Cold Waves — festival guide

At a glance

Dates

24–27 Sept 2026 (4 days)

Location

Metro, Chicago, United States

Sound

Electronic · Industrial

Line-up announced

24 artists so far

The story

Cold Waves is an annual music festival held in Chicago, IL, focusing on underground electronic and industrial music. Scheduled for September 24-27, 2026, it features a lineup of diverse artists across multiple days. The festival takes place at the Metro, a well-known venue in the city, and includes a variety of performances from both established and emerging artists.

Cold Waves is a 4-day electronic, industrial festival at Metro in Chicago, United States. The September 2026 edition runs 24–27 Sept 2026.

Announced so far: 16Volt, Acumen Nation, Black Cross Hotel, Bragolin, Carrellee, Chalk, clubdrugs and Die Sexual and 16 more. Expect stages split between Electronic and Industrial. The line-up is spread across the 4 festival days, so a full-weekend ticket is the only way to catch every name.

Everything happens at Metro, in Chicago. Chicago is the base for the trip: it is where the affordable beds, the late trains and the after-parties are, and where prices climb fastest as the dates approach.

Cold Waves keeps the same calendar slot each year: September 2026 for this edition, opening on a Thursday and closing on a Sunday. It falls in autumn, after the summer circuit closes, when flights and rooms come back down in price. That slot matters for the budget — flights and rooms in Chicago are priced for the festival weekend, not the week around it, so shifting your arrival by a day often saves more than any ticket tier does.

• Headliners include Stabbing Westward, TR/ST, and King Woman
• Scheduled for four days from September 24 to 27, 2026
• Takes place at the Metro, located at 3730 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL
• Features performances across multiple genres, emphasizing underground and industrial music.

What the trip costs from Paris

No ticket price is published for this edition yet, so the total below covers travel and a bed only. It updates automatically as soon as the organiser opens sales.

Planning the trip, step by step

1. 1Book the ticket first: tiers at Cold Waves are sold in waves and the cheapest wave is gone long before the line-up is complete.
2. 2Then price the travel from Paris — Cinderella compares train, bus, car and flight for the same dates, and the cheapest option is not always the obvious one.
3. 3Reserve 5 nights rather than 4: the last night of a festival almost always ends after the last train home.
4. 4Follow Cold Waves on Cinderella to be emailed when a ticket price drops or a new tier opens.

Line-up, day by day

• Day 1 — Thursday 24 September

  16Volt, Carrellee, Flesh_Bot, King Woman, PIG, Stabbing Westward

• Day 2 — Friday 25 September

  Acumen Nation, Chalk, Haunt Me, Nghtcrwlr, Purest Form, The Tear Garden

• Day 3 — Saturday 26 September

  Black Cross Hotel, clubdrugs, Insula Iscariot, Nuxx, Scary Lady Sarah, TR/ST

• Day 4 — Sunday 27 September

  Bragolin, Die Sexual, Kaput, Patrixia, Spike Hellis, Youth Code

Full line-up

Ordered as the poster reads it — headliners first, then most booked to least. Each name opens that artist's festival dates.

Past editions

Dates are the event's recurring calendar slot, so treat them as approximate — the organiser keeps the official archive.

• 2025

  24–27 Sept 2025 (approx.)

  Regulars: 16Volt, Acumen Nation, Black Cross Hotel

• 2024

  24–27 Sept 2024 (approx.)

  Regulars: Acumen Nation, Black Cross Hotel, Bragolin

• 2023

  24–27 Sept 2023 (approx.)

  Regulars: Black Cross Hotel, Bragolin, Carrellee

Travel tips from Paris

• The site itself is Metro, in Chicago.
• Book a bed in Chicago early — rooms around a festival sell out before the last ticket tier does.