The Smiths' voice, complicated as ever — when he shows, nothing else sounds like it, and the songbook remains untouchable.
From Manchester, UK · Sounds like The Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen
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.
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: 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.
From Chicago, IL · Sounds like Nirvana, Jane's Addiction
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.
From London, UK · Sounds like Bow Wow Wow, Duran Duran, Blondie
Forty-plus years of polysyllabic melodic punk — three-part harmonies over an unwavering political line, still the genre's reigning intellectuals.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like Descendents, Pennywise, NOFX, Rise Against
Manchester punk that invented lovesick pop-punk two decades early — 'Ever Fallen in Love' and a singles run where every hook still lands perfect.
From Manchester, UK · Sounds like The Undertones, The Jam, Wire, Generation X
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.
From Hermosa Beach, CA · Sounds like Black Flag, Adolescents, Descendents, T.S.O.L.
Wesley Eisold's synth project — hardcore roots audible under the cold, enormous hooks, darkwave built by someone who learned intensity the loud way.
From Philadelphia, PA · Sounds like Boy Harsher, Drab Majesty, Chrome, The Soft Moon
Baggy-era indie-dance with one inescapable single built on a sample and pure adolescent energy — 'Unbelievable' still does exactly what it says.
From Forest of Dean, UK · Sounds like Jesus Jones, Happy Mondays, The Charlatans, Pop Will Eat Itself
The man who made synthesisers sound alien, then spent his second act making them sound industrial — 'Cars' to Nine Inch Nails gravity, one career.
From London, UK · Sounds like Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, John Foxx, Ministry
Welsh rock built on political fury and literary reference — and the best guitar solos in Britpop, three decades of conviction deep.
From Blackwood, UK · Sounds like Suede, The Verve, Placebo, James
The Bronx's punk band in full mariachi regalia — a bit that became a genuinely accomplished second career, now several albums deep.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like The Bronx, Los Lobos, Calexico, Chicano Batman
The Ramones' longest-serving drummer, keeping the two-minute blitz alive with a rotating cast — thirty-plus songs an hour, as the law requires.
From Brooklyn, NY · Sounds like Ramones, The Dictators, Richard Hell, Sex Pistols
Fuzz-forward LA alt-rock with Brian Aubert's androgynous yelp cutting through the swirl — 'Lazy Eye' still the slow-burn standard.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like The Smashing Pumpkins, Metric, Muse, Autolux
Glasgow art-rockers who grew into stadium new wave without ever quite losing the early strangeness — 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' guaranteed.
From Glasgow, UK · Sounds like U2, The Psychedelic Furs, Big Country, Echo & the Bunnymen
Marc Almond's cabaret melodrama over Dave Ball's synths — sleaze and heartbreak in equal parts, 'Tainted Love' eternal.
From Leeds, UK · Sounds like Depeche Mode, The Human League, Yazoo, Erasure
Bowie-indebted glam played by Yorkshiremen in New York — one enormous single, plenty of swagger, 'In the Meantime' still soaring.
From Leeds, UK · Sounds like Suede, The Dandy Warhols, Placebo, Bush
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.
From London, UK · Sounds like The Stranglers, Bauhaus, The Adverts, Buzzcocks
Richard Butler's sandpaper voice over saxophone-flecked post-punk that keeps finding new generations — 'Pretty in Pink' the eternal gateway.
From London, UK · Sounds like Echo & the Bunnymen, Simple Minds, The Church, Modern English
Robert Alfons's sepulchral synth-pop — a voice pitched somewhere between seduction and threat, club gloom at its most luxurious.
From Toronto, ON · Sounds like Cold Cave, Boy Harsher, Crystal Castles, HEALTH
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.
From Salt Lake City, UT · Sounds like Drab Majesty, TR/ST, Molchat Doma, Soft Cell
American deathrock's origin point — blasphemy, theatre, and guitars soaked in reverb, carrying the 'Only Theatre of Pain' legacy forward.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like 45 Grave, Bauhaus, Alien Sex Fiend, Rozz Williams
Deceits
Britpop's most openly Smiths-shaped band, and a genuinely great one live — romantic, literate, and better than the revivalist tag ever allowed.
From London, UK · Sounds like Suede, The Smiths, Strangelove, Shed Seven
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.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like Berlin, The Motels, Devo, Blondie
4AD post-punks with one immortal single — 'I Melt with You' forever, though the rest of the catalogue runs darker than you'd expect.
From Colchester, UK · Sounds like Echo & the Bunnymen, The Psychedelic Furs, A Flock of Seagulls, The Church
Past Self
Self-coined 'cholo goth' — San Diego darkwave with barrio imagery and genuine menace, a genre of exactly one.
From San Diego, CA · Sounds like Boy Harsher, Twin Tribes, Cold Cave, Crystal Castles
Purest Form
Niff Nawor's icy minimal-synth pop, delivered with an unmistakably European chill — neon romance in monochrome.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like Boy Harsher, Choir Boy, Molchat Doma, Kite
The Mainliners
Martha Davis's smoky torch-song new wave — noir atmosphere on the radio, 'Only the Lonely' still aching.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like Missing Persons, Berlin, Blondie, Pat Benatar
Swedish new-wave revivalists fronted by Maja Ivarsson, who has never once given less than everything — 'Living in America' still a rocket.
From Helsingborg, SE · Sounds like The Bravery, Blondie, Shiny Toy Guns, Metric
Warfield
The headliners
- Morrissey — The Smiths' voice, complicated as ever — when he shows, nothing else sounds like it, and the songbook remains untouchable.
- The Smashing Pumpkins — Chicago's alt-rock monument — Mellon Collie-scale guitars at home in Grant Park, Corgan drama at full wingspan.
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.
- Casket Cassette — Deep on the bill and worth showing up early for.
- Past Self — Another early-slot booking from the current darkwave wave.
Other acts worth planning around
- The Smashing Pumpkins — Co-headlining a bill otherwise built around British new wave.
- Morrissey — Topping the bill on the beach.
- 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, 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.
Going to Darker Waves 2026? Get tickets ↗
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