Toronto’s coolest music festival, NXNE, will return this June
Entering its 31st year, the Canadian music fest is bigger and better than ever
Torontonians of a certain age (cough, millennials) will remember the heyday of North by Northeast (NXNE), the Toronto-based music festival modelled after Austin’s SXSW. Beginning in 1995, its exploits have included a chaotic mosh in Sankofa Square during an Iggy Pop concert in 2010 and Macaulay Culkin performing with his pizza-themed Velvet Underground cover band on a moving streetcar in 2014.
Related: “I organized a concert with Lizzo and Macaulay Culkin on a moving streetcar”
This summer, the legendary fest will return to the city from June 10 to 14. Over 300 artists are set to perform across 30 venues over the course of the week, making this year’s the biggest NXNE yet. Festival president and founder Michael Hollett says that applications for 2026 were double last year’s: the 300 artists who will play 20-to-40-minute sets were selected from over 2,000 hopefuls. In response to the uptick, NXNE has almost doubled its venues, secret shows and featured arena acts.
NXNE has a reputation for showcasing up-and-coming talent early, booking Lizzo, Daniel Caesar, Kaytranada, the Beaches, the Arkells and Billy Talent (to name a few) well before they blew up. Yesterday, the fest announced an early version of the lineup, which includes emerging Canadian artists Kreesha Turner, Lauryn Kovacs and SRE as well as international acts from Aruba, Australia, India, Germany, New Zealand, the UK and beyond. Genres include soul, funk, metal, punk, country, blues and just about everything in between.
Related: Inside the Beaches’ rise to rock stardom
In addition to legendary concerts, the festival has also programmed a series of industry gatherings for aspiring musicians. Its Billboard Summit features master classes and discussions with top innovators (last year saw a popular Deadmau5 session), and its Next Level Panel, a two-day symposium, promises serious insights into everything from licensing to streaming to touring to songwriting.
Tickets are on sale now. While there are two fancy passes—a VIP pass ($149) and a Platinum pass ($499), which offer extended access and front-of-the-line perks—there’s also the wallet-friendly Discovery pass ($49), which buys five nights of rocking out to what could very well be the next big thing.
Lindsey King is a Toronto-based writer and editor whose work can be found in Toronto Life, Maclean’s, Canada’s 100 Best and more. She is interested in arts and culture, food and drink, architecture, design, and real estate stories
