Brighton’s award-winning On The Beach festival returns to the seafront in July 2027 for its seventh edition, and it has announced a headliner to open the season. Pete Tong presents Ibiza Classics with Tom Richards’ Essential Orchestra will launch the festival on Friday 9 July. Multi-platinum house DJ and producer Sonny Fodera has also been confirmed for Saturday 24 July.
The festival is presented by Louder and JOY. Concerts.
Dance Anthems, Orchestra-Sized
Pete Tong MBE has shaped dance music for more than three decades as a DJ, producer and BBC Radio 1 broadcaster. His Ibiza Classics show reworks some of the genre’s best-loved anthems with a full orchestra. The Essential Orchestra is conducted by Tom Richards, who also arranged and conducted RAYE’s My 21st Century Symphony at the Royal Albert Hall.
It is a natural opener for a festival that sits right on the beach. Last year, The Times gave the event five stars, calling it “pure joy on the beach”, while CLASH described “a joyful headline set against the backdrop of a romantic late-July evening”.
Sonny Fodera Comes Home to the Coast
Sonny Fodera arrives in Brighton straight after a huge year. All four dates of his March 2027 UK arena tour sold out, including Manchester’s Co-op Live and London’s The O2. Known for hits including ‘Asking’, he reached the UK Top 20 with his latest album, can we do it all again? His Pacha Ibiza residency and international headline shows have made him one of the biggest draws in house music.
Brighton Local Angle
On The Beach has become one of the fixtures of the city’s summer, bringing tens of thousands of dance fans to the seafront and filling bars, hotels and restaurants along the way. That matters for a city that depends on its visitor economy. The Upcoming summed up its appeal: “it’s never claustrophobic and a literal breath of fresh air.” It sits alongside a growing list of big names heading to Brighton next year, including Craig David at the Brighton Centre and James Blunt.
More acts for the 2027 season are expected to be announced in the coming months.
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