Crazy Cowboy Festival 14
Here it is, Crazy Cowboy Festival 14, Sunday 30th May 2027 at The Facebar, Reading! 2 stages, loads of bands... Another day of gloriousness is in the melting spot right now, have faith in the Cowboy and grab your tickets early!
- Doors open 11:30am
- Live music from 12pm-11pm
- 2 stages, alternating rooms, no overlaps
PLUS! Hot Food all day and a cashpoint inside the venue!
For this one, with the magnificent ROCK FOR UKRAINE taking place the day before at the same venue, we’ve made a few changes to balance the whole weekend out, because we fully expect a lot of our good friends will want to attend BOTH days… and truly hope that you do.
CC14 will feature a Full Electric Red Room, with 8 bands that have been hand picked over the course of this year for their incredible energy and all round brilliance, and an Acoustic Blue Room, where we’ll have some of our favourite bands performing stripped down sets, as something a little different to the past on that stage and a chance to catch your breath! ‘It’s a marathon, not a sprint!’
For the Acoustic Blue Room, we’ll start off by revealing 2 acts that have both VERY recently released brand new albums that are absolutely TOP DRAWER, and things of UTTER BEAUTY! Mike Hoskins (‘Thousand Miles Of Rain’) and Mikey Ball & The Company (‘Keep The Fire Burning’).
An ABSOLUTE PLEASURE to be inviting these mighty fine gentleman to the event, and there’s more to be announced for that Acoustic Room!
And in the Full Electric Red Room!
Headlining are the iconic Lesbian Bed Death, one of the hardest working touring bands on the planet, popular all across Europe as well as the UK, completely independent from record labels, management and booking agents and very proud of it, and quite simply the ONLY band that I felt were a completely suitable follow up to CC11’s headliners Fury, matching them pound-for-pound with their on-stage excitement, energy and incredible songs! Their new album ‘Satan’s Cellar’ is one of the best releases of the year, check out ‘Bad Energy’ for example! And after 20 years together and 11 albums in that time, going all the way back to 2006’s ‘I Use My Powers For Evil’ featuring the CULT CLASSIC title track (and their very dedicated following’s favourite set closer), Dan Peach and the girls absolutely KNOW how to bring ANY live event or festival to a rousing finale. I.AM.SOOOOO.EXCITED.TO.HAVE.THEM!!!!!
Next up will be the sensational Star Circus! Led by Dave Winkler and Sophie Aurélia Young, they are one of the most sought after acts on the scene at the moment, and their soaring and rapid rise to stardom is almost startling… Star Circus released their highly anticipated sophomore album "From The Wreckage" in June 2025 to huge critical acclaim. My favourite? ‘Masquerade’, featuring bass player Sophie’s debut performance on lead vocals.
My friend Sophie James of Metaltalk’s take on Star Circus:
"The sound of Summer ’25? Quite possibly. The performance of a lifetime, so far at any rate. The mind boggles as to where their musical odyssey will yet convey them."
Next! We have Wailing Banshee! They deliver a sound forged from the glory days of the NWOBHM, and their debut self-titled album, following a dozen outstanding single & EP releases already, is going to catapult them to the big league FOR SURE! The frenetic five-piece earned their stripes the hard way. Riff by riff, with blood, sweat and tears, they carved a loyal following in the UK’s underground heavy metal scene, through non-stop touring (with sold out headline shows in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and London) and their self-release of breakout EPs ‘Fight To Be Free’ and ‘Worlds Apart’.
Armed with galloping riffs, soaring vocals, twin-guitar heroics and enough energy to wake the dead, Wailing Banshee have very quickly earning a reputation as one of the most exciting bands emerging from the UK's traditional metal scene. AND, as well as all of their own epic songs such as ‘Lord Of The Flies’, ‘Fight To Be Free’ and the INCREDIBLE first ever release ‘The Oracle’, this year they delivered just the greatest Ronnie James Dio-inspired Black Sabbath cover of ‘Bible Black’ that I will ever hear. It’s now a staple part of their live set, so you’ll get to see and hear it, kids!
Flying the flag for the new generation of British heavy metal, Wailing Banshee have been turning heads across the UK with their electrifying live shows, thunderous twin-guitar attack and the commanding vocals of Dani Louise. Their blend of melody, power and dark occult storytelling feels like it was forged in the glory days of metal, yet sounds completely at home in 2026!
Bright Black are coming, everybody! It’s no secret at all to ANYBODY how highly I rate this band, and the year that they have just had is PHENOMENAL, heads across the country have turned, mouths aghast, and eyes very wide open… when people have discovered them, heard their music and seen them live (ME INCLUDED! They’ve already made their debut CC). Their performances at Bloodstock and the legendary Call of the Wild Festival this summer were so good they have become things of LEGEND, and every single release just gets even better than the previous one - which is STAGGERING really, because every single one has been INCREDIBLE. ‘Who Am I?’, taken from latest EP release ‘Chapter 1.’, is my SONG OF THE YEAR.
Brighton-born duo WREX are the very first band to play both Reading Rising AND Crazy Cowboy Festivals. Reading Rising last year, CC this … we’re now all related, HURRAH! Famed for the most energetic live show in the UNIVERSE, WREX make electro-charged alternative rock to turbocharge heartbeats, snap necks and fill both dancefloors and moshpits. Nik Jalland, our iconic Crazy Cowboy Chief Front Of Stage Dancing King, is a HUGE fan. Shades of punk, nu-metal, pop and trance collide and coalesce but never clash; a wild explosion of riffs and synths that pulls from influences as diverse as While She Sleeps, Faithless and Linkin Park.
This is the WREX blueprint: a fierce, all-enveloping wall of sound with little time for music’s outdated boundaries or conventions; creativity, joy and emotion unbound. “WREX is about letting go. It’s a release from everything that’s going on in the world around you, a purge of everything you’re thinking and feeling.”
“Absolutely phenomenal live band if you get the chance to see them” - Melita Dennett (Radio Reverb / BBC Introducing Sussex & Surrey)
Yep… well happy to have them! And they’re on the bill for Roxoff Festival next year too .. word is getting out, FAST!
Next up, what can I say about James Kennedy & The Underdogs that hasn’t already been said?! They’ve been a massive and pivotal part of Crazy Cowboy Live Events for several years now, last time they played for us in Reading there was a marriage proposal on stage during their set, and I’ve since attended the wedding! And once the HUGE ENERGY of the 2027 line up became evident, it was an absolute no brainer of a choice to invite these most excellent people back! James will be hitting the venue ceiling with his cat-like jumps FOR SURE… AGAIN! Latest single collaboration with Benji Webbe of Skindred, ‘Revolution’ is another of my favourite songs of the year, and it’s no surprise that Benje describes the band THUS: ‘James Kennedy & The Underdogs are the dog’s bollocks’. Welcome back, folks!
Pollyanna Blue are MY present to the CC family, and to the scene! I’ve trawled the universe this summer looking for an absolute hidden GEM, and they are IT! Pollyanna Blue is as a juxtaposition of old and new music, harnessing the contrast of 90s and 00s alt rock rock, pop and grunge with modern tones, creating an exciting wall of sound that will feel strangely familiar, yet can only be defined to them. You’re gonna love ‘em, and I FULLY expect them to be invited to countless festivals that WE all go to, after CC14. Check out ‘Daydream’ and ‘Dead End Cycle’ for starters! You’ll be hooked before you know it….
Pollyanna Blue’s debut studio EP, was celebrated by the likes of RTE, Loudwire, Loud Women, Distorted Sound, Sirius XM and BBC Radio1, Future Alternative (Nels Hylton) and Introducing Rock Show with (Alyx Holcombe). Everybody, basically!
And finally, last but certainly not least, brace yourself for the return of the WONDERFUL Zac The Locust from our collectively beloved South Wales. They delivered a fantastic set at CC9, that’s 5 festivals ago now, and were absolutely the talk of the town that day. Tragically, front man Cory collapsed and passed away just a few days later at work, a terrible time for everyone involved and heartbreakingly shoving and sad for everybody. The band vowed to continue, in Cory’s honour, and have done, Keryn taking on the lead vocals in the meantime. They have worked incredibly hard to come back from this setback of all set backs, and after extensive searching they found a new singer, the incredible Katie Ruth, who featured on The Voice and is a talent beyond all talents. They’ve recorded a new album with her, I’ve heard it, it’s finished, it’s coming out before CC14 and LET ME TELL YOU! It’s TREMENDOUS. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, their return to CC is going to be emotional, and one that none of us will ever forget.
More to come for the Acoustic Blue Room kids! But the Full Electric Red Room line up is COMPLETE. Can I have a lie down now?
We’ll have hot food on sale on the day, all the normal merch set up from both CC and all the bands, Maud the Fraud is still hanging around at The Facebar so he’ll no doubt be making an appearance as usual, and all the customary magic and madness and CHAOS that we’ve all come to expect from the annual Reading CC will be there too!
