Darker Waves Fest //
Huntington Beach City Beach – Huntington Beach, CA
November 14th, 2026 //
As we transition into spring and anxiously await the best months of the year for live music, there’s one festival in Southern California that’s making a comeback this fall.
Darker Waves held its inaugural edition in 2023 that brought New Order, Tears for Fears, Echo & The Bunnymen, Devo, Soft Cell, The Psychedelic Furs, OMD, The Human League, Violent Femmes and a whole lot more to Huntington Beach, but after taking the past two years off, the one-day event, which leans dark (and a little bit goth) with an array of new wave and post punk, gets ready to make its big return to the sand for one Saturday in November.
This time it will be Morrissey and The Smashing Pumpkins signing on as the main attractions, and of course with Moz you never quite know what you are going to get. Nobody knows if the former Smiths frontman will show up, but should he, don’t expect any burgers or hot dogs to be grilled nearby as the 66-year-old Englishman commands the stage.
The undercard, meanwhile, carries its own weight below the top line with Simple Minds, Bad Religion, Adam Ant, The Psychedelic Furs, Soft Cell, The Damned, Manic Street Preachers, Gary Numan and Silversun Pickups providing plenty of extra star power.
Other acts on the 2026 bill that are worth pointing out include Buzzcocks, EMF, Circle Jerks, Spacehog, Marky Ramone, Mariachi El Bronx, Cold Cave, TR/ST, Gene, Prayers, Modern English, The Motels, The Sounds, Choir Boy, Missing Persons, Christian Death, DECEITS, Past Self, Riki, Warfield, Purest Form and Casket Cassette. Check out the poster above to see who else will be performing.
If there’s a darkness summoning you down to the beach now, make sure to sign up here so you can receive a passcode for the presale beginning this Thursday, April 2nd at 10 a.m. PT when the lowest price on GA tickets ($259.99) will be guaranteed for one hour. All pass types, including GA+ ($399.99), VIP ($599.99) and Ultimate VIP ($1750.70) for those interested in more amenities, can be purchased with the layway plan by putting down as little as $19.99 so just don’t wait on your chance to ride these darker waves in Surf City USA!
UPDATE (November 2nd): Back on the shoreline in less than two weeks, Darker Waves Fest has put out set times for its second installment. While attendees won’t be able to see every performance on all three stages — Darker, Waves and Black Tide — next weekend with most of them overlapping during the day, they will be able to catch all of Morrissey and The Smashing Pumpkins before heading home. And though organizers have also announced that Spacehog and The Sounds will no longer be taking the stage due to “personal reasons,” all pass types can still be purchased here for those looking to hit one last music festival this year.
