Festival Preview - Destination Forge, Forge Warehouse Sheffield Saturday 12th September 2026
There is a party on in Sheffield next weekend and Rockfiend will be there to watch the fun.
Zhany & Steve, the good folks behind the ’Rockin’ the Bowl Festival’ in previous years, are going indoors at a new venue for one final fling before stepping back. The Forge is handily-placed near a tram stop and is a fully-covered venue with room for 1,000 rockers and plenty seating inside and out plus bars, toasties and other food options. Sound good?
Doors open at 12 and the action gets underway at 12:30 with a special set from Adam & the Hellcats. The guys and girls in the Hellcats are a fun, party band that rock hard with a bit of glam. You can’t be sure how exactly how many will be in the band but there’s usually a keytar, and for this performance, they will be joined by Paul Quinn out of Saxon and Jackie Chambers out of Syteria / Girlschool. Now that’s how you start a festival.
The next attraction to make sure folks want to get in early is Viking pagan metal band LN, who seem to have played at most of this summer’s festivals and have been getting great reviews. After that, it’s Brighton rockers The Rattlebacks and we’re not even at 3 o’clock yet.
The afternoon belongs to UK rock scene stalwarts JOANovARC and Juliet’s Not Dead, before Swiss high-energy rockers Dobermann take us up to dinner-time with a bit of glam & sleaze. They are on tour and highly anticipated in Scotland where they’re playing Bannerman’s and Kinross after the Sheffield show.
Black-clad alt-rockers Black Lakes will be followed by the top-of-the-bill, which will be a riot of colour, glam, sex-appeal and good melodic rock sounds, starting with Welsh chanteuse Chez Kane and her band smashing the best tunes from the lady’s top-notch albums.
The festival will come to an end with the finest purveyors of Scandi-melodic rock H.e.a.t. who are guaranteed to bring the house down. We don’t get to see them as often as we should, so this will be one to enjoy.
As well as the bar and toasties, there will other vendors with vinyl and pre-loved t-shirts, prize karaoke and a hot food order & collection service.
The Friday night party is sold out but you can still get tickets for the Saturday if you’re quick.
See you there?