The Smiths' voice, complicated as ever — when he shows, nothing else sounds like it, and the songbook remains untouchable.
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.
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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 alt-rock across 39 acts.
Darker Waves 2026 lineup & schedule: all 39 acts
Search it, filter by day, stage or genre. Save anything straight to your schedule.Browse all 39 acts →
Search it, filter by day, stage or genre. Save anything straight to your schedule.
Chicago's alt-rock monument — Mellon Collie-scale guitars at home in Grant Park, Corgan drama at full wingspan.
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.
Forty-plus years of polysyllabic melodic punk — three-part harmonies over an unwavering political line, still the genre's reigning intellectuals.
Manchester punk that invented lovesick pop-punk two decades early — 'Ever Fallen in Love' and a singles run where every hook still lands perfect.
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.
Wesley Eisold's synth project — hardcore roots audible under the cold, enormous hooks, darkwave built by someone who learned intensity the loud way.
Baggy-era indie-dance with one inescapable single built on a sample and pure adolescent energy — 'Unbelievable' still does exactly what it says.
The man who made synthesisers sound alien, then spent his second act making them sound industrial — 'Cars' to Nine Inch Nails gravity, one career.
Welsh rock built on political fury and literary reference — and the best guitar solos in Britpop, three decades of conviction deep.
The Bronx's punk band in full mariachi regalia — a bit that became a genuinely accomplished second career, now several albums deep.
The Ramones' longest-serving drummer, keeping the two-minute blitz alive with a rotating cast — thirty-plus songs an hour, as the law requires.
Fuzz-forward LA alt-rock with Brian Aubert's androgynous yelp cutting through the swirl — 'Lazy Eye' still the slow-burn standard.
Glasgow art-rockers who grew into stadium new wave without ever quite losing the early strangeness — 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' guaranteed.
Marc Almond's cabaret melodrama over Dave Ball's synths — sleaze and heartbreak in equal parts, 'Tainted Love' eternal.
Bowie-indebted glam played by Yorkshiremen in New York — one enormous single, plenty of swagger, 'In the Meantime' still soaring.
First UK punk single, then a hard left into goth — Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible still at it, 'New Rose' to 'Eloise' in one set.
Richard Butler's sandpaper voice over saxophone-flecked post-punk that keeps finding new generations — 'Pretty in Pink' the eternal gateway.
Robert Alfons's sepulchral synth-pop — a voice pitched somewhere between seduction and threat, club gloom at its most luxurious.
All The Damn Vampires
Benches
Casket Cassette
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.
American deathrock's origin point — blasphemy, theatre, and guitars soaked in reverb, carrying the 'Only Theatre of Pain' legacy forward.
Deceits
Britpop's most openly Smiths-shaped band, and a genuinely great one live — romantic, literate, and better than the revivalist tag ever allowed.
I Forget
Kim Theory
Migs Whiskey
Dale Bozzio's helium delivery over musicians who'd played with Zappa — new wave with chops, 'Words' still doing the talking.
4AD post-punks with one immortal single — 'I Melt with You' forever, though the rest of the catalogue runs darker than you'd expect.
Past Self
Self-coined 'cholo goth' — San Diego darkwave with barrio imagery and genuine menace, a genre of exactly one.
Purest Form
Niff Nawor's icy minimal-synth pop, delivered with an unmistakably European chill — neon romance in monochrome.
The Mainliners
Martha Davis's smoky torch-song new wave — noir atmosphere on the radio, 'Only the Lonely' still aching.
Swedish new-wave revivalists fronted by Maja Ivarsson, who has never once given less than everything — 'Living in America' still a rocket.
Warfield
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 — Mellon Collie-scale guitars at home in Grant Park, 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 + 33 more
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.
Are Darker Waves 2026 set times out yet?
Not yet. The lineup is split by day below, and set times are still to come. The alert on this page emails you the day they drop.
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