The 2026 edition of Outside Days — formerly known as Outside Festival — will bring a trio of the biggest indie acts of the 2000s to Denver this spring.
Death Cab for Cutie, My Morning Jacket and The Flaming Lips will need little introduction for millennial listeners. They’re also joined by another sizable name of the later 2000s: Cage The Elephant, who broke out with 2008’s “Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked.”
Also in the lineup are a few bands that have broken out in the last decade— Japanese Breakfast, Tash Sultana and Goth Babe — as well as Dawes, known for 2009’s “When My Time Comes.”
The festival will be held on the Auraria Campus west of downtown May 28-31. It has been hosted in Civic Center Park for the past two years, but is moving due to construction in the park.
The headliners are:
- Death Cab for Cutie on Friday
- My Morning Jacket on Saturday
- Cage The Elephant on Sunday.
Interestingly enough (at least to millennial me), The Flaming Lips will play a Saturday secondary slot. I last saw Wayne Coyne rolling around a big old hamster ball in Raleigh.
Other performers include Grouplove, Eggy, Karina Rykman and Girl Tones, as well as Denver acts Wildermiss, Brothers of Brass, N3ptune and The Mañanas. See a day-by-day schedule here.
A full weekend ticket costs $150, while single-day passes are $60. VIP packages, which include faster entry, private bars and other perks, run from $175 for a single day to $400 for the weekend. There is also a “GA+” ticket at $300 for the weekend, which includes faster entry and private bathrooms, among other stuff. Children 12 and under are free.
Tickets are on presale now as a perk for Capital One and REI Co-op Mastercard customers. General sales begin Friday, Dec. 5, at 10 a.m.
Besides the music, Outside Days is also billed as an “annual celebration of outdoor community and culture,” including an industry conference.
The organizers are hoping for more than 35,000 attendees.
