Fife Punkfest: Two day music festival returns to Kirkcaldy's Windsor Hotel after three-year gap

GBH will return to the Windsor for Punkfest. Picture: Scott Swanson Design

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A much-missed summer music festival is coming back to Kirkcaldy, after being cancelled due to the pandemic.

Punkfest, which will bring bands from all over the UK to Fife, will see two days of live punk rock at the town’s Windsor Hotel on Victoria Road.

The festival, taking place on Friday July 21 and Saturday 22, is being organised by Over the Bridge events, and will bring high-energy live music to Kirkcaldy at an affordable price.

Among the bands lined up to headline already are GBH, The Defects, Kid Klumsy, and a range of well-known punk bands, along with a few newer groups looking to make their mark.

Vonnie Carstairs, of Over the Bridge Events, said that more announcements about acts are to be announced soon.

She said: “Fife punkfest has been going for about ten years, but unfortunately we had a break due to covid.

"We nearly didn’t do one, but then we love our music and we have a massive following so we decided to go for it.

"There’s a lot of demand for things like this, most of the big punk shows are all down in England. There’s not as much up here, and mainly through in Glasgow.

“For people that love punk music, there’s nothing like it. It’s expensive for people to go through to Edinburgh and Glasgow for gigs, so we bring the bands to the people.

"The Healthy Junkies are coming up from England. We’ll also have a few local bands playing too.

There’ a young band, Uganda Moonshine Epidemic, who are amazing and worth catching live. There are bands from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dundee, Fife, Edinburgh, Belfast, and England.

“We’re hoping to sell it out with the line-up as there’s a lot of big Scottish bands on it.

"We want to make music affordable to people, because they’re being ripped off going to see other bands.

"We don’t make anything off this. We all give our time for this. Anything left over goes to charities. Kirkcaldy foodbank, Glenrothes foodbank, Linton Lane, and places like that.

“The Windsor is an excellent venue. The owners have been so kind in the past. The stage is amazing, it’s huge.

"The bands can let themselves go rather than being crammed in. If a band looks like they are enjoying themselves, the crowd enjoys themselves.

“A lot of bands walk in thinking it’ll just be a wee bar they’re playing in. They’re shocked to see the size of the hall. The sound is just amazing.

"A lot of people actually come from Glasgow, and people will travel to come here. When we put these things on it benefits the whole of Kirkcaldy, people are always looking for rooms.

After covid, it’s great to be back, seeing everyone get back to enjoying themselves and listening to the music they love.

The doors open 7pm Friday, July 21, with doors opening 2pm on the Saturday.

Early bird tickets on sale for £15 until Feb 9. Tickets will later be £25, or £15 per day.

Vonnie added: “We’ll have stalls with people selling punk art, records, clothing and all the bands will have their merch stalls as well."

For details and tickets, go to Over The Bridge’s Facebook page.