Olivia Dean, Raye, Jade, Florence + The Machine, Suede, Nia Archives, Kojey Radical, Knats and Dove Ellis will perform live at the awards on October 22.
Each act will perform one track from their 2026 Mercury Prize-nominated album. A short film will be shown to celebrate Dave and Paul McCartney’s nominated albums.
Pulp, meanwhile, will perform on behalf of War Child Records and XL Beggars’ charity LP, Help(2). Suede also featured on the Help album for War Child which was nominated in 1996.
Albums by British or Irish artists released between Saturday, August 30, 2025 and Friday, July 17, 2026 were eligible for this year’s prize. The list of 12 names is curated by an independent judging team of music industry professionals. You can see the full list of nominations here.
Sam Fender won last year, following recent past recipients across a range of genres including English Teacher, Ezra Collective, Little Simz, Dave, Arlo Parks, Wolf Alice, Young Fathers and more.
