Concert News
BRIT Award Critics’ Choice Winner Jacob Alon annouced for rare Waterfront Performance at Latitude
Jacob Alon, fresh from winning the BRIT Award Critics’ Choice, will perform on Latitude Festival’s legendary Waterfront Stage, becoming only the fourth musical artist ever to perform there, following Damon Albarn, Chilly Gonzales, and Lang Lang.
The announcement comes as Latitude prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary, returning to Henham Park, Suffolk, from 23–26 July 2026 with a programme befitting two decades of fearless cultural ambition. A festival that has always refused to be defined by a single art form, blending music, theatre, literature, comedy and dance into something entirely its own, Latitude 2026 marks the milestone with headline acts including David Byrne in a UK festival exclusive, Lewis Capaldi, and Teddy Swims, alongside The Flaming Lips, The Last Dinner Party, Wet Leg, Self Esteem and Jalen Ngonda. Jacob’s Waterfront Stage performance stands as one of the defining moments of the anniversary programme. Tickets are on sale now here.
Latitude Founder and Festival Director Melvin Benn said: “The Waterfront Stage is one of the most stunning performance locations in the world, a place where only the rarest musical talents have performed. Jacob Alon is exactly that. A voice that stops you in your tracks, an artist whose rise , from Later with Jools Holland to the Brits to supporting Florence and the Machine this summer has been extraordinary to watch. Placing Jacob here in our 20th anniversary year feels like exactly the kind of cultural moment this stage was made for.”
It is a journey that began, in part, at Latitude itself. In 2025, Alon played the Sunrise Arena, drawing one of the most attentive crowds of the weekend. The progression from the Sunrise Stage to the Waterfront is a testament to both the speed of Alon’s rise and to Latitude’s long tradition of nurturing new talent through its ranks.
Jacob said, “ SO honoured to be bobbing up the river stage at Latitude this year. I will be sure to pay the troll toll and give my gracious respects to the river undines and water nymphs. They will join us in song. Last year I was carried across your beautiful river by the most delightful disco diva ferrywoman and she made my day. This year I will think of her as the sound carries downstream.”
Born and raised in Dunfermline, Fife, the singer-songwriter has had a rise so swift and sure-footed it has left the music industry scrambling for superlatives. Their debut album In Limerence, released in May 2025 via Island Records/EMI and produced by Dan Carey, earned nominations for both the Mercury Prize and the Scottish Album of the Year Award and has been hailed as having “all the hallmarks of a modern classic” (The Observer). Alon has been described as possessing “one of the most remarkable voices of their generation” (The Independent) and “breathing new life into the singer-songwriter genre” (The Times).
The first Scottish artist ever to win BBC Introducing Artist of the Year, Alon has crowned an extraordinary twelve months by taking home the Critics’ Choice Award at this week’s Brit Awards 2026, the music industry’s most prestigious indicator of future stardom. They headline a BritsWeek26 concert in Edinburgh in aid of War Child this Friday.
The momentum has been building across some of the biggest stages in the country. A national television debut on Later with Jools Holland in late 2025 was followed by a performance of Don’t Fall Asleep on The Graham Norton Show in February 2026. This summer, they will support Florence and the Machine at Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre, a homecoming of sorts . The Waterfront Stage is the next chapter.
To limit Jacob Alon solely as a folk artist would be doing them a grave disservice. Though In Limerence carries flickering echoes of Adrianne Lenker, Nick Drake and Rufus Wainwright, Alon is a limitless artist, one with the raw, devastating power of a voice stripped to just guitar and breath, yet equally at home with the personality and panache of a genuine pop star. What binds every sonic guise together is an unshakeable commitment to devastatingly frank lyricism and a rare gift for pulling humour and warmth out of despair. Bittersweet symphonies in their truest form.
Alon began playing piano at nine and guitar at fifteen, eventually winning a place to study theoretical physics and medicine at the University of Edinburgh before abandoning academia to follow music. It is a decision that now looks, with the benefit of hindsight, entirely inevitable.
The Waterfront Stage is one of the most breathtaking performance settings in the British festival calendar, a floating stage perched at the edge of the Latitude lake in the grounds of Henham Park, where audiences watch from the grassy bank as performers appear to rise from the lake itself. The stage has played host to world-class productions, including Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake and the English National Ballet’s Four Seasons.
But music performances are extraordinarily rare and intentionally so. In 2012, Lang Lang arrived by gondola before performing to thousands on the bank, one of the most iconic images in Latitude’s history. Damon Albarn and Chilly Gonzales have similarly graced the stage in performances that have passed into festival legend.
Jacob Alon performs at the Latitude Festival on the Waterfront Stage on Saturday, 25th July 2026.