Jazz, metal, indie rock, more in store for Philly Music Fest 2026

In mid October, six venues in the Philadelphia area will host more than two dozen eclectic bands for the 10th Philly Music Fest. The shows will take place from Oct. 12 to Oct. 18 at Johnny Brenda’s, Milkboy, Solar Myth, Ardmore Music Hall, The Fallser Club, and Underground Arts.

A full schedule and lineup is featured below.

Get your tickets to all shows online here at 10 a.m. Friday.

Headlining the festival are New Jersey prog metal act The Dillinger Escape Plan, Philly indie rockers Mo Lowda & the Humble, local emo favorites Sweet Pill (who are making a triumphant return after canceling most of their spring tour), rock and roller Owen Stewart, RJD2 hot off the release of his new album with rapper Supastition, legacy emo outfit Marietta, and 28-year-old breakout saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins.

As is tradition, a special guest headliner for the Oct. 12 and Oct. 13 shows will be announced at a later date.

“Such an honor to be part of this festival with both Mo Lowda & the Humble and my solo project Caiola,” songwriter and guitarist Jordan Caiola said. “Opening for a hero of mine, (one of my favorite artists who will be announced this summer) is a tremendous bonus. That will be a special night. It is always a pleasure to be asked to contribute to a great cause and represent this city’s incredible music scene!”

“PMF started small at one venue in 2017 and has grown slow and smart to nine shows over seven nights each October,” Greg Seltzer, Founder and Producer of Philly Music Fest, said. “The success and longevity of PMF is the consequence of unwavering adherence to our mission: supporting local musicians and independently owned venues, then donating the profits to music education programs rather than a corporation’s bottom line.”

Seltzer told WXPN that throughout the festival’s history, it’s faced several opportunities to expand. But Seltzer said the festival’s genre is its geography: Philly.

“Bigger does not always mean more impact,” he said. “It has to benefit musicians, it has to benefit independent venues, and it has to allow us to have a profit left over to donate to kids’ music education.”

Since it’s launch, the festival has donated more than $600,000 to various area music programs, while hosting more than 170 bands from the region, including Japanese Breakfast, Mt. Joy, Alex G, Amos Lee, Dr. Dog, Kurt Vile, The Wonder Years, and Waxahatchee.

“Happy 10th Anniversary Philly Music Fest,” WXPN’s Midday Host/Operations Manager Mike Vasilikos said. “It’s been a decade of supporting the Philly music scene, but the groundwork PMF has laid inspires a vibrancy that will last for years to come.”

Seltzer said Sweet Pill was the first band booked for the festival, all the way back in November 2025, and they’re set to headline the main stage at Underground Arts Oct. 16.

“I knew that album was going to be a breakthrough,” he said of their Still There’s a Glow, which dropped in March. Health issues led the band to cancel numerous tour dates in support of the record, but Seltzer said they will be back in force for PMF. “We could not be happier that they’re going to make a triumphant return to Philly.”

As for the metal of it all, Seltzer said he was inundated with requests to host more extreme music at the festival he co-produces with his wife Jenn Seltzer.

“We had not hosted metal until the ninth year, and the people in my inbox and my DMs did not like that, apparently,” he said. “There is a big metal scene in Philly. It’s a successful metal scene, and it is critically acclaimed and highly regarded. So Philly Music Fest absolutely must have metal.”

The Dillinger Escape Plan has been around for nearly 30 years, and they’ll share a bill with Philly’s Caged and Brooklyn’s Pyrrhon Oct. 15 at Underground Arts.

“They could play a much bigger room, but they’re going to tear up Underground Arts,” he said. “That’s just an example of ‘bigger isn’t better.'”

RJD2, Solar Circuit, and Angelo Outlaw will bring funky jams to Milkboy on Oct. 15, too.

“I thought that rather than totally leaning headfirst into jam bands, what if we paid homage to jam bands by circling around what I’ll call a jam adjacent vibe,” Seltzer said. “When you kind of take a step back, [these bands are] kind of jammy jazz and jammy electronic.”

And to close out the festival, Wilkins will play at Solar Myth on Oct. 18 in honor of John Coltrane’s 100th birthday.

“We literally have the nation’s best and most up-and-coming jazz saxophone player in our city playing,” Seltzer said of Wilkins. “There’s no better way to pay tribute to Philly 250 or Coltrane’s 100th birthday than having like the hottest young saxophone player take the stage and give it to us for three hours.”

Below is the full schedule and lineup for Philly Music Fest: