Being a three year veteran of North Coast Music Festival, I thought I had it all figured out, but, just like every year, the iconic Chicago-based festival continued to level up. The lineup, afterparties, and stage transformations promised blissful new explorations, but no Instagram post or article could truly prepare Coasties for what unfolded during the weekend. The sixteenth iteration of the cross genre electronic celebration brought breathtaking production, banging sets, and that unique indescribable feeling of magic that festival regulars are constantly chasing. If you’re on the fence about attending next year, just continue reading and we’ll convince you to get your 2027 tickets for this incredible festival as soon as they go on sale.
The festival started on Thursday, with a Mersiv set as the pre-party for the weekend. The artist, known for both his dirty bass bangers and slow ethereal thumpers, put together a performance that let all festival attendees know that they were about to embark on a three day long genre-bending sonic journey. Now, just one sleep, or lack thereof due to excitement, was between Coasties and their descent onto Seat Geek Stadium to explore, experience, and enjoy.
Upon arriving at the festival, it became clear that North Coast would not just be a sonic journey, but a full sensory weekend long odyssey. Before you even walked through the gates, you could see the stages and carnival rides, hear the music playing from multiple stages, feel the bass vibrating you to a core, smell the food coming from a multitude of vendors, and taste the excitement in the air. Once you entered the threshold, the energy in the air intensified. There’s a big stage with massive curved screens to your right, a stadium oozing with bass to your left, and the grand spectacle of an unexplored festival wonderland in front.
Day one of North Coast came in hot. Richard Finger was on a daytime slot which begs the question, is there truly any better way to start off a festival than getting down to filthy sploinky wubs? After the “fingering,” it was time to explore the changes for this iteration of the festival. North Coast had remained true to its origin and kept a lot of the art installations year over year, but also added enough that the exploration of the venue felt new to legacy NCMF attendees. Of the three major stages, the Shipyard 360 stage had undergone the greatest change. What was once a stage with some storage bunkers as an aesthetic had become a fully contained 360 degree party. With lasers and sound coming from all directions, the stage promised a weekend filled with ecstatic dancing. The chill dome had also undergone a change, going from simply a chilly oasis to a stage dubbed The Bunker, which had a feel of an underground nightclub and the scale of a mainstage.
After the exploration it was back to the action with a performance from Sippy, one of the surprise sets of the weekend. Sippy was known to be a standout performer, but this HIHFer was not ready for just how good she was. The Australian producer dazzled with songs that touched all bass genres, basslines that were both surprising and incredibly dirty, and crazy visuals. After that it felt like the day just kept getting better. The bass queen, LEVEL UP, followed Sippy’s lead with a bass-in-your-face type of set. AYCH dropped some bangin’ hip hop and trappy bass at the Fire Pit. Jade Cicada brought us an experimental set full of psychedelic bass and trippy visuals.
After that uninterrupted fantastic frenzy, it was time for the main event of the day, Levity b2b Tape B. Four of the largest young stars in bass sharing a stage in front of a sea of ravers full of anticipation. We were not disappointed. The artists masterfully melded their signature tunes with surprise drops, sonic misdirection, and bass face inducing tracks. The chemistry developed during their summer program was clear and Coasties reaped all the benefits of that relationship. The night ended with Fisher at the stadium playing out some bouncy house for the masses. Friday set the tone for the whole weekend, and the festival attendees as a collective were exhilarated with the prospect of the fun that still awaited.
Sometimes it’s tough to follow such an amazing day, but Saturday at North Coast certainly did not follow that pattern. The day started off in a similar way, at the Vega stage while it was still sunny out. The first set attended was a bassy UKG performance put on by the man himself Casey Club. After wiggling to the UK based DJ it was time to buckle down and get the bass going. Saturday was a dubstep day and the artist lineup mirrored that wholeheartedly. First it was Mary Droppinz in the stadium. Her performance was full of neck breaking basslines as the coasties energy was in full swing. Then it was time for YDG, the bass flip maven. He dropped filthy tracks and incorporated lasers as the sun set. Afterwards it was time to see Mersiv for the second time of the weekend. His set was a slower drippy bass centric set that was beautiful and emotionally fueled. ALLEYCVT had her signature galvanizing energy in the massive stadium. Ganja White Night followed her with their notorious bass barrage of wet wubs. Wooli brought his A game with a set that only the mammoth loving DJ could curate. The whole time all these sets were going on, the chill dome, now the bunker, was blaring out Riddim with sets from Nimda and Prosecute and more.
As the night wound down it seemed as though the whole festival was at the stadium mainstage for arguably the biggest act of the weekend. The funk man himself, GRiZ, was next up, closing down Saturday of North Coast. Coming off his first Red Rocks sets in five years, GRiZ brought his trademark funkadelic bass set to the festival, showing the audience why the Denver based producer is on the top of the bass game. As the lasers ceased and the sax played its last note, coasties had the choice to go home and rest or keep the party going. The official afterparties were stacked on Saturday, and this HIHFer decided to go riddim afters. The final act of the night was Mushroom Cloud, and the Philly native brought the heat. After being loaded with bass all day, it was time to rest, to embark on day three of the North Coast journey.
Day three, the last day of the festival, had arrived and the air was still brimming with excitement. After two successful days of dancing, it was time for the icing on the cake. If there had to be a theme of Sunday, it would be the melding of genres, which is a big part of the festival’s mission. The Vega stage had a UKG takeover on Sunday curated by one of the biggest names in the genre, Sammy Virji. Sammy brought some of his friends along to perform, including 33 Below, Interplanetary Criminal and Tchami. The stadium had different genres popping up every hour with the European house playing BUNT., the dubstep don Crankdat, and the high powered melodic bass set of Illenium b2b SLANDER. The craziest stage on Sunday, in this HIHfer’s opinion, was the Shipyard. The surprise set of the weekend was put on by Mexican-American artist, Deorro. The set began with traditional Mexican music, with some of the tracks even inciting coordinated dances in the crowd for all those Coastie that knew the moves. Some of these tracks would have techno incorporated into the sound, while some of the songs were just played out in their normal original form. Then the set took a turn. As Deorro started to play some Pop EDM from the 2010s, it felt as though the energy was building and transforming. All of sudden, out of nowhere, a Zedd song turned into one of the filthiest deep dubstep basslines of the weekend. From then on the show had begun. The Latin artist had the audience dancing at his will, moving from hard techno, to Spanish club tunes, to dirty dubstep with lasers pinging around the 360 stage to viewers content. Our plans to see Crankdat fell to the wayside as we got transported a realm we’d never been to before. This set was an encapsulation of North Coast’s mission of allowing different genres to shine and celebrating everyone. Exploring and finding Deorro is proof that there are always many secrets to find if you just keep an open mind.
Then came Gryffin. The Axe shredding DJ played out tracks from all parts of his musical identity, ranging from Pop EDM to Melodic Bass, After that set it was almost time for the festival to come to an end, with only the last day headliners. This HIHFer went to see UK Garage superstar Sammy Virji over the melodic bass masters Illenium and SLANDER, but there was truly no wrong choice to make. Virji’s set was super fun, with great transitions, tracks, and euphoric dancing. As attendees of this set bounced, they could look over and see an ocean of lasers jetting out from the stadium.
Then it was over. A sea of people flooding out of the gates that they had so highly anticipated entering on Friday. The general feeling of floatiness and contentment emanating from the masses. North Coast Music Festival 2026 was an amazing display of what can happen when artists and fans alike come together to celebrate each other. The sets were amazing, the venue was breathtaking, and the energy was all encompassing. If you were to ask me, “Should I go to North Coast next year?” I would respond with an astonished look on my face and emphatically say, “Of course! Why is that even a question?”