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New music from The Maccabees could be on the way in 2026

todayNovember 18, 2025 15

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Felix White and Orlando Weeks of The Maccabees at Glastonbury 2025, photo by Andy Ford

The Maccabees could be set to release new music in 2026, according to guitarist Felix White.

The London band returned to the stage this year for their first live shows since 2017, including a huge headline slot at All Points East 2025 and a performance at Glastonbury Festival.

White, who formed 86TVs following The Maccabees’ split, has now told William Hill Sports Book Of The Year Award that there will be further dates from the latter, and even hinted at new material incoming.

“I don’t know when our dates are going be announced, but we’re going to do some more shows, there’ll be five or six next summer,” he explained.

“After we played at Glastonbury and All Points East this year, we thought that might just be it, but everyone had such a good time. It felt so euphoric, so why wouldn’t we want to do that again!”

White then addressed “the inevitable next question” from fans, regarding new music and a potential follow-up to The Maccabees’ fourth album ‘Marks To Prove It’ (2015).

“The answer is, we don’t know,” he continued. “Having those shows in next year means we’ve got enough time to think about it and see which way it’s going to go. If The Maccabees keep going beyond that point, we’d want to feel like a functioning band that are making music and are there for a reason.”

The Maccabees live at Glastonbury 2025, photo by Derek Bremner
The Maccabees live at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Derek Bremner for NME

The musician went on to say that these yet-to-be-announced gigs “will either be the last Maccabees shows, or we’ll try and make some music and see where it goes”.

White added: “I’ve found it really hard to juggle all the things I’ve been doing over the past year or so. When The Maccabees was the only thing in my life, I had to dedicate a large chunk of time to it in order for it to work.

“I didn’t really have the space to even consider it this year, but it’s starting to clear now. As long as I don’t get too good an idea for another sports book, it’ll more likely, but we’ll see what happens!”

The guitarist has published two books: It’s Always Summer Somewhere: A Matter Of Life And Cricket (2021) and Whatever Will Be, Will Be: A Matter Of Life And Football (2025). He also hosts the cricket podcast Tailenders, and wrote the scores for the documentaries McEnroe (2022) and The Edge (2019).

The Maccabees live at Glastonbury 2025, photo by Derek Bremner
The Maccabees live at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Derek Bremner for NME

“I haven’t got another book in my mind at the moment,” White said. “I’ve had a really mad year where I was doing a film score, writing my book around the FA Cup, playing in The Maccabees, doing the Tailenders podcast and then Jimmy [Anderson] and I went on tour!

“So, I’m just going to have a couple of months of stopping and working out what’s next for me creatively.”

Over the summer, White teased that it was “tempting” for The Maccabees to head back into the studio. He revealed that the band weren’t working on any new music at the time, saying: “Maybe because we’re not writing anything at the moment, there’s no tension. Or that idea of like, ‘Where’s the band going?’ It’s just like, ‘Oh, nice to see you!’ and then getting to kind of like bathe in all the catalogue is kind of great.”

White had also admitted that the band’s live comeback “almost felt embarrassing” after their “definitive” break-up in 2017.

When speaking to NME at their rehearsals at the start of this year, The Maccabees confirmed there had been no talk of new music at that point: “The plan is to do [All Points East] and see how much we love it. We might hate each other by August.”

During another chat with NME at Glastonbury 2025, Weeks reflected on the band’s first show back, recalling: “You felt all this feeling inside your body that the action of playing the music brings out in us, and it was all happening in there and just felt amazing.

“I haven’t felt like that for a very long time, as we did in that room. And to be honest, all across Europe, it’s been quite similar to that show.”

In a five-star review of the band’s Glasto performanceNME wrote: “This could go down as one of The Maccabees’ most euphoric shows.

“There are few things more joyful than witnessing White grinning ear to ear as he hypes up the crowd between songs. Frontman Orlando Weeks, meanwhile, looks happier than ever, joining his bandmate in some rare instances of geeing up the crowd and looking truly appreciative of the moment.”

Meanwhile, The Maccabees have announced a 10th anniversary reissue of ‘Marks To Prove It’ and shared ‘Koya’ – a newly-released track from that era.

The post New music from The Maccabees could be on the way in 2026 appeared first on NME.

Written by: Brady Donovan

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