Stonedead Festival is searching for the band that will open its monster 2027 rock show — and applications open on Saturday 12 September 2026. Get those YouTube links ready, butt!
Somewhere in Britain, there’s a hard rock or metal band rehearsing in a sweaty little room, rattling the light fittings and dreaming about the moment they finally step onto a major festival stage.
Well, this could be that moment.
The Stonedead Opening Poll 2027 is preparing to throw open its crypt, giving one hungry band the opportunity to kick-start a full day of riffs at Newark Showground on Saturday 28 August 2027.
The message from Stonedead is deliciously simple:
Can you raise the dead?
If your band has the songs, the live power and enough stage presence to wake every headbanger in Nottinghamshire, it’s time to assemble your strongest videos and prepare to enter.
🎸 What Is the Stonedead Opening Poll?
Stonedead is built around one beautifully old-school idea: one day, one stage and one monster rock show.
There are no frantic sprints between six tents, no impossible clashes and no discovering that the two bands you desperately wanted to see are playing at opposite ends of the site.
Everybody gathers in front of the same stage — and somebody has to be the first band to fire up the amps.
The Opening Poll gives emerging rock and metal bands a route towards that coveted opening slot. It is a chance to put original music in front of the Stonedead community and potentially earn a place on the 2027 bill.
Opening a festival might mean being first onstage, but there is nothing small about the opportunity. It means playing through a thundering PA at Newark Showground while the early arrivals charge towards the arena, pints in hand and battle jackets flapping in the breeze.
Deliver the goods and you won’t merely warm up the crowd. You could become one of the bands people are still raving about on the journey home.
No pressure, then.
🔥 What Bands Need to Submit
Stonedead has kept the submission requirements clear and refreshingly free from industry waffle.
Bands must provide:
- Three YouTube links featuring studio tracks
- Two YouTube links featuring live videos
- Five different links in total
- No links from any other platform
That final point is important: YouTube links only.
Do not send Spotify pages, SoundCloud playlists, Dropbox folders, Facebook videos, smoke signals or a cursed USB stick discovered beneath the drum riser. If it isn’t a YouTube link, it will not be accepted.
The three studio tracks are your opportunity to show the strength of your songs and recorded sound. Choose the tracks that represent your band at its absolute best rather than simply the most recent things you uploaded.
The two live videos matter just as much. Stonedead isn’t looking for a project that only comes alive after seventeen studio overdubs and a heroic amount of editing. The winning band will need to walk onto that stage and connect with a field full of rock fans in real time.
Show them the sweat, the swagger, the riffs and the glorious live chaos.
📅 The Dates Bands Cannot Miss
The application window runs for just under a month:
- Applications open: Saturday 12 September 2026
- Applications close: Saturday 10 October 2026
- Festival date: Saturday 28 August 2027
- Venue: Newark Showground, Nottinghamshire
Do not leave everything until the final evening and then discover your best live video is still sitting on the guitarist’s old phone under the filename VID_FINAL_REAL_ONE_USE_THIS.mp4.
Get organised early. Check every link, make sure the videos are publicly viewable and confirm that you have submitted three studio performances and two live performances.
Five links. All YouTube. Job done.
🤘 Picking the Right Studio Tracks
Those three studio selections need to tell listeners exactly who you are.
Choose songs with personality. A crushing opening riff helps, naturally, but the strongest entry should also show memorable writing, a distinctive sound and something capable of grabbing people who may be hearing your band for the first time.
Think of the three tracks as a compact festival set:
- One song that makes an immediate impact
- One that shows another side of the band
- One undeniable anthem that leaves the door hanging off its hinges
This probably isn’t the moment to submit a twelve-minute ambient intro featuring rain noises and somebody whispering about the moon — unless it suddenly explodes into the greatest riff Newark has ever heard.
🎤 Why the Live Videos Matter
A polished studio recording proves you can write and record a strong song. A live video proves you can deliver it.
Festival audiences want energy, confidence and a band capable of owning the stage. Your footage doesn’t necessarily need cranes, pyro or enough cameras to film the next Iron Maiden concert. It needs to show what happens when your band plugs in and faces a real crowd.
Make sure the sound is clear enough for people to judge the performance, and choose footage where the entire band looks engaged. If the singer is roaring like a demon but the guitarist appears to be waiting for a bus, perhaps dig a little deeper into the archive.
This is your chance to prove that when Stonedead opens the gates, you can turn early-afternoon anticipation into a full-blown rock ’n’ roll eruption.
🏰 One Day, One Stage, One Massive Opportunity
Stonedead has developed a loyal following by putting the fan experience at the centre of the festival.
Its single-stage format gives every act the whole audience. There is nowhere else for the crowd to disappear, no rival headliner blasting away in another field and no need for bands to compete with a dance tent located seventeen feet from the stage.
For an opening act, that creates a rare opportunity.
Every person coming through the arena gates is arriving at the same destination. Every performance becomes part of the shared story of the day. Smash that opening slot and thousands of fans could leave Newark remembering your band’s name.
Plenty of established festival favourites began with opportunities like this: one slot, one crowd and one chance to prove they belonged.
📝 How to Enter the Stonedead Opening Poll
Once applications open on 12 September, bands can submit their entry through the official Stonedead Opening Poll page.
Before pressing the button, run through this final checklist:
- Are all five links from YouTube?
- Have you included exactly three studio tracks?
- Have you included exactly two live videos?
- Does each link work without requesting permission?
- Do the songs represent your current sound?
- Do the live clips show why you belong on that stage?
- Have you submitted everything before 10 October?
If the answer is yes, send it into the Stonedead crypt and let the riffs do the talking.
🔥 The Riff Report Verdict
The Stonedead Opening Poll is exactly the sort of opportunity the grassroots rock scene needs.
Britain is packed with brilliant bands grinding away in pubs, clubs and small venues, often playing with enough power to flatten festival stages if somebody would only hand them the chance.
This is that chance.
If you know a band capable of waking the dead, tag them. If you’re in that band, stop pretending you haven’t seen this and start choosing your videos. If you’ve got a favourite unsigned act, make enough noise to ensure they hear about it.
The road to Stonedead Festival 2027 begins with five YouTube links and one enormous opportunity.
Three studio tracks. Two live videos. One monster stage waiting at Newark. Go and raise the dead, mun! 🤘🔥💀
Stonedead Opening Poll 2027: Essential Information
- Applications open: 12 September 2026
- Applications close: 10 October 2026
- Required: Three YouTube studio-track links and two YouTube live-video links
- Other platforms: Not accepted
- Entry page: stonedeadfestival.co.uk/poll
- Festival: Stonedead Festival 2027
- Date: 28 August 2027
- Location: Newark Showground, Nottinghamshire
