By Leisan Beaumont
The Levellers are coming home. The band have confirmed an open-air, hometown-exclusive show at Levellers Hove Park on Saturday 5 September 2026, celebrating 35 years of their landmark album Levelling The Land — and they’re bringing a formidable supporting cast: Sleeper, Kid Kapichi, Brakes and The Meffs.
For a band that emerged from Brighton in the late 1980s and went on to shape British festival culture, a return to the city’s parkland feels fitting. As Mark Chadwick and Jeremy ‘Jez’ Cunningham put it, Levelling The Land is “a Brighton album”, much of it written here and rooted in the city and its surroundings. They even note, with characteristic warmth, that Hove Park is home to the Goldstone, an original standing stone — fitting, they joke, for a band of self-confessed hippies.
A hometown show 35 years in the making
Released in 1991, Levelling The Land went platinum and became a defining record of its era, carrying tracks such as ‘One Way’, ’15 Years’, ‘Far From Home’, ‘Boatman’ and ‘Battle Of The Beanfield’. The band followed it with a Number 1 album, Zeitgeist, in 1995, and across the decades their influence has reached well beyond their own recordings, into festival culture, grassroots movements and generations of independent artists. This Hove Park date offers a rare chance to hear that landmark album marked in the open air, in the city that shaped it.
Who’s joining them: the Hove Park line-up
The supporting bill spans some of the most compelling names in British alternative music. Britpop favourites Sleeper — eight Top 40 singles, three Top 10 albums and more than a million records sold — continue to tour to sell-out crowds following their acclaimed comeback. Hastings punk-rockers Kid Kapichi arrive fresh from their fourth album, Fearless Nature, with a reputation for politically charged songwriting and explosive live shows. Essex punk duo The Meffs complete the bill, bringing the DIY ethos and relentless energy that have made them one of the UK’s most exciting modern punk acts.
The local heart of the line-up, though, is Brakes. Brighton’s own make a rare hometown appearance as part of their first shows together in more than a decade, marking the forthcoming reissue of their acclaimed debut Give Blood on Rough Trade, alongside a newly unearthed live recording from New York. After dates that include Brighton on 3 September, they return to the city for this Hove Park finale.
Supporting Sussex Homeless Support
In keeping with the band’s long-standing values, ticket buyers will be offered an optional donation to Sussex Homeless Support, a charity the Levellers have worked with closely for five years. The band describe it as vital front-line work, and an issue close to their hearts.
Levellers Hove Park: tickets and details
The show takes place on Saturday 5 September 2026 at Hove Park, Brighton (Goldstone Crescent, BN3 6BG), with doors at 2pm. It is a 14+ event, with under-18s to be accompanied. Presented by Brighton independent promoter JOY. Concerts — the team behind Brighton Psych Fest and the On The Beach seafront series — it brings the Levellers back to their roots for a rare outdoor performance in their home city.
Tickets are available via levellersbrighton.com.
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