Best of the Fest 2026

Read more Best of the Fest.

Milwaukee Metal Fest
June 5-7, 2026
at The Rave/Eagles Club
milwaukeemetalfestival.com

The annual Milwaukee Metal Fest is once again taking place at The Rave/Eagles Club, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on June 5-7, 2026… which a special Pre-Party on June 4, for the truly metal diehards. Big headliners for each day are listed as: Acid Bath, Killswitch Engage, and Ministry. There are more to be announced/unveiled later.

We covered Milwaukee Metal Fest last year and noted, “GWAR, celebrating their 40th Anniversary, ended the festival as GWAR does, with a not to be missed show that soaked the crowd with green slime and awesomeness. Happily, watched as puppets that may or may not have been Putin, Taylor Swift and the POTUS get gutted, all in good fun. So many that I’ve talked to as well I now have a personal declaration of vowing to be at every show from this point forward if I should hear it, so to speak.”.

2026 Artist Lineup

Minnesota Yacht Club
July 17-19, 2026
at Harriet Island
minnesotayachtclubfestival.com

Minnesota’s biggest music festival, Minnesota Yacht Club returns this July 17-19, 2026, and, again, it’s bigger than ever! Very excited to see The Strokes reformed and playing at the biggest festival in the Twin Cities! Do yourself a favor and buy your tickets early, it will sell out and you’ll regret it later.

We covered the Yacht Club in 2024 and 2025 and wrote, “The final day of the Minnesota Yacht Club Festival, at Harriet Island, in St Paul, was looking to be nearly perfect weather and was certainly the heaviest attended crowd of the festival early in the day… Green Day’s set started a little later, due to a delay from 311’s set, when a fan passed out and forced the band to play passed their allotted set time. Then after a long, long, long intro (three intros!) including a full playback of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, then Drunk Bunny shows up to ramp up excitement with The Ramones’ Blitzkrieg Bop. And finally the band walk on music featuring a medley of The Imperial March, Blitzkrieg Bop, We Will Rock You and I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll, the band launched into fan favorite American Idiot with some choice lyrics change (like I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda). We suspect the reasons for the long intro is to make up the time the band has to fill, over an hour and 30 minutes (and many of their songs are quick 2-3 minute songs). Green Day was recently in Minneapolis last August, 2024 (alongside Smashing Pumpkins and Rancid), but their fanbase still showed up in force to see their favorite band close out the Minnesota Yacht Club. It’s clear that their music spans over generations, from fans in the 90s to teenagers, just discovering their music.”

2026 Artist Lineup

Putumayo Celebrate the World Festival
January 25, 2026
at The Broadside
putumayo.com

You guys know we are big fans of Putumayo. The World Music company is kicking off 2026 with Putumayo Celebrate the World Festival, a mini-festival taking place at The Broadside in New Orleans on January 25th from 1 to 6pm. Doors at 1pm. Folk Alliance conference badge holders and kids 12 and under enter for free.

Putumayo Celebrate the World Festival lineup:

If you can’t make it to the show, the latest release Putumayo Discovery’s Caribbean Cruise will come out January 9th. The compilation will feature joyful, tropical, infectious, rhythms and expressive voices of Caribbean island and coastal cultures. Hear everything from Trinidadian calypso and Cuban son to Jamaican roots reggae, smooth French Creole zouk, upbeat Afro-Colombian champeta, and beyond.

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