Five-year anniversary of the black metal and dungeon synth festival held under one roof at Scarborough Spa, with UK and world exclusives.
Fortress Festival returns to The Spa from Friday 28 May to Sunday 30 May 2027. It's the fifth anniversary of the festival, which started here in 2023 and has stayed under one seaside roof on South Bay ever since. This year it's expanded to three days, with 'Fortress: First Light' on the Friday night ticketed separately from the weekend pass.
The line-up is built around UK exclusives. Emperor headline on Sunday, Stormkeep take Saturday, and Watain play the Friday pre-show. Terrestrial Hospice make their UK debut, and Blood Countess, Ninkharsag and Slagmaur join the bill. There's also Gris playing live for the first time.
The festival leans into black metal, atmospheric black metal and dungeon synth, with those UK and world exclusives at the heart of the booking. It's aimed at devoted genre fans rather than a general multi-genre audience. A dedicated dungeon synth stage in the Spa's theatre room gives a live platform to a genre that began as an offshoot of black metal's ambient side and is rarely heard live. Reaper Agency is the promoter.
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The Spa itself is a Victorian complex on South Cliff, home to a 600-seater theatre and the Grand Hall, where the Scarborough Spa Orchestra plays. The site is where the town's identity as a seaside spa began, after natural spring waters with healing properties were discovered in the early 17th century. A standard weekend ticket is £229.
