After a decade of summoning the shadows, Verboden Festival has evolved from a modest Vancouver experiment into one of North America’s most vital gatherings for darkwave, post-punk, and industrial devotees. Founded in 2016, the festival has become a refuge for the beautifully strange: the misfits, romantics, and creatures of the night who thrive under strobes, smoke, and synths.
In 2026, Verboden marks its 10-year anniversary with its boldest move yet: expanding across the Pacific Northwest with simultaneous events in Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland on May 28th-31st. This tri-city evolution unites three creative undergrounds into one circuit of sound and subculture, amplifying Verboden’s mission to illuminate the darker edge of modern music.
Headliners:
Male Tears channel the mascara-streaked glamour of forgotten VHS nights into a body of work steeped in queer futurism and electronic melancholy. Their synthpop, equal parts sleaze and sincerity, nods to Soft Cell and early Pet Shop Boys, but bristles with the irony and heartbreak of the digital age.
Sacred Skin trades in neon nostalgia and existential yearning. Drawing from the gloss of ’80s synthpop and the ache of post-punk romanticism, they reimagine pop’s luminous artifice as something wounded and devotional. Each song feels like a confession overheard through fog and fluorescent light.
The alias of Kennedy Ashlyn, SRSQ (pronounced “seer-eskew”) turns grief into grandeur. Her voice cuts through reverb like revelation: operatic yet human, trembling at the edge of transcendence. SRSQ’s work sits between dream and elegy, where beauty and loss share the same pulse.
Boise-born producer and performance artist Street Fever embodies industrial catharsis in its rawest form. Blending EBM, trap, and sacred fury, they create rituals rather than shows: sermons of sweat, sin, and strobe. It’s music for confession booths lit by police lights, where faith, flesh, and machine collapse into one.
Supporting artists include Blone Noble, Carrellee, Ceremony Shadows, Dark Chisme, Hot Hail, Hallows, H.Ä.L.T., More Ephemerol, Sleek Teeth, Somber Violets… more to be announced!
Verboden’s 2026 edition is a celebration of endurance and evolution, a decade of devotion to underground art and the people who keep it alive, celebrating the artists who define the current era of darkwave, post-punk, industrial, and EBM.
What began as a local gathering for devotees of alternative sound has transformed into a continental phenomenon: one that bridges generations of artists, DJs, and fans who live for the pulse of underground nightlife. Over the years, Verboden has hosted genre stalwarts, rising icons, and cross-disciplinary performers whose work blurs the boundaries between music, performance, and art.
Tickets on sale now here.
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