Inside Incider: Meet the man behind Weston's indoor music festival

25th November 2025

Meet the man behind the South West’s wackiest indoor music festival: the ringmaster of a three-day circus where holiday-camp nostalgia meets full-throttle live music. At Sand Bay’s Incider Festival in Weston-super-Mare, Kev Davis is the one pulling the strings - booking the bands, scheduling the daft games, and ensuring the Bluecoats keep the chaos levels joyfully high.

Under his watch, Incider has become a joyful oddity on the festival calendar: an indoor weekender where you can pogo to a punk band one minute, or drown yourself in  sea shanty sounds the next or find yourself laughing your socks off in a holiday-camp challenge the next!

Over three action-packed days, his February festival fills the halls with live music, laughter and silliness between sets. It’s a formula that’s won over everyone from weekenders to Weston-super-Mare day trippers - and it all starts with a mission to bring proper, unfiltered fun back to the seaside.

Nine bands, food and holiday camp entertainment for £42

“You can get a day ticket for between £42 and £52 and for that you get eight or nine bands, holiday camp entertainment, a swimming pool and you get fed!” Kev said.

Positioned perfectly between the post-Christmas slump and the start of the summer festival circuit, Incider has carved out its own sweet spot in the calendar.

“We are fun people having fun,” said Kev. “People just got it straight away. We’re serious about our music but we love having fun as well, and people love the madness that has crept into our event. It’s a great ice-breaker. People come on their own but leave as friends.”

That madness is now something of a calling card. Between bands, as crews shuffle gear on and off stage, the Bluecoats leap into action- running games, stirring up silliness, and keeping the energy fizzing. “While the bands are changing over, we’ve got the Bluecoats keeping the entertainment going. It breaks down barriers. Getting dressed up and playing silly games brings people together. Most people are a bit shy or have their guard up when they first arrive, but once you realise everyone else is having fun and not taking themselves too seriously, you’re all on an equal level.”

This offbeat creation has grown into a seaside tradition with a cult following - music, mayhem and lashings of Weston-super-Mare fun and spirit rolled into one.

And for Kev, a band member in Skimmity Hitchers – who describe their music as Scrumpy and Western - it all feels like a natural extension of what they were already doing long before Incider was born.

“We’ve christened children,” he laughs. “We’ve played at christenings despite being quite an adult scrumpy-and-western band. We’ve been at the Dorset Knob Throwing competition - which is the throwing of a traditional Dorset biscuit - and we’ve been at the world famous nettle eating competition  

“All that madness has now crept into our event – it’s what we are."

Incider is one of three events run by Kev and the crew. It follow OutCider and the Cursus Festival in Dorset.

When Sand Bay Holiday Village approached them in 2019, everything clicked. With so much of the festival world packed into May to September, the chance to create a winter spin-off was irresistible.

Kev said:”We took the template from our other festivals, brought it indoors and gave it a go. It’s been a massive success. They said we could do our own thing or have the Bluecoats as well - and we thought, wow, that’s exactly what we want. It gave us that proper holiday camp feel.

Part of the appeal is the broad, eclectic music policy: punk, ska, reggae, hip hop, folky, dancefloor fillers even shanty bands - but always original acts, never tributes. “We’re music lovers. The joy of doing this job is finding new bands and introducing people to them,” Kev said. “Expect a mix of well-loved headliners, exciting up-and-comers and a couple of local names thrown into the spotlight.”

And for Weston locals, the convenience is unbeatable. “If I lived in Weston and was into music, I’d love to have this on my doorstep,” Kev said. “People travel from all over the UK and stay on site, but if you live locally, you can buy a ticket for one, two or three days, get the full festival experience and go home at the end of the night. You can come around the corner to Sand Bay and suddenly find yourself in this amazing festival without worrying about what the weather is doing outside.”

As for the fun and games, they’re woven into the DNA of the event: karaoke, bingo, beer pong, indoor curling, horse racing, line dancing, themed shows and a full-blown fancy-dress day. It's all part of creating a space where people can let go, laugh loudly and remember what festivals are supposed to feel like.

“That’s the point,” Kev said. “We’re naturally fun people and the people who come to our events are fun people. It is possible to be serious about music while having fun. You don’t have to just stroke your chin and listen - you can jump between different things. That’s what makes it special.”

The 2026 Incider Festival Music Line-up

Incider 2026 Tickets and information

Tickets are on sale from www.inciderfestival.com For more information on Incider 2026 which runs from Friday, February 6 to Sunday, February 8th clcik here