Hampton Court Palace Festival presents The Stranglers

The Stranglers bring five decades of UK rock to Hampton Court Palace on 16 June 2026. Formed in Guildford in 1974, they surfaced with the punk wave but kept their own path: JJ Burnel’s muscular bass upfront, barbed guitars, dark-tinged keyboards and a melodic streak that cuts through. In just over a year they released Rattus Norvegicus, No More Heroes and Black and White, laying down early markers with Peaches and No More Heroes. The following years widened the palette with Golden Brown, Always the Sun and Strange Little Girl, showing a band able to shift gear without losing bite.

With more than 20 albums and 24 UK Top 40 singles, their live shows now move from tight, abrasive beginnings to the pull of later hits. Fresh from their 50th anniversary run and the live release Fifty Years in Black, they tour with a set that digs deep yet stays focused: driving rhythms, moody keys and choruses that land straight away. A catalogue spanning six decades, played by a group that still knows how to thread tension and melody, in a place made for big echoes.