Public Image Ltd., Dry Cleaning and The Moonlandingz have been announced as part of the first wave of acts for Rockaway Beach 2025.
- READ MORE: John Lydon: “Daft Punk wanted to work with me a while back, but I didn’t feel the vibe”
The winter festival will return to Butlin’s in Bognor Regis, West Sussex from January 2 to 4, 2026. Tickets, including three-day festival passes and accommodation packages, are available here.
PiL have been confirmed as the first of the three headliners, with two further announcements to come later in the year. John Lydon’s post-punk band are also gearing up fro a full UK and Ireland tour in May – visit here for tickets to that – and they are releasing a “long lost” alternative US mix of ‘First Edition’ for Record Store Day 2025.
Rockaway founder Ian Crowther has said: “It’s hard to overstate just how vital Public Image Ltd have been in shaping alternative music. From the moment they emerged, they’ve pushed boundaries – musically, visually, politically. Having them at Rockaway Beach feels like welcoming a cornerstone of post-punk history to the festival.”
“It’s somebody we’ve wanted to book for a few years now,” he added. “There’s a defiance and rawness in what they do that aligns so naturally with the spirit of Rockaway. It’s an ongoing, uncompromising force, and we’re incredibly proud to have them join us.”
Also on the bill are Grammy-winning London-based post-punks Dry Cleaning and Sheffield noiseniks The Moonlandingz, who returned earlier this year with their first new music in almost eight years in the form of the frantic single ‘The Sign Of A Man’.
Other names in this first wave of acts include punk veterans The Members and TV Smith, as well as Baggio, Bruise Control, Ellur, Spielmann, We Hate You Please Die, Y and Chris Hawkins.
In other PiL news, Lydon recently poignantly opened up about how the upcoming Public Image Ltd tour and working on new “raucous” music is helping him navigate bereavement. “Sadness is an energy,” he said, in echoes of PiL’s iconic 1986 track ‘Rise’ (which stated that ‘Anger is an energy’). “It can either be applied or you can let it eat you alive. The second option is not very interesting to me.”
The singer also took part in NME’s infamous career-spanning Does Rock ‘N’ Roll Kill Braincells? quiz, where he recalled spurning the opportunity to collaborate with Daft Punk, Kate Bush’s “horrified” reaction to a track he wrote for her, as well as why he finds Taylor Swift “incredibly dull” and ‘doesn’t like Lady Gaga as a person’.
Lydon is also embarking on a live speaking I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right – Q&A Tour. For further information visit here.
