Alternative bands

We track 453 Alternative bands. 191 are booked at festivals still to come, most at Warped Tour Orlando and Welcome to Rockville. 211 have tour dates on sale, 1962 shows in all.

Alternative festivals →

Who to know

Ranked by festivals still to come, then tour dates, then every booking we have on record.

On tour now

211 Alternative bands with dates on sale, soonest first. From Ticketmaster, refreshed daily.

Playing festivals next

Every festival still to come with Alternative bands on the bill, soonest first. The Alternative festival guide ranks them by how deep they book.

Most headline slots

The names printed in the biggest type, trusted to send everyone home.

  1. 1Fontaines D.C.14Dublin's poet-punks grown into arena-scale alt-rock: 'Romance' made them era-defining, swagger and melancholy in equal Irish measure.
  2. 2Turnstile8Hardcore's joyful crossover kings, with dreamy interludes, stage dives, total communion, and a crowd that moves as one.
  3. 3The Hayley Williams Show6Paramore's singer in her solo work, trading the band's guitar punch for looser, stranger songs built around the same unmistakable voice.
  4. 4Muse5Paranoid space-opera rock at maximum scale, with riffs, falsetto and conspiracy concept albums built for the biggest possible stage.
  5. 5The Neighbourhood5Monochrome California moodiness: 'Sweater Weather' and a decade of slow-burn alt-pop, reunited for a generation that streamed them into legend.
  6. 6Foo Fighters4Thirty years of Dave Grohl turning grief and volume into the most reliably cathartic rock show going, with a hits catalog three hours deep, played like it's still a club gig.
  7. 7My Chemical Romance4Concept-album maximalists who treated emo as opera, with marching-band drums, guitar harmonies, and a costume for every era, theatrical to the last note.
  8. 8Pierce The Veil4San Diego post-hardcore romantics enjoying a massive TikTok-era second act, the scene's most swooned-over comeback.
  9. 9Queens of the Stone Age3Josh Homme's robot-boogie riffs: heavy music with a lounge singer's sense of swing and menace, desert-rock royalty at full strut.
  10. 10Rawayana3Venezuelan band mixing reggae, funk and Caribbean grooves into what they call trippy pop, sunny and loose-limbed with a sly sense of humour.

Most places played

Whose year reads like a world tour that happened to be made of festivals.

  1. 1Turnstile19Hardcore's joyful crossover kings, with dreamy interludes, stage dives, total communion, and a crowd that moves as one.
  2. 2Fontaines D.C.16Dublin's poet-punks grown into arena-scale alt-rock: 'Romance' made them era-defining, swagger and melancholy in equal Irish measure.
  3. 3Violet Grohl15Yes, Dave's daughter, and a genuinely arresting voice striking her own path, closer to torch song than stadium rock.
  4. 4The Neighbourhood12Monochrome California moodiness: 'Sweater Weather' and a decade of slow-burn alt-pop, reunited for a generation that streamed them into legend.
  5. 5underscores11Bay Area hyperpop auteur, glitchy, hooky and scene-defining, with 'Wallsocket' worldbuilding included and internet-native songwriting at its sharpest.
  6. 6Pierce The Veil10San Diego post-hardcore romantics enjoying a massive TikTok-era second act, the scene's most swooned-over comeback.
  7. 7Boy Harsher9Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller making darkwave that feels like a film score for something you shouldn't watch, with throbbing synths, whispered menace, and fog everywhere.
  8. 8Haute & Freddy7Genre-hopping duo bringing club heat.
  9. 9Jessie Murph7A rasp built for heartbreak, dragging country songwriting through trap drums and open-wound honesty, with genre lines treated as suggestions.
  10. 10Rachel Chinouriri7British indie-pop with a sharp lyrical edge: bright arrangements carrying much darker subject matter, Croydon storytelling on the rise.

Most favorited by readers

The Alternative bands people here actually listen to, booked or not.

  1. 1Fontaines D.C.Dublin's poet-punks grown into arena-scale alt-rock: 'Romance' made them era-defining, swagger and melancholy in equal Irish measure.
  2. 2RadioheadOxford five-piece who abandoned guitar-rock at the height of it for drum programming, Ondes Martenot and Thom Yorke's falsetto over collapsing rhythms.
  3. 3Billie EilishWhispered close-mic vocals over bass that shakes the floor, written and produced with her brother Finneas in a Los Angeles bedroom.
  4. 4Bon IverJustin Vernon's project, moving from cabin-recorded falsetto folk to pitch-shifted voices and processed horns, with a choir's worth of vocalists onstage.
  5. 5Mannequin PussyPhilly band swinging between shoegaze tenderness and full-throated hardcore, often inside one song, with catharsis and total dynamic control.
  6. 6Sufjan StevensSongwriter who moves between banjo whispers and full orchestral electronics, from Illinois to the bare grief of Carrie & Lowell.
  7. 7The NationalMatt Berninger's baritone over the Dessner and Devendorf brothers' interlocking guitars and restless drumming. Slow-building songs for people who reread their own emails.
  8. 8Arcade FireMontreal group built around Win Butler and Regine Chassagne, with a stage full of swapped instruments and hymn-like choruses aimed at the back of the field.
  9. 9Green DayEast Bay punk trio who took 'Dookie' to the suburbs and then built a rock opera out of 'American Idiot.' Billie Joe Armstrong still runs the crowd like a club show.
  10. 10The 1975Manchester's self-aware pop provocateurs, with 80s gloss, terminally online lyrics, and a frontman who treats every show like performance art.

Most saved to a plan

The Alternative bands people are building a Saturday around.

  1. 1Adult DVDLeeds lads making hardware-driven post-punk bangers about mundane dread, with deadpan vocals over squelching synths, pitched somewhere between a big night out and an existential crisis.
  2. 2Wolf AliceMercury-winning UK alt-rock: from whispered folk to full-throated fuzz in one set, with Ellie Rowsell commanding every register.
  3. 3Mannequin PussyPhilly band swinging between shoegaze tenderness and full-throated hardcore, often inside one song, with catharsis and total dynamic control.
  4. 4Jimmy Eat WorldThe emo band that became a permanent radio fixture, with enormous choruses delivered with total earnestness, decade after decade without a dip.
  5. 5Taking Back SundayLong Island emo royalty: mic-swinging catharsis, twenty-plus years deep, 'MakeDamnSure' still a communal throat-shred, and yes, the mic still swings.
  6. 6Third Eye BlindSemi-charmed alt-rock perfection: a greatest-hits set with no skips, doot-doot-doots at maximum participation, Jenkins still selling every word.
  7. 7TurnstileHardcore's joyful crossover kings, with dreamy interludes, stage dives, total communion, and a crowd that moves as one.
  8. 8Dexter and the MoonrocksSelf-described "western space grunge" with heavy alt-rock riffs colliding with red-dirt country swagger, breaking out off the viral hit Sad in Carolina.
  9. 9Gym Class HeroesTravie McCoy's band bent rap, rock and pop into one radio-shaped thing, and Cupid's Chokehold and Stereo Hearts are the proof. Live they play it as a party rather than a nostalgia set.
  10. 10HoobastankEarly-2000s alt-rock with one inescapable ballad and a harder-edged catalogue behind it: 'The Reason' opens the lighters, the rest brings guitars.

All 453 Alternative bands

Sized by how many of the festivals we track have booked each act.

TurnstileFontaines D.C.Violet GrohlunderscoresThe NeighbourhoodPierce The VeilBoy HarsherRachel ChinouririAdult DVDHaute & FreddyBella KayThe Hayley Williams ShowHot MilkJessie MurphRadio Free AliceSouth ArcadeWolf AliceWunderhorseDay We RanDominic FikeHolding AbsenceMarlon FunakiSleep TheoryThe Pretty RecklessCHVRCHESDexter and the MoonrocksDMA'SFaith No MoreHighly SuspectLove SpellsMannequin PussyModest MouseMuseNot For RadioNothing But ThievesPixiesQueens of the Stone AgeSophia StelThird Eye Blind

All Time LowAshBetter Than EzraBushCage the ElephantEnglish TeacherFilterFoo FightersGoldie BoutilierGoo Goo DollsHannah CohenJutesL.S. DunesLily AllenLip CriticMy Chemical RomanceRain City DriveRawayanaRio KostaSantigoldSet It OffSuperheavenTaking Back SundayThe KooksThe Smashing PumpkinsThrice311Alice In Chainsalt-JBastilleBilly TalentBlondshellBlossomsBreaking BenjaminChanel BeadsFeederFree ThrowGHOSTWOMANGood CharlotteGrandsonInhalerKim GordonLeenalchiLitMagnolia ParkMandy, IndianaNickelbackNova TwinsPapa RoachPorch LightRenny ContiRoyal BloodSawyer HillSelf EsteemStone Temple PilotsThe CureThe HellpThe KillersThe KVBThe RevivalistsTom MorelloWeezer

4 Non BlondesAdam AntAlemedaAlien Ant FarmAngel Du$tArmor For SleepBasementBear's DenBiffy ClyroBilderbuchBrandon FlowersCA7RIEL & Paco AmorosoCaroline RoseCitizenCounting CrowsCreeperDavid ByrneDinosaur Jr.DrugdealerEgo Kill TalentEve 6EverclearFailureFuture PalaceGary NumanGym Class HeroesHo99o9I Set My Friends On FireJean DawsonJimmy Eat WorldKasabianKennyHooplaKing Gizzard and the Lizard WizardLiveManic Street PreachersMen at WorkModern WomanOrgyParis JacksonPhantogramPixel GripPlaceboPoint NorthPulpRed LeatherRobbie WilliamsSeetherShady NastyShe Wants RevengeSilversun PickupsSpongeSt. VincentSugarSwitchfootTaylor AcornThe AliveThe Heavy HeavyTheory of a DeadmanToadiesTwin TribesWinona FighterYungbludAlabama 3Alain JohannesAlain Johannes TríoAlly EvensonAltın GünAnberlinAntony SzmierekAvey TareBad SunsBadflowerBalance and ComposureBeach WeatherBeauty School DropoutBENEEBerliner KneipenchorBIG SPECIALBilly BraggBilly IdolBlack Country, New RoadBlood For BloodBo NingenBoston ManorBow Wow WowBrakesBrian FallonBullyCameron WinterCannonsChristian DeathChuck RaganCitizen FishCold CaveCold War KidsCollective SoulCourteenersCrackerDarlingDaryl JohnsDawesDayseekerDead PonyDearyDeb NeverDevoDhani HarrisonDishwallaDora JarDrug ChurchEcho & The BunnymenEl EfectoElvis Costello & The ImpostersEzra FeinbergFantasy of a Broken HeartFinger ElevenFINNEASFlower FaceFoalsFousheéFrench PoliceFresh Pots!!Future IslandsGeezerGeneGoatGoldfingerGreentea PengHAIMHannah JadaguHellogoodbyeHey MondayHigh VisHit Like A GirlHoobastankHot Water MusicHUNNYIcon For HireJade BirdJamie TJanus StarkJill LoreanKALEOKid KapichiLa TexanaLene LovichLiam KazarLIGHT ASYLUMLightning SeedsLime CordialeLinkin ParkLittle StrangerLos BitchosMadison CunninghamMarilina BertoldiMarmozetsMatt MaesonMay-AMercury RevMichael MarcagiMicrowaveMissing PersonsModern EnglishMolchat DomaMoor MotherMustard ServiceMystery JetsNadine ShahNando GarcíaNarrow HeadNEIL FRANCESNick Cave & The Bad SeedsNilüfer YanyaNine DaysOleanderOur Lady PeaceOxymorronsParis TexasPearl JamPenguin CafePlayboy ManbabyPorchesPrayersProvokerPsychic DeathPVRISRezillosRIKIRUVENRUVENRyley WalkerSammy Rae & The FriendsSASAMISaves The DayScreaming DeadShinedownSimple Mindssleepytime trioSlothrustSnow PatrolSoulwaxSpartaSpizz EnergiSqueezeStar 99SupercomboSupergrassTantricTeezo TouchdownThe 1975The AlmostThe AuxiliaryThe Backseat LoversThe Big MoonThe CarpettesThe ChameleonsThe Darling BudsThe DronesThe Haunted YouthThe MaccabeesThe MotelsThe Psychedelic FursThe Spook SchoolThe StranglersThe TreasuryThe Verve PipeTheatre of HateThese New PuritansTonicTR/STTV on the RadioUK DecayVanishing TwinVertical HorizonViolent SohoViva SueciaWheatusWhitneyWinnetka Bowling LeagueWomboworlds greatest dadWorry ClubZEA MAYS100 gecsAgainst Me!AJJAllo Darlin'Andrew McMahon in the WildernessArcade FireArchers of LoafArctic MonkeysBachelorBad MovesBahamasBattlesBeckBeirutBelle and SebastianBen Folds FiveBillie EilishBloc PartyBomb The Music Industry!Bon IverboygeniusBrand NewBroken BellsBuilt to SpillChris Forsyth & The Solar Motel BandClairoColdplayCrumbcumgirl8DayglowDead Man's BonesDeer TickDurryElliott SmithEmmy The GreatExplosions in the SkyFace To FaceFall Out BoyFirst Aid KitFlogging MollyFrou FrouFugaziGlass AnimalsGoth BabeGreen DayGus DappertonHippo CampusHozierIron & WineJack's MannequinJeff RosenstockJens LekmanJohn GrantK.FlayKing KruleLake Street DiveLana Del ReyLaura MarlingLaura StevensonLEISURELocal NativesLos Campesinos!LuceroMinutemenMisterWivesMovementsNew OrderNine Inch NailsNirvanaNOFXPalehoundParamorePeter McPolandPhoenixRadioheadRegina SpektorRina SawayamaScreaming FemalesSharon Van EttenSigur RósSilver JewsSlow ClubSonic YouthSt. LuciaStreetlight ManifestoSufjan StevensSuperchunkTed Leo and The PharmacistsThe Beautiful SouthThe Black KeysThe Boy Least Likely ToThe Get Up KidsThe Hold SteadyThe LumineersThe Magnetic FieldsThe Mountain GoatsThe NationalThe PoguesThe Rural Alberta AdvantageThe WalkmenTokyo Police ClubTom WaitsToro Y MoiTropical Fuck StormTwo FeetVampire WeekendWashed OutWaxahatcheeYoke LoreYoung the Giant

Other genres

EDM 529Indie 496Rock 390Pop 365Punk 317Hip-Hop 309Folk and Americana 287House 267Metal 261Country 252R&B and Soul 226Hardcore 135Techno 134Dubstep and Bass 124Bluegrass 99Latin 96Jazz 76Emo 66Shoegaze and Dream Pop 62Trance 52Psychedelic 47Reggae and Dancehall 37Blues 32Drum & Bass 32Hardstyle and Hard Dance 22

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