Punk titans Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter will headline an incredible night of music in Cardiff next summer celebrating 50 years of punk.
The original members of the Pistols Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock, will be joined by frontman Frank Carter to headline TK Maxx Presents Depot Live at Cardiff Castle on Saturday August 1.
Rising Cardiff punk newcomers Panic Shack will open the show, with the historic castle also welcoming special guests punk legends The Stranglers and The Undertones.
One of the most influential rock bands of all time, 2025 has seen the new Pistols once more emerge as a force of chaos and celebration and 2026 will see them celebrate 50 years since the band’s infamous show at Manchester’s The Lesser Free Trade Hall – a gig hailed by NME as ‘the most important concert of all time.’
From Australia to Japan, through European festivals and a legendary show at the Royal Albert Hall – where Carter conjured a giant circle pit in that hallowed venue, they have torn venues apart throughout 2025. A return to London’s 100 Club before an audience that included Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller and Bobby Gillespie, sealed the revival.
For Steve Jones, the mission is simple: “If it ain’t fun, I ain’t doing it. I’m too old for bullshit.”
Formerly of Gallows and Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Carter joined the line up in 2024, to help save London’s iconic Bush Hall and soon received rave reviews for his energy and new life brought to Sex Pistols’ music.
In summer 1976, Sex Pistols played two gigs at The Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester – shows cited as responsible for the punk rock boom in Northern England, in turn inspiring Manchester’s alternative and the UK’s indie music scenes.
The shows played to audiences of fewer than 50 people, but among them were future members of Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths, Buzzcocks and Simply Red, along with Factory Records’ founder Tony Wilson.
Joining Sex Pistols in Cardiff will be special guests The Stranglers. One of the longest surviving UK punk bands, with 20 Top 40 albums and 24 UK Top 40 singles including Peaches, No More Heroes, Always The Sun, Strange Little Girl and the mercurial Golden Brown.
With their unique sound, combining a brilliant melodic touch with a dark aggression and effortless cool, The Stranglers are now recognised as one of the most credible and influential bands to have emerged from the punk era. Fans can expect to enjoy Jean-Jacques Burnel and longest-serving member Baz Warne co-fronting the band, joined by mainstay Jim Macaulay on drums, and newest member Toby Hounsham on keyboards.
The band’s 50th anniversary in 2024 was packed with celebratory sell-out tours and headline slots at festivals worldwide. Their 2021 album Dark Matters reached Number 4 in the UK chart and became their highest charting album since Feline in 1983.
Celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2026, fellow special guests will be Teenage Kicks stars The Undertones who emerged from Derry in 1976, the result of five friends learning how to play basic rock and roll.
Over the next 10 years, they would score chart hits including Here Comes The Summer, Jimmy Jimmy, and the incredible punk classic Teenage Kicks.
Opening the show will be Cardiff’s own Panic Shack, an explosive five-piece punk outfit whose DIY spirit and electrifying live shows have made them one of the genre’s most exciting new bands. Formed in 2018 by Sarah Harvey, Meg Fretwell, Romi Lawrence, Emily Smith and Nick Williams, the group set out to prove music isn’t a members-only club.
Their sound – collar-grabbing punk missives that walk the line between smoking-area banter and a restless rage for the world we live in – refuses to sit politely. With wit, grit and a fearless sense of identity, Panic Shack bring a riotous energy that’s impossible to ignore.
Sex Pistols join the likes of Bastille, Bowling For Soup and Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, Garbage and Skunk Anansie, The Wombats, and The Streets among the headliners announced for TK Maxx presents Depot Live at Cardiff Castle 2026 with more announcements to come.
DEPOT Live founder Nick Saunders said: “What an incredible night of punk legends this will be – Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter, The Stranglers and The Undertones all in one show! And then add our very own, hometown rising punk stars Panic Shack into the mix. I cannot wait to see them all rock the castle – it’s going to be spectacular.”
Presale tickets are available at 10am Thursday via depotlive.co.uk/sexpistols and all tickets go on general sale at 10am on Friday via www.depotlive.co.uk and www.ticketmaster.co.uk
