Metal festivals

7 festivals still to come with Metal on the bill, carrying 91 of the 205 Metal acts we track. Every act has a page: which festivals they play, what time they go on once the festival says, and what they sound like if the name is new to you.

Metal on a festival stage is built around volume and low end you feel in your sternum before you parse the riff. Guitars get tuned down, drums are miked to hit like artillery, and vocals range from clean and soaring to a low growl that takes a few songs to decode if you are new to it.

These acts cluster in late afternoon and after dark, when the lights can do their work. Expect a pit that opens in the middle of the crowd and closes between songs, plus a wide ring of people who just stand and watch. Earplugs are worth having. The edges of the field stay calm.

Metal festivals in 2026

Every bill still ahead of you with real Metal on it, deepest first. A festival needs at least 2 Metal acts to be here, so one stray booking on a bill about something else does not count.

Who carries Metal this season

All 205 acts we have tagged Metal, sorted six ways. The lists disagree with each other, and the names they disagree about are usually the ones worth hearing.

Booked the most in 2026

The Metal acts who spent 2026 on the road. Go to more than one festival and you have probably seen a few of them already.

  1. 1Die Spitz9Austin's instrument-swapping all-women punk-metal wrecking crew — everyone plays everything, and it all lands at full force.
  2. 2Haywire7Newer West Coast hardcore working the same fast, mean seam as its Bay Area peers — no-frills aggression built for short, violent sets.
  3. 3Sullivan King7Plays guitar and screams over his own dubstep — the metal/bass crossover taken entirely seriously, pits and drops in equal measure.
  4. 4Deftones6The band that dragged heaviness toward dream-pop — Chino Moreno's croon-to-scream over guitars tuned for atmosphere as much as impact.
  5. 5P.O.D.6'Alive' and 'Youth of the Nation' — San Diego's nu-metal survivors, positivity intact through every scene cycle.
  6. 6A Day To Remember5The pop-punk/metalcore hybrid blueprint — mosh-call breakdowns and sugar-rush hooks in equal measure, delivered with beach balls, confetti cannons, and total arena confidence.
  7. 7Kublai Khan TX5Texas hardcore at its most punishing — mosh calls with a message, and a low end that treats subtlety as a character flaw.
  8. 8Underoath5'They're Only Chasing Safety' to now — metalcore's restless innovators, reinventing loudly in every era, and the reinventions keep landing.
  9. 9Atreyu4OC metalcore originators — 'Lip Gloss and Black' nostalgia with new-era polish, from a band that helped write the genre's melodic playbook in the first place.
  10. 10Black Label Society4Zakk Wylde's biker-metal brotherhood — pinch harmonics for days, Sabbath-weight riffs, and guitar solos treated as main events.

Most upcoming bookings

Everything still ahead of us, for anyone with festivals left on the calendar.

  1. 1Haywire4Newer West Coast hardcore working the same fast, mean seam as its Bay Area peers — no-frills aggression built for short, violent sets.
  2. 2Gideon3Alabama metalcore turned mean — melodic roots swapped for something nu-metal-adjacent, and the heaviness pays for the trade.
  3. 3Limp Bizkit3Nu-metal's chaos agents in their beloved victory-lap era — Fred Durst does it all for the nookie, still, and the field does it with him.
  4. 4Melvins3Forty years of deliberately difficult, punishingly slow riffs — and the band Nirvana learned from, still outweirding everyone downstream.
  5. 5Norma Jean3Chaotic Southern metalcore — dissonant, lurching, and famously punishing to watch from the front, two decades of controlled collapse.
  6. 6P.O.D.3'Alive' and 'Youth of the Nation' — San Diego's nu-metal survivors, positivity intact through every scene cycle.
  7. 7Underoath3'They're Only Chasing Safety' to now — metalcore's restless innovators, reinventing loudly in every era, and the reinventions keep landing.
  8. 8A Day To Remember2The pop-punk/metalcore hybrid blueprint — mosh-call breakdowns and sugar-rush hooks in equal measure, delivered with beach balls, confetti cannons, and total arena confidence.
  9. 9Bodysnatcher2Florida beatdown with no interest in subtlety — grief and rage compressed into two-minute assaults, as heavy emotionally as it is sonically.
  10. 10Coal Chamber2Spooky-kid nu-metal with detuned bounce and a goth streak the genre mostly abandoned — 'Loco'-era heaviness back from the grave.

Most headline slots

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

  1. 1Deftones6The band that dragged heaviness toward dream-pop — Chino Moreno's croon-to-scream over guitars tuned for atmosphere as much as impact.
  2. 2Limp Bizkit5Nu-metal's chaos agents in their beloved victory-lap era — Fred Durst does it all for the nookie, still, and the field does it with him.
  3. 3Tool4Prog-metal's cathedral builders — polyrhythms, lasers, and total audience surrender, Danny Carey's drumming alone worth the pilgrimage.
  4. 4Bring Me The Horizon3Playing debut Count Your Blessings front to back for its 20th — a return to the feral deathcore they spent the next two decades outgrowing.
  5. 5Guns N' Roses2The classic-lineup reunion long outlasted anyone's expectations, and the three-hour sets still get through most of the canon — Slash solos and all.

Most places played

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

  1. 1Die Spitz8Austin's instrument-swapping all-women punk-metal wrecking crew — everyone plays everything, and it all lands at full force.
  2. 2Haywire7Newer West Coast hardcore working the same fast, mean seam as its Bay Area peers — no-frills aggression built for short, violent sets.
  3. 3Deftones6The band that dragged heaviness toward dream-pop — Chino Moreno's croon-to-scream over guitars tuned for atmosphere as much as impact.
  4. 4P.O.D.6'Alive' and 'Youth of the Nation' — San Diego's nu-metal survivors, positivity intact through every scene cycle.
  5. 5Sullivan King6Plays guitar and screams over his own dubstep — the metal/bass crossover taken entirely seriously, pits and drops in equal measure.
  6. 6A Day To Remember5The pop-punk/metalcore hybrid blueprint — mosh-call breakdowns and sugar-rush hooks in equal measure, delivered with beach balls, confetti cannons, and total arena confidence.
  7. 7Kublai Khan TX5Texas hardcore at its most punishing — mosh calls with a message, and a low end that treats subtlety as a character flaw.
  8. 8Limp Bizkit5Nu-metal's chaos agents in their beloved victory-lap era — Fred Durst does it all for the nookie, still, and the field does it with him.
  9. 9Underoath5'They're Only Chasing Safety' to now — metalcore's restless innovators, reinventing loudly in every era, and the reinventions keep landing.
  10. 10Atreyu4OC metalcore originators — 'Lip Gloss and Black' nostalgia with new-era polish, from a band that helped write the genre's melodic playbook in the first place.

All 205 Metal acts

Die SpitzHaywireSullivan KingDeftonesP.O.D.A Day To RememberKublai Khan TXLimp BizkitUnderoathAtreyuBlack Label SocietyBlack Veil BridesBodysnatcherBring Me The HorizonChelsea GrinCoal ChamberDethklokGideonHalestormKnocked LoosePaleface SwissSlaughter To PrevailSleep TheoryThe Plot In YouThrownToolAll That RemainsAmira ElfekyApocalypticaArchitectsBABYMETALBehemothblessthefallBloodywoodCarnifexCasketsCatch Your BreathCavaleraDrowning PoolEmmureIce Nine KillsMastodonMelvinsMinistryMotionless in WhiteNekrogoblikonNorma JeanPeelingFleshPolarisSepulturaSevendustSigns of the SwarmSnotSpiteThornhillThousand BelowWe Came As RomansZakk Sabbath200 Stab WoundsAfter The BurialAlien Ant FarmAlpha WolfAmon AmarthAustin Carlile: The Original Voice of Of Mice & MenAvatarBad OmensBetween The Buried And MeBorn of OsirisBoundariesButcher BabiesCarcassCastle RatCattle DecapitationChad Gray: Voice of Mudvayne & HELLYEAHCorrosion of ConformityDeafheavenDevilDriverDisembodied TyrantDOWNDragonForceDying FetusElectric CallboyFit For A KingFleshgod ApocalypseFozzyFrom Ashes To NewGuns N' RosesHollywood UndeadIn FlamesInitiateKillswitch EngageKreatorKylesaLamb of GodLoatheLorna ShoreMake Them SufferMegadethNapalm DeathNothing MorePapa RoachPoison the WellPsychostickRivers of NihilSoulflySouth ArcadeSpineshankSpiritworldStatic-XStick To Your GunsSuffocationSuicide SilenceThe Acacia StrainThe Devil Wears PradaThe Ghost InsideViolent ViraWage WarWhitechapelWind Rose156/SilenceAlestormAlltAnkorAnnisokayAnthraxAs Everything UnfoldsAttilaAugust Burns RedAvenged SevenfoldAvianaBetter LoversBiohazardBleeding ThroughBlood IncantationBody CountBrujeriaCancer BatsCane HillConjurerCurrentsDanzigDeath AngelDecapitatedDeicideDistantDreamwakeDry Kill LogicDying WishEighteen VisionsEnd ItEntropiaERRAEvanescenceFlyleaf with Lacey SturmGalactic EmpireGatecreeperGates To HellGojiraGreyhavenHaste The DayHelmetImmolationInfected RainIron MaidenKerry KingKing 810KittieKorzusLandmvrksLinkin ParkLowenMachine HeadMAKEMaylene and the Sons of DisasterMelt-BananaNastyNervosaNoturnallOrgyPanteraPapanguParkway DrivePentagramPeripheryPizzatrampRageResolveSabatonScribeSilent PlanetSnuffed On SightSystem of a DownThe Amity AfflictionThe Black Dahlia MurderThe HUThe Number Twelve Looks Like YouThe ScratchThy Art Is MurderTorcheTriviumTwitching TonguesUpon A Burning BodyVolumesWinds of PlagueWindwaker

Metal festivals: common questions

What festivals have the most Metal in 2026?

Aftershock 2026 (49 Metal acts), Sick New World Texas 2026 (26 Metal acts), Furnace Fest 2026 (25 Metal acts). We count the acts on each published lineup rather than going by how a festival bills itself, so this is the depth of the actual Metal booking.

Where can I see Metal live in 2026?

7 festivals still to come have Metal on the bill. The next is Aftershock 2026, October 1–4, 2026 at Discovery Park, Sacramento, CA, with 49 Metal acts playing.

Which Metal artists are playing the most festivals in 2026?

Die Spitz (9), Haywire (7), Sullivan King (7), Deftones (6), P.O.D. (6). Counted per festival across the whole season, finished bills included.

How many Metal acts are playing festivals in 2026?

205 Metal acts appear on the lineups we track, across 7 festivals still to come. Each one has a page with its dates, stages and set times wherever the festival has published them.

Other genres

Indie (370)EDM (349)Alternative (295)Punk (277)Rock (249)Pop (245)Hip-Hop (236)House (216)Folk and Americana (183)R&B and Soul (153)Country (141)Hardcore (120)Dubstep and Bass (119)Techno (109)Bluegrass (74)Emo (58)Latin (53)Shoegaze and Dream Pop (47)Trance (44)Psychedelic (34)Jazz (31)Blues (26)Drum & Bass (25)Hardstyle and Hard Dance (24)Reggae and Dancehall (23)

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