Boy George and Culture Club opened the 2026 Henley Festival on its Floating Stage, and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra closed it with Laura Mvula.
Boy George and Culture Club opened the 2026 Henley Festival on its Floating Stage at Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames on Wednesday 8 July 2026. The black-tie festival ran for five evenings, to Sunday 12 July.
The Henley Festival Trust founded the festival in 1982 to give the town an arts festival of its own. It used the marquees and grandstands built for the Royal Regatta the week before, and it still does.
Its first programmes were classical, with jazz late in the evening, and each night still carries a light classical concert. The festival calls itself Britain’s only black-tie festival.
The stage floats on the river before a grandstand and a lawn that seat about 4,400. The festival is a charity, and in 2026 its RISE programme put 16 bands and singers on its own music stage.
Ezra Collective, the first British jazz band to win the Mercury Prize, played Pure Heaven on the opening night. Sugababes followed on the Thursday, and Lulu and Björn Again shared the Friday. Alex James of Blur brought Britpop Classical on the Saturday.
The Bootleg Beatles played the final night, and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra closed the festival with Laura Mvula.