A Wilhelm Scream
New Bedford's technical-punk lifers, stacking dizzying twin-guitar leads on top of full-throttle melodic hardcore. A Fest institution and one of its most reliable pits.
The Fest 2026 Lineup
Three days, dozens of downtown venues, and hundreds of punk bands — Gainesville's DIY institution, 24 years running.
About The Fest 2026
The Fest — this year it's Fest 24 — is Gainesville, Florida's beloved punk institution, and unlike almost every other festival on this site it isn't a field with four stages. It's a three-day takeover of downtown Gainesville, spreading hundreds of bands across a dozen-plus bars, clubs, and theaters within walking distance of each other. One wristband, a printed schedule, and a weekend of running between rooms: that's the whole ritual.
The sound is punk in the widest sense — melodic and skate punk, gruff Hot Water Music-style anthems, twinkly Midwest emo, third-wave ska, crossover thrash, folk-punk, and the occasional sludge or post-hardcore curveball. The 2026 bill leans hard on reunions and heavy hitters (PUP, Bouncing Souls, Lagwagon, The Flatliners, Sparta, Texas is the Reason, Samiam, A Wilhelm Scream) while giving huge chunks of the schedule to DIY bands, Gainesville locals, and the current ska and emo revivals.
With well over 300 acts, no single person can see it all — and that's the point. Fest rewards wandering: catching a band you've never heard in a half-full bar at 3pm is as much the experience as the marquee reunion at midnight. Use the finder below to point your weekend at the bands most worth your walking shoes.
Expect punk, alternative, rock and punk rock across 337 acts.
The headliners
- A Wilhelm Scream — New Bedford's technical-punk lifers, stacking dizzying twin-guitar leads on top of full-throttle melodic hardcore. A Fest institution and one of its most reliable pits.
- Bouncing Souls — Asbury Park's forever-young punk anthem factory — thirty-odd years of gang vocals and open-hearted singalongs. Few bands turn a room into a family faster.
- The Flatliners — Toronto punks who grew out of ska into gravel-throated, big-hearted melodic punk. A modern Fest cornerstone with a knack for the last-song-of-the-night singalong.
- Lagwagon — Fat Wreck royalty and skate-punk architects — Joey Cape's melodies over machine-gun drums. Three decades in, still one of the genre's tightest live acts.
- PUP — Toronto's chaos-pop-punk stars — self-lacerating lyrics, unhinged energy, choruses built to be screamed back until throats give out. As big a name as this fest books.
- Samiam — Berkeley's bridge between 90s melodic punk and emo — Jason Beebout's ache over big, rolling hooks. Aging beautifully and criminally underrated.
- Sparta — Jim Ward's post-At the Drive-In vehicle, trading that band's spasms for soaring, melodic post-hardcore. A marquee draw and a rare Fest booking.
- Texas is the Reason — One of emo's foundational bands, gone almost as fast as they arrived — glassy guitars and yearning restraint. A reunion set that carries real historical weight.
Up-and-comers to catch early
- Catbite — Philly's breakout ska-rocksteady crew leading the current revival — pure dance-floor joy.
- Kill Lincoln — DC's frantic, horn-driven ska-punk; core to the new ska class Fest has embraced.
- MakeWar — Brooklyn gruff-melodic trio built for the last-hour, arm-around-a-stranger singalong.
- NOBRO — Montreal's swaggering party-punk — one of the most kinetic sets you'll catch all weekend.
- Home Front — Edmonton duo splicing oi! stomp with synth-lit post-punk; one of the bill's most distinctive sounds.
- Spaced — Buffalo hardcore with NYHC bounce and a frontwoman who owns the pit.
- Kerosene Heights — Asheville twinkle-emo riding the genre's newest wave, heart fully on sleeve.
- Dead Bars — Seattle's beer-soaked everyman punks — about as Fest-coded as a band can get.
Other acts worth planning around
- PUP — About as big as Fest books — Toronto's chaos-pop-punk stars turn any room into a sweaty, screamed-back singalong.
- Bouncing Souls — Thirty years of forever-young punk anthems; few sets turn a crowd into a family faster.
- Lagwagon — Fat Wreck skate-punk architects, still one of the tightest live acts in the genre.
- Texas is the Reason — A foundational emo band reuniting — a set that carries real historical weight.
- Sparta — Jim Ward's post-At the Drive-In vehicle; a marquee draw and a rare Fest booking.
- Torche — Miami's 'thunder-pop' — the heaviest, most physical set on the whole bill.
- A Wilhelm Scream — Technical melodic-hardcore lifers and a Fest institution; reliably one of the wildest pits.
- Iron Reagan — Municipal Waste members playing blistering, funny crossover thrash — the weekend's whiplash.
- Tim Barry — Avail's frontman solo and acoustic; a quieter Fest ritual that still ends in full-throated singing.
The Fest 2026 lineup FAQ
When and where is The Fest 2026?
Fest 24 runs October 23–25, 2026, across venues in downtown Gainesville, Florida. It's a walkable, multi-venue festival rather than a single fairground — one pass gets you into shows at bars, clubs, and theaters throughout the weekend.
How many bands play The Fest?
Well over 300 acts across the three days — everything from reunited headliners to Gainesville locals and DIY bands on their first tour. The full lineup is listed below.
What kind of music is The Fest?
Punk in every dialect: melodic and skate punk, gruff/Hot Water Music-style anthems, Midwest emo, third-wave ska, crossover thrash, folk-punk, and some post-hardcore and sludge. If you like any corner of punk, there's a room for you.
Do I need a pass, or can I go to a single show?
The Fest is built around a weekend pass that gets you into all the venues (subject to room capacity — popular sets fill up, so arrive early). Some individual shows may sell single tickets, but the pass is how most people do Fest. Check the official site for current pass and ticketing details.
I've never been to The Fest — any tips?
Pick a handful of must-see bands, then leave room to wander; discovering an unknown band in a half-empty bar is the whole point. Venues are close together but the big sets fill up, so line up early for those and stay flexible for everything else.
More festival lineups
Lollapalooza lineup →Hopscotch lineup →Rebellion lineup →III Points lineup →Lost Lands lineup →Louder Than Life lineup →All Points East lineup →Aftershock lineup →End of the Road lineup →ARC lineup →Warped Tour Orlando lineup →Austin City Limits lineup →Reading & Leeds lineup →EDC Orlando lineup →Bourbon & Beyond lineup →Riot Fest lineup →Outside Lands lineup →Green Man lineup →HARD Summer lineup →Osheaga lineup →Bass Canyon lineup →Hulaween lineup →Honcho Campout lineup →Portola lineup →Furnace Fest lineup →Shaky Knees lineup →Sick New World Texas lineup →Hinterland lineup →All Things Go DMV lineup →Raleigh Wide Open lineup →Oceans Calling lineup →Darker Waves lineup →Bumbershoot lineup →Ohana lineup →Sea.Hear.Now lineup →Iron Blossom lineup →All Things Go NYC lineup →
Going to The Fest 2026? Get tickets ↗
▸ Browse the full lineup (337 acts)▾ Hide full lineup
The Fest full lineup
Against All Authority
Miami's ska-punk agitators, welding horns to hardcore and unapologetically political lyrics. Loud, fast, and made for a downtown block that won't stay still.
Algernon Cadwallader
Philly's twinkly-emo revivalists, whose noodly guitars and cracked vocals sent a whole generation of bands back to the Cap'n Jazz well. A reunion worth the trip.
Bear Vs. Shark
Detroit post-hardcore that lurches between whisper and full collapse. Long-dormant and much-mythologized, so a Fest set is a genuine event.
Bouncing Souls
Asbury Park's forever-young punk anthem factory — thirty-odd years of gang vocals and open-hearted singalongs. Few bands turn a room into a family faster.
The Flatliners
Toronto punks who grew out of ska into gravel-throated, big-hearted melodic punk. A modern Fest cornerstone with a knack for the last-song-of-the-night singalong.
Hey Mercedes
Born from the ashes of Braid, Bob Nanna's hookier follow-up — sharp, wordy emo with real pop instincts. A reunion for the turn-of-the-millennium emo faithful.
Home Front
Edmonton duo splicing oi! stomp with synth-lit post-punk and anthemic 80s gloss. One of the more distinctive sounds on the bill.
I Am the Avalanche
Vinnie Caruana's post-Movielife crew, trading in the kind of scarred, shout-along punk that lands hardest at 1am with your arm around a stranger.
The Impossibles
Austin's beloved late-'90s pop-punk/ska outfit, all sugar-rush hooks and horns — a nostalgia hit that still detonates live.
Lagwagon
Fat Wreck royalty and skate-punk architects — Joey Cape's melodies over machine-gun drums. Three decades in, still one of the genre's tightest live acts.
Mustard Plug
Grand Rapids' third-wave ska lifers, built for skanking. Relentlessly upbeat, horns blazing, zero cynicism — exactly the palate-cleanser a punk weekend needs.
Nerf Herder
The Goleta goofballs behind 'Van Halen' and the Buffy theme — power-pop-punk with a sitcom sense of humor. Reliably one of the weekend's most fun sets.
The Planet Smashers
Montreal's long-running traditional-ska party band. Horns, dance moves, and singalongs — a guaranteed good time on a sweaty Gainesville stage.
Pulley
Epitaph-era skate-punk vets with pro-baseball roots and gruff, fast-melodic conviction — a deep-catalog set for the '90s SoCal-punk crowd.
PUP
Toronto's chaos-pop-punk stars — self-lacerating lyrics, unhinged energy, choruses built to be screamed back until throats give out. As big a name as this fest books.
Samiam
Berkeley's bridge between 90s melodic punk and emo — Jason Beebout's ache over big, rolling hooks. Aging beautifully and criminally underrated.
sleepytime trio
Small Brown Bike
Michigan's gruff, dynamic melodic-hardcore torchbearers — quiet-loud swells and a hoarse howl. Kindred spirits to the Hot Water Music lineage that runs through Fest.
Sparta
Jim Ward's post-At the Drive-In vehicle, trading that band's spasms for soaring, melodic post-hardcore. A marquee draw and a rare Fest booking.
Texas is the Reason
One of emo's foundational bands, gone almost as fast as they arrived — glassy guitars and yearning restraint. A reunion set that carries real historical weight.
Torche
Miami's masters of 'thunder-pop' — crushing, downtuned riffs that somehow float on major-key hooks. The heaviest, most physical set on the bill.
The Bollweevils
Chicago melodic-hardcore vets fronted by ER doctor Daryl Wilson — fast, tuneful, and still ferocious decades on, scene service in every sense.
Brendan Kelly
The Lawrence Arms' motormouth bassist-singer, solo and unfiltered — bar-stool wit and self-deprecation over rough acoustic punk, half gig and half stand-up set.
Catbite
Philly's breakout ska-rocksteady crew, all vintage warmth and Brittany Luna's magnetic pipes. Leading the current ska revival and built for a dancing crowd.
The Copyrights
Carbondale's Ramones-core standard-bearers — buzzsaw guitars, whoa-ohs, and airtight two-minute hits, pop-punk done exactly right, whoa-ohs guaranteed.
Dead Bars
Seattle's beer-soaked everyman punks, turning bars and day-jobs into gruff singalong anthems — songs about showing up when life is mid. Deeply Fest-coded.
Descartes a Kant
Dikembe
Gainesville's own noodly, sad-but-warm emo — a hometown highlight who helped define the modern wave, equal parts twinkle and gut-punch. Expect a partisan crowd.
Drag the River
Fort Collins' punks-gone-country, led by ALL's Chad Price and Jon Snodgrass — whiskey-worn harmonies and heartland ache. Fest's morning-after soundtrack.
Elway
Fort Collins gruff-melodic punks with a literate, self-aware streak and choruses made for arms around shoulders — Colorado's contribution to the whiskey-punk canon.
The Eradicator
F.Y.P
Fenix Tx
Houston's turn-of-the-millennium pop-punk hitmakers (of 'All My Fault' fame) — snotty, catchy, and pure late-'90s nostalgia from the blink-adjacent yearbook.
Flying Raccoon Suit
Mississippi ska with a horn section and a big voice — part of the modern ska class packing Fest dance floors.
Gameface
Orange County's warm, melodic post-punk mainstays — Jeff Caudill's earnest hooks over ringing guitars, underrated for decades and built to last.
Gillian Carter
Gully Boys
Iron Reagan
Richmond crossover-thrash featuring Municipal Waste members — blistering, funny, and violently fast, thirty-song sets over before you catch your breath. The bill's designated whiplash.
The Iron Roses
Richmond punk with an activist heart and huge, communal choruses — new-ish but already a natural Fest fit, solidarity as setlist.
Kerosene Heights
Asheville twinkle-emo with heart-on-sleeve delivery — part of the genre's newest wave, and one of its most promising.
Kill Lincoln
DC's frantic, horn-driven ska-punk revivalists — technical, self-aware, and relentlessly fun. Core to the new ska class Fest has embraced.
Lee Bains
Birmingham's Lee Bains and the Glory Fires — sweat-soaked Southern rock with punk lungs and pointed politics. A cathartic, gospel-loud set.
MakeWar
Brooklyn gruff-melodic trio with big, aching choruses and an immigrant's-eye lyric sheet — made for the last-hour singalong slot, beers raised.
New Junk City
Playboy Manbaby
Punchline
Pittsburgh pop-punk survivors with a knack for shiny, earworm choruses — longtime road-dogs who still bring it, twenty-plus years deep.
The Raging Nathans
Dayton's snotty, fast pop-punk workhorses — hooks first, attitude close behind, and a release schedule that never sleeps.
Signals Midwest
Cleveland's literate gruff-melodic band, threading emo warmth through punk drive — understated, quietly essential, and beloved by everyone who's caught them.
Slingshot Dakota
Allentown drums-and-keys duo — huge, earnest emo-pop from a deceptively small setup, married-couple chemistry included, huge sound from two chairs.
Tiltwheel
Tim Barry
Avail's frontman solo and acoustic — freight-train stories and plainspoken Richmond grit. A quieter Fest ritual that still ends in full-throated singing.
Toys That Kill
Todd Congelliere's San Pedro melodic-punk institution (Recess Records) — off-kilter hooks and DIY-lifer charm, the scene's connective tissue.
The Underground Railroad to Candyland
Another Todd C. vehicle — lo-fi, hyper-catchy, gone-in-90-seconds pop-punk, pure Recess Records energy and communal chant choruses.
War On Women
Baltimore's co-ed feminist hardcore — Shawna Potter's righteous fury over pummeling riffs, confrontational, necessary, and a Fest force.
Whiskey & Co.
Gainesville country-punk led by a strong voice and a barroom heart — the Sunday-morning end of the Fest spectrum, hangover-friendly and lovely.
Wolf-Face
St. Pete's horror-goofball pop-punk — fast, dumb-fun, and Ramones-simple, a Florida-scene good time in werewolf masks.
worlds greatest dad
You Vandal
Gainesville gruff-melodic punk — a hometown act primed for a hometown crowd, singalongs pre-loaded and Fest-family energy guaranteed.
Zeta
Arcadia Grey
Banquets
New Jersey gruff-melodic punk with earnest hooks and a road-worn heart — Menzingers-school singalongs for the beard-and-flannel faithful.
The Best of the Worst
New Brunswick ska-core with crust in its veins — fast, dark, and rowdy, horns over hardcore drums.
Blind Adam and The Federal League
Bob Nanna
The voice of Braid and Hey Mercedes, solo and intimate — foundational Midwest emo delivered up close, with the stories between songs part of the draw.
Camping in Alaska
Huntsville's twinkly, sometimes-screamed emo — intricate and emotionally maximal, a cult name in the genre's online canon.
Cape Crush
The Caution Children
Chad Price
Voice of ALL and Drag the River, going it alone — that unmistakable rasp over country-tinged punk, a songwriter's set from a scene lifer.
Choke Up
Christy Costello & The CC Club
Cold Wrecks
Common Sage
The Crosses
Daisyhead
Nashville's moody, melodic emo — hazy guitars, heavy hearts, and slow-burn dynamics in the Balance and Composure school. A mid-day set for the introspective.
Debt Neglector
Orlando gruff-melodic punks with sharp, politically charged hooks — a Florida-scene stalwart with big-hearted songwriting and no patience for the powerful.
DFMK
Direct Order'82
Dog Party
Sacramento sisters churning out bratty, hooky garage-punk — fun, fast, and tight, with Ramones economy and sibling-locked harmonies.
Don't Panic
The Dreaded Laramie
Drosera
Drought
The Effigies
Emperor X
Chad Matheny's brainy, restless indie-folk project — science-teacher lyrics and lo-fi urgency, songs like field recordings from a collapsing future. A left-field Fest gem.
Equipment
Excuse Me, Who Are You?
Fat Heaven
Flagman
Freezing Cold
Glazed
Half Past Two
Southern California ska with sunny keys and a charismatic frontperson — pure feel-good, third-wave optimism with real songcraft.
Heart & Lung
Hell Beach
Hit Like A Girl
Horace Pinker
Long-running Chicago-via-Phoenix melodic punks — gruff, fast, and criminally slept-on, lifers with a record collection's worth of craft.
Horsewhip
Hospital Job
Houseghost
Initiate
Innerlove
Jumpstarted Plowhards
Little Low
Madison Bloodbath
Matt Pless
Middle-Aged Queers
Middle-Out
Mikey Erg
The Ergs! drummer-turned-frontman, a walking encyclopedia of pop-punk hooks — prolific, beloved, and seemingly playing five sets everywhere at Fest.
The Moms
MooseCreek Park
NOBRO
Montreal's swaggering party-punk force — riff-first, cowbell-friendly, and built to blow the roof off. One of the weekend's most kinetic sets.
NØ MAN
DC/Baltimore chaotic hardcore fronted by Maha Shami — searing, political, and cathartic, carrying the region's screamo lineage forward.
Oh the Humanity!
One Fall
Pity Party
Pollyanna
Pony
Pressure Wheel
Quiet Fear
Reconciler
Rent Strike
Rodeo Boys
Sam Russo
English folk-punk troubadour with a big heart and a bigger singalong — solo, disarming, and beloved across the punk circuit.
Seagulls
Shehehe
Athens, GA punk with fuzz, hooks, and dual vocals — high-energy, road-tested, and built for the late-night slot.
shitstorm
Sleep in.
Smelter
Sooza
Sorry Sweetheart
Spaced
Buffalo hardcore with NYHC bounce and a frontwoman who commands the pit — Fest's dose of full-contact energy, delivered with a grin.
Spells
Star 99
Summerbruise
Sunday Morning
Sweet Gloom
Swiss Army Wife
Teddy DuChamp's Army
Teen Agers
Tides
Tightwire
The Tim Version
Tampa gruff-punk vets — bar-band heart and worn-in singalongs, longtime Fest family with the crowd to prove it.
Tired Radio
Vic Bondi And His Issues
The Wild
Won't Stay Dead
Woolbright
Worlds Scariest Police Chases
Worst Party Ever
Adjust the Sails
Age of Kid
The Albert Square
All I Hear Is Birds
ambretta
American Dream Survivors
Anchorite
Arid Wave
Awful Din
Back East
Bad DOG
The Bad Ups
Bad, Bad Things
The Barbed Wires
Bashful
Bat Boy
Beinn
Best Bear
Big Sad
Bike Tuff
Black Guy Fawkes
Blvck Hippie
Bobby Edge Band
The Bomb That Will Bring Us Together
Boss' Daughter
Boston Marriage
boy clothes
The Boy Detective
Brave You
Brightr
Bronson Arm
Brook Pridemore
Bumsy and The Moochers
Burnt Tapes
Caitlin Edwards
Canadian Rifle
Ceramicats
The Cherry Bombs
Chilled Monkey Brains
Chimes
Clearance Bongwater Revival
Confession Kids
Cooper!
Crucial Fix
Crush Fund
Cuni
Cutman
Damage Done
Days Spent
Dead Sea Lords
Dead Selves
Dear Cincinnati
Dear Maryanne
Dentist
Dirty Rotten Revenge
Doom Scroll
The Doomstompers
Double Jointed
Easy Money, Inc.
Evening Standards
the feat
Feeble Strength
Feversleep
Five Hundred Bucks
Flowers for Emily
For Dear Life
Fresh Pots!!
future forms
Gab De La Vega
Gazee
Ghost Chant
Ghost Rat
The Ghost You Know
Good Teal
Gottlieb
Gun Died Laughing
Hawgs
Heavy Lag
Her Head's On Fire
Hew
Hey! TV Boy!
HLLLYH
Hoist the Colors
Home Boys
Human Issue
Hyperdog
i.liedtomyself
Ill Star
Jackie + The Mosquito Bites
Jared Knapik
Jen Pop
Joker's Republic
Jonathan Francis
The Joytraders
Kiss the Scientist
Kitty Kitty Meow Meow
La Versión Extendida de las Cosas
Lamonta
Leg Biters
Legitimate Business
Liquid Limbs
Lockslip
Logan Greene
Loris
The Low Blow
Makeup Remover
Mass Panic
Maxwelltheband
Measurement
Medians
Mega Infinity
Memory Entry
The Mermers
Mike & The Nerve
Miller Lowlifes
Minorcan
Model Martel
Molly McGuire
Moral Less Right
Myles Bullen
New Eagles
New Forms
Nick and The Adversaries
Night Mayor
Nomore
Octopoulpe
Off Day
Ogbert the Nerd
Oh Ya and the You Betchas
Orange Blossom Trail
Orbiter
Orca
The Overjoyed
Paisley Fields
Palette Knife
Panthro U.K. United 13
Pink Slip
Pinkish
Porch Coffin
Pressure Set
Pretty Bitter
Psychic Death
Pwrup
rubes
Ryan Cassata & The Top Surgeons
Sad Snack
Sandcrawler
sawpaw
School Drugs
secondSELF
Seeker
Shrug Dealer
Skeletizer
Slackrr
Sleep Club
The Slow Retreat
Something to Do
Milwaukee third-wave ska vets, still skanking after all these years — horns up, irony nowhere in sight.
Spaceman Bob
Spare Kid
Spoil
The Strange Ones
Stuck Lucky
Nashville ska-core with a political edge and hardcore muscle under the horns — skanking and moshing given equal time.
Stunner
The Subjunctives
Suck Brick Kid
Sumo
Supersonic (Oasis Cover Set)
Supertwin
Sybris
Thrull
Thunderclap
Time Thieves
Title Holder
Tombstonehead
Trash The Rental
TrashWorldFL
trustfall
Ultra Lights
Punchy Atlanta garage-pop — singalong nihilism, clingy guitar hooks, and a swaggering lean into Aussie trash rock, made for sweaty rooms.
The Valterra Dragons
Watts
winded
Wired Up
Wordplay
Worse Off
the yaupon holly
