Chicago's alt-rock monument, with Mellon Collie-scale guitars at home in Grant Park and Corgan drama at full wingspan.
Alt-rock
Darker Waves 2026 Lineup
New wave, post-punk and goth lined up on the sand for one November Saturday: Morrissey and the Pumpkins over a bill deep in Buzzcocks, Soft Cell and Gary Numan.
Find the acts you'll love at Darker Waves
Name a few bands you love and we'll scout all 37 acts on the Darker Waves bill for the ones you shouldn't miss.
About Darker Waves 2026
Darker Waves is a single Saturday on Huntington State Beach dedicated almost entirely to the 1980s: new wave, post-punk, goth and synth-pop, played on the sand as the sun goes down. Morrissey and The Smashing Pumpkins headline. Beneath them sit Simple Minds, Bad Religion, Adam Ant, The Psychedelic Furs and Soft Cell, which is a fair summary of the whole proposition.
The depth is what makes it work: The Damned, Gary Numan, Buzzcocks, Circle Jerks, Modern English, Missing Persons, The Motels, Marky Ramone and Mariachi El Bronx all appear, and the bottom of the bill leans contemporary darkwave (Cold Cave, TR/ST, Prayers, RIKI, Choir Boy and Twin Tribes-adjacent newer acts). One day, one beach, thirty-nine bands.
Expect punk, new-wave, synth-pop and darkwave across 37 acts.
At a glance
- Dates
- Saturday
- Where
- Huntington State Beach, Huntington Beach, CA
- Lineup
- 37 acts
- Set times
- First set 11:40 AM, last 8:45 PM
- Gates
- Gates open at 11 AM and close at 10 PM.
- Stages
- 3 stages: Darker Stage, Waves Stage, Black Tide Stage.
- Ages
- All ages, and every attendee, including children and babies, needs their own ticket.
- Passes
- General Admission starts at $259.99, GA+ at $439.99, VIP at $639.99 and Ultimate VIP at $1750.70, with no hidden fees.
- Website
- Official site
Darker Waves 2026 lineup & schedule: all 37 acts
Every set, by day and stage. Star the ones you want and they land on your schedule, with overlapping sets flagged.Build my schedule
Every set, by day and stage. Star the ones you want and they land on your schedule, with overlapping sets flagged.
The Smiths' voice, complicated as ever: when he shows, nothing else sounds like it, and the songbook remains untouchable.
IndieRock
Wesley Eisold's synth project, with hardcore roots audible under the cold, enormous hooks: darkwave built by someone who learned intensity the loud way.
DarkwaveSynth-punk
Robert Alfons's sepulchral synth-pop, with a voice pitched somewhere between seduction and threat and club gloom at its most luxurious.
DarkwaveSynth-pop
First-wave California hardcore played at absurd speed. Keith Morris's sneer is the whole genre in one voice, 'Group Sex' still a fourteen-minute masterclass.
Hardcore-punk
Baggy-era indie-dance with one inescapable single built on a sample and pure adolescent energy, and 'Unbelievable' still does exactly what it says.
MadchesterAlt-dance
The man who made synthesisers sound alien, then spent his second act making them sound industrial: 'Cars' to Nine Inch Nails gravity, one career.
Synth-popIndustrial
Fuzz-forward LA alt-rock with Brian Aubert's androgynous yelp cutting through the swirl, and 'Lazy Eye' still the slow-burn standard.
Alt-rockShoegaze
Welsh rock built on political fury and literary reference, and the best guitar solos in Britpop, three decades of conviction deep.
Alt-rockBritpop
Marc Almond's cabaret melodrama over Dave Ball's synths, with sleaze and heartbreak in equal parts and 'Tainted Love' eternal.
Synth-pop
The Bronx's punk band in full mariachi regalia, a bit that became a genuinely accomplished second career, now several albums deep.
MariachiPunk
First UK punk single, then a hard left into goth. Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible are still at it, 'New Rose' to 'Eloise' in one set.
PunkGoth-rock
Richard Butler's sandpaper voice over saxophone-flecked post-punk that keeps finding new generations, with 'Pretty in Pink' the eternal gateway.
Post-punkNew-wave
Burundi drums, pirate costumes, and glam swagger: 'Stand and Deliver', 'Prince Charming', and the rest of a hits catalog that defined new wave's dress-up era at its most gleefully theatrical.
New wavePost-punk
Forty-plus years of polysyllabic melodic punk, with three-part harmonies over an unwavering political line, still the genre's reigning intellectuals.
PunkMelodic-hardcore
The Ramones' longest-serving drummer, keeping the two-minute blitz alive with a rotating cast and thirty-plus songs an hour, as the law requires.
Punk
Glasgow art-rockers who grew into stadium new wave without ever quite losing the early strangeness, and 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' is guaranteed.
New-waveArena-rock
Manchester punk that invented lovesick pop-punk two decades early, with 'Ever Fallen in Love' and a singles run where every hook still lands perfect.
PunkPower-pop
I Forget
Metal
Kim Theory
Rock
Casket Cassette
Alternative
All The Damn Vampires
Electronic
Niff Nawor's icy minimal-synth pop, delivered with an unmistakably European chill, a kind of neon romance in monochrome.
Synth-popDarkwave
Migs Whiskey
Singer/songwriter
Purest Form
Metal
4AD post-punks with one immortal single: 'I Melt with You' forever, though the rest of the catalogue runs darker than you'd expect.
New-wavePost-punk
Hollywood punk band playing fast, snotty Southern California hardcore in the tradition of TSOL, Descendents and the Circle Jerks.
Punk
Adam Klopp's falsetto over sax-flecked '80s pastiche that lands as sincere rather than kitsch: Salt Lake City synth-pop with a choirboy's ache, literally.
Dream-popSynth-pop
Britpop's most openly Smiths-shaped band, and a genuinely great one live: romantic, literate, and better than the revivalist tag ever allowed.
BritpopIndie-rock
Benches
Indie rock
Warfield
Goth rock
Past Self
Alternative
Deceits
Punk
American deathrock's origin point: blasphemy, theatre, and guitars soaked in reverb, carrying the 'Only Theatre of Pain' legacy forward.
DeathrockGoth
Dale Bozzio's helium delivery over musicians who'd played with Zappa, which makes this new wave with chops, with 'Words' still doing the talking.
New-waveSynth-rock
Martha Davis's smoky torch-song new wave, with noir atmosphere on the radio and 'Only the Lonely' still aching.
New-wave
Self-coined 'cholo goth' (San Diego darkwave with barrio imagery and genuine menace), a genre of exactly one.
DarkwaveCholo-goth
The headliners
Morrissey · The Smiths' voice, complicated as ever: when he shows, nothing else sounds like it, and the songbook remains untouchable. Topping the bill on the beach.
The Smashing Pumpkins · Chicago's alt-rock monument, with Mellon Collie-scale guitars at home in Grant Park and Corgan drama at full wingspan. Co-headlining a bill otherwise built around British new wave.
Up-and-comers to catch early
Choir Boy · Salt Lake City's sax-flecked 80s pastiche, delivered completely sincerely.RIKI · Icy minimal-synth pop with a distinctly European chill.
Prayers · San Diego's self-coined cholo goth: genuinely menacing live.
- Benches · One of the newer names filling out the undercard.
Other acts worth planning around
Soft Cell · Marc Almond's cabaret melodrama, still fully intact.
Gary Numan · The synth pioneer, now decades into a harder industrial second act.
The Damned · First UK punk single, then a hard left into goth. Both eras get played.
Buzzcocks · Every hook still perfect, forty-odd years on.
Circle Jerks · The hardcore counterweight to an otherwise synth-heavy day.
The lineup by day
Saturday lineup (November 14)
Morrissey, The Smashing Pumpkins, Simple Minds, Bad Religion, Adam Ant, The Psychedelic Furs + 31 more
Saturday set times (37 sets)
- I Forget · Black Tide Stage
- Kim Theory · Black Tide Stage
- Casket Cassette · Waves Stage
- All The Damn Vampires · Black Tide Stage
- RIKI · Darker Stage
- Purest Form · Waves Stage
- Migs Whiskey · Black Tide Stage
- Modern English · Darker Stage
- The Mainliners · Black Tide Stage
- Choir Boy · Waves Stage
- Gene · Darker Stage
- Benches · Black Tide Stage
- Warfield · Waves Stage
- Cold Cave · Darker Stage
- Past Self · Black Tide Stage
- TR/ST · Waves Stage
- Circle Jerks · Darker Stage
- Deceits · Black Tide Stage
- EMF · Waves Stage
- Gary Numan · Darker Stage
- Christian Death · Black Tide Stage
- Silversun Pickups · Waves Stage
- Manic Street Preachers · Darker Stage
- Missing Persons · Black Tide Stage
- Soft Cell · Waves Stage
- Mariachi El Bronx · Black Tide Stage
- The Damned · Darker Stage
- The Psychedelic Furs · Waves Stage
- The Motels · Black Tide Stage
- Adam Ant · Darker Stage
- Prayers · Black Tide Stage
- Bad Religion · Waves Stage
- Simple Minds · Darker Stage
- Marky Ramone · Black Tide Stage
- Buzzcocks · Black Tide Stage
- The Smashing Pumpkins · Waves Stage
- Morrissey · Darker Stage
Darker Waves 2026 lineup FAQ
When is Darker Waves 2026?
Saturday, November 14, 2026 (a single day).
Where is Darker Waves held?
Huntington State Beach in Huntington Beach, California.
Who is headlining?
Morrissey and The Smashing Pumpkins.
How many acts are playing?
39 acts across one day.
What kind of music is it?
Almost entirely 80s and 90s new wave, post-punk, goth and synth-pop, plus a contemporary darkwave undercard.
How do I work out which acts I'd like?
Type a few bands you already love into the search at the top of this page and you'll get ranked matches from this lineup, with reasons.
What time does Darker Waves 2026 start and end?
Gates open at 11 AM and close at 10 PM. The first set starts at 11:40 AM and the last at 8:45 PM.
Is Darker Waves 2026 all ages?
All ages, and every attendee, including children and babies, needs their own ticket.
What are the stages at Darker Waves 2026?
3 stages: Darker Stage, Waves Stage, Black Tide Stage.
Are set times out for Darker Waves 2026?
Yes. The full schedule is live: the day-by-day section on this page lists every act with its set time.
When is Darker Waves 2027?
Not announced yet. This page carries Darker Waves 2026 and will carry the 2027 edition as soon as the festival announces it.
Going to Darker Waves 2026? Get tickets
Festivals like Darker Waves
More festivals
Festivals in November 2026Music festivals in CaliforniaMore Alternative festivalsMore Punk festivalsMore Indie festivalsFull festival calendar