Music festivals within driving distance of L.A.

House music hits the Queen Mary waterfront during this two-day fest from Insomniac. This year’s event, which features two existing stages plus the brand-new Long Beach Amphitheater, includes sets from Cloonee, Odd Mob and Gordo—plus a DJ set from Rebecca Black.

EDM juggernaut HARD Summer hopped around Southern California for a while, but now it’s settled back in town—and for 2026 again heads to the grounds of Hollywood Park, next to SoFi Stadium. No matter the location, its dedication to bringing the biggest names in the hip-hop and electronic scene has stayed the course. This year’s lineup includes Kali Uchis, DJ Snake, Tokischa, 2hollis, Zack Fox and many more.

Pan-Asian music and media collective 88rising’s music fest once again returns to the grounds outside the Rose Bowl, albeit only for a single-day fest this time around. The 2026 edition’s headliners include KATSEYE (only a few months after their Coachella performance), XG, Dabin.kr, Rich Brian and more.

Say goodbye to dusty thoroughfares and violent porta-potties: Splash House takes the music festival concept off of sweltering desert land and places it poolside. Movers and shakers at this multi-location getdown are shuttled between the Saguaro, the Renaissance and the Hilton Palm Springs (with after-hours programming at the Palm Springs Air Museum) to lap up big-name dance acts and DJ sets. With the added comforts of air-conditioned rooms and critically acclaimed restaurant fare just steps away from the party scenes, the experience will make you question whether to bother with more punishing locales come next year’s festival season.

Aughts indie nostalgia shows no signs of stopping, so it’s no surprise that Just Like Heaven—a music fest that’s featured basically every beloved 2000s indie band—is coming back for its sixth edition. The fest—now moved to the late summer, an often sweltering stretch in Pasadena—will take over the golf course next to the Rose Bowl with a lineup that’s partially pulled from your old iPod: the Strokes and LCD Soundsystem top the lineup, with additional sets from TV Girl, Chromeo, the Rapture, Feist, Twin Peaks, Matt and Kim, Whitney and more.

Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Festival once again lands at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point—and though there’s no lineup yet, you can bet that the Pearl Jam frontman will probably be on it. While we wait for the full lineup (Kings of Leon, Hozier, Leon Bridges, Green Day and Cage the Elephant played last year’s fest) we do know that the 2026 edition runs from September 25 to 27.

Coachella organizer Goldenvoice has made a couple of autumn returns to the Empire Polo Club for nostalgic, genre-focused fests—first with classic rock and more recently ’80s metal. Now it’s time for some dance greats to gather in the desert, though this two-day, single-stage event balances some fresh talent with its EDM vets. Saturday’s lineup includes Calvin Harris, Under Construction (the live collab between Fisher and Chris Lake), Peggy Gou back-to-back with Four Tet, and Seth Troxler back-to-back with Ben Sterling; Sunday features Swedish House Mafia, Skrillex, Dom Dolla back-to-back with Kettama, the Blessed Madonna and DJ Harvey; and Floating Points will host a special sound installation all weekend long.

Time to dance away the sadness to the beat of a whole lot of drum machines: Darker Waves is bringing a bunch of ’80s new wave, post punk and alternative rock legends to Huntington Beach. Morrissey and Smashing Pumpkins top the lineup, with additional sets from Simple Minds, Bad Religion, Adam Ant, the Psychedlic Furs, Soft Cell and more, including some more contemporary picks like Silversun Pickups, Cold Cave and Mariachi El Bronx.

Other than the wide window of “fall 2026,” we don’t know exactly when this intended-to-be-annual fest will debut or have any clue what the lineup will be like. But we do know that Coachella promoter Goldenvoice has signed on to produce a single-day fest on the sand next to the Santa Monica Pier. Expect roughly 30,000 to 35,000 attendees showing up to see a lineup of 12 to 15 artists.

Ring in the New Year with confetti, pyro and thousands of your closest friends at Countdown. After moving to Downtown L.A. last year—John Summit, Above & Beyond, Pryda and Madeon topped that edition of the fest—it’s now moving back to San Bernardino for an expanded two-day format at the NOS Event Center.