Verboden Music Festival is an annual darkwave and underground electronic music festival celebrating the pulse of post-punk, darkwave, synth, industrial, goth, and adjacent subcultures across the Pacific Northwest. In 2026, the festival expands as a true multi-city event spanning four locations: Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, and Spokane, from May 28-31.

The festival brings together an expansive roster of over 30 touring artists and 10+ DJs performing across the festival dates. Notable acts include Male Tears, Sacred Skin, SRSQ, Street Fever, Blone Noble, Carrellee, Ceremony Shadows, Clock Serum, Dancing Plague, Damascus Knives, Datura, Die Sexual, Dildox, Dot Wall, Dollhead, Ex Veles, Fotoform, God Tongue, H.Ä.L.T., Hexx Head, Hot Hail!, Hallows, Meldamor, More Ephemerol, Mvtant, Normoria, Scimitar, Sleek Teeth, S.L.U.T., Total Chroma, The Wheal, and Wish Whip. DJ sets showcase talent including Noveli, Sculptress, Pavor Nocturnus, Coffin Birth, Sophixi, Starseed, Keypr, Jakob, Seffrika, The Parish Barbie Saint & Non, and DJ Crankenstinn, with visuals provided by Trillium Gibson.

In Vancouver, the festival operates May 29-31 exclusively at The Cobalt Cabaret, a venue deeply embedded in the city's underground music scene. The festival celebrates the dark electronic and post-punk aesthetics that define contemporary underground culture, providing a dedicated space for the Pacific Northwest's thriving darkwave and industrial music communities.

The festival is presented by Verboden Arts Society in partnership with Hierophant Booking, YES Music Productions, and Coffin Club PDX. Verboden acknowledges its operation on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Xwmәθkәәyәm (Musqueam), Sәlílwәta¼ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Sqwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Peoples.