Weirdshire, Hereford, Programme for February and March 2026.
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Herefordshire promoters Weirdshire have announced their programme for February and March 2026.
From the Weirdshire newsletter;
The Weirdshire wheel doesn’t stop turning, so I have to keep you informed of what’s coming up. In short - over the next 4 weeks, two intimate shows upstairs at the Jam Factory, and sandwiched between them, one at the exciting pop up art space Artlandish, in Gomond Street (Maylord Orchards).
Tuesday 27th January, Jam Factory, 7.30pm
First up, in just over a week, the show featuring Andrew DR Abbott, and we are delighted to be able to add the mysterious Child Owlet to open the evening. Those of you who read and memorised the last Weirdshire email from 2 weeks ago will know about Andy, who will be weaving his mesmerising music into field recordings of his native Yorkshire. Andy is a great story teller and will draw you in…
And I can now share with you all that I know about Child Owlet:
“ … hailing from the bleak mud-flats of Weston-Super-Mare, Child Owlet arranges and performs traditional songs of obsession, grief, and murder to the backdrop of angular, meditative, and dissonant guitar work, carrying the weight of these centuries old stories with a voice some have described as “fine”.”
Praise for Andy Abbott:
“A minor 21st century folk masterpiece … Abbott ignores the comfort of pure folk structures and bluesy scales, twisting his lush folk guitar into something brimming with potent pangs of a serrated kind of poetic discontent.” - The Quietus
“This is another gorgeous release from Andy who has taken an imaginary place as a theme but has clearly used the inspiration on his doorstep in real life and added a little musical fairy dust to transport the listener and the landscape to another place. The everyday, everywhere becomes somewhere special and memorable in Andy’s hands.“ - The Terrascope
“a beautifully structured hour of ambient music; reflective and calm with endlessly unravelling layers.” - Uncut, 2024
Tickets;
https://wegottickets.com/event/682928
This one is upstairs at the Jam Factory - best to buy in advance, and when it has sold out, that’s it…
And - on from there and the next show will be at Artlandish.
Wednesday 11th February - Si Paton and Retinal Circus
Over February and March Weirdshire are working with a local community arts project. Artlandish is a pop-up arts network who occupy empty shops with varied and really successful exhibitions, installations and workshops - they cause quite a stir whenever they are around. Many of you will remember them from last year.
They are currently running a project called Here Without Home - exploring homelessness in all its forms and bringing attention to the complex reality of living without a safe or stable place to call home.
Weirdshire are supporting the project with a couple of gigs in the Artlandish pop-up shop in Hereford city centre over the course of February and March. We are also planning to support their weekend festival - which they have scheduled to coincide with ours over the 7th / 8th March. More on that in due course….
Wednesday 11th February - Si Paton and Retinal Circus Tickets https://clients.wegottickets.com/login.php
Si Paton is a bassist, an improviser, a composer, an academic, an educator, event curator, and general antagonist who came and took The Victory by storm when we put him on there for a Weirdshire show in September 2024. He will be invigorated by his extensive touring (last autumn he was all over the Baltic states and Scandinavia). This will be noisy, unpleasant, and exciting.
More about Si:
Si Paton performs improvised solo prepared bass guitar. His work draws from the traditions of free jazz, harsh noise, metal, hardcore punk, 20th century classical, and Fluxus performance practices, which are all incorporated during his shows.
Armed with multiple distortion pedals, screwdrivers, drumsticks, pencils, and anything that the previous band left onstage, he has crafted compelling performances that consist of virtuosic free jazz one minute, dense walls of harsh noise the next. He has been known to play whilst climbing on tables, engage in staring contests with unsuspecting audience members, recite wrestling promos, and generally disregard his own safety. Whilst never quite completely fitting neatly onto any lineup he is a part of, he has nevertheless impressed audiences with his musical risk taking, off-beat showmanship, and sheer intensity.
And we’re also really chuffed to be able to bring Retinal Circus to Weirdshire to perform - Craigus has been around the Weirdshire and Unorthodox Paradox scene for a long time. Onetime prolific singer songwriter turned multi instrumentalist composer, his music in trio, duo and solo format has been described as “mutant shifting acid fried psych pop”. Retinal Circus will be solo for this performance.
So, you’re not going to want to miss this are you! Of course not. Here’s a bit of what you can expect:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B_m4BU7wzM
And finally, rounding off this trio of shows I’m telling you about now, it’s the return of Hereford’s own Josh Lamdin - together with his new touring partner Louis Alberry. And we’re back upstairs at the Jam Factory.
17th February - Josh Lamdin and Louis Alberry: Tickets https://wegottickets.com/event/687217
Many will remember Josh very well, from his playing solo, in jazz trios, and in the much missed Sundown Jazz Society. He’s moved away from Hereford now, but is coming back to play a set of his new music, upstairs at the Jam Factory.
And this is part of a co-headlining acoustic tour he is doing with Louis Alberry who is a guitarist & songwriter from the rugged Dorset Coast. He writes exploratory songs weaving together fingerpicked folk, jazz harmony, wonky grooves & laid-back lyricism.
This is going to be such a lovely show. And it’s another one of our limited seating, when-they’ve-gone-they’ve-gone events so get in early, buy in advance, and if it sells out, don’t say I didn’t warn you…
Here’s a nice little bit of Louis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nKGL4TaNkw
Hope to see lots of you at these ones
Take care of each other
The Weirdshire Crew
https://www.facebook.com/groups/357644304368277/