Philly Music Fest turns 10 with RJD2, Sweet Pill, Dillinger Escape Plan, and a mystery headliner

Philly Music Fest is turning 10.

The 2026 iteration of the “Philly Is Our Genre” festival at independent venues in Philadelphia and the suburbs with take place Oct. 12-18, with 25 bands playing in nine showcase nights at six different venues.

Featured Philly and Philly-connected acts include DJ-producer RJD2, punk-pop band Sweet Pill, rock band Mo Lowda & the Humble, indie folk singer Sug Daniels, metal outfit Dillinger Escape Plan, singer-songwriter Madi Diaz and jazz saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins.

And for the fourth time, the biggest name playing the fest is not quite ready to be announced. Not because the artist hasn’t been booked yet, but because they have another concert scheduled in the Philadelphia market between now and October.

That means PMF head honcho Greg Seltzer — who founded the fest in 2017 and donates $100,000 annually to Philly music education charities — isn’t permitted to announce his 2026 headliner until that date passes.

Three times before, that two-part rollout strategy yielded a marquee act playing a PMF show at a venue far smaller than they’re accustomed to, with Mt. Joy in 2022, Waxahatchee in 2024, and Dr. Dog in 2025, all playing Ardmore Music Hall.

Who will this year’s surprise headliner be? Feel free to guess based on Philly-identified acts playing locally in the next months. The artist will be announced in August.

Meanwhile, here’s how PMF 2026 will play out:

Both of these shows feature the surprise headliner, playing a 600-capacity venue many times smaller than they’re accustomed to.

The Monday opener is Caiola, the folkie side project of Jordan Caiola, who is the lead singer of Mo Lowda & the Humble (see below). Tuesday’s opener is Madi Diaz, the Nashville-based, Lancaster-raised songwriter who in 2025 released Fatal Optimist, her seventh album of original material, as well as Enema of The State, a full-length cover version of the 1999 Blink-182 album of the same name.

Caiola will be back on stage as hard touring band Mo Lowda & the Humble, which released its fifth album, Tailing the Ghost in 2025, top a bill that also includes up and coming Philly songwriters Noah Richardson and Clover Stieve.

This year’s jam-band-adjacent show with three groove-oriented acts spotlights RJD2, the formerly Philly based artist born Ramble Jon Krohn, a prolific musician who makes electronic and full-band music across many solo and collaborative projects. Percussionist Angelo Outlaw and jamtronic quartet Solar Circuit open.

Last year, the PMF put on its first ever metal night. This year, headbanging is back with math core quintet Dillinger Escape Plan joined by Pyrrhon and Caged.

The cozy listening room in East Falls that made its PMF debut in 2025 will host a four-act bill of Americana, funk, folk and R&B-inflected rock with Sug Daniels, Roberta Faceplant, Nik Greeley, and Owen Stewart.

With the venue now known as World Stage — the former World Cafe Live — not in the mix, PMF’s go-to club with two venues in one is Underground Arts. The punk-pop bill features Sweet Pill, which released its top-shelf sophomore album Still There’s A Glow in March, and Remember Sports on the main stage, with Wax Jaw and Midfield in the Black Box.

PMF will be back at UA for another night on Saturday. Marietta, which took a 10-year break after their 2015 album As It Were before reuniting at the Ukie Club last year, shares the main stage with Euphoria Again, while Bleary Eyed and Maty play the Black Box.

Closing night is jazz night with a show booked in conjunction with the Ars Nova Workshop. The PMF is handing the evening over to ImmanuelWilkins, the Upper Darby-raised acclaimed sax player who released two new live albums on Blue Note Records this year.

Since its inception in 2017, PMF has steadily gotten bigger but, Seltzer says, “the growth has been incremental. When I look back at 2017, it was one venue. Then in 2018, it was three venues, then five, and now it’s been nine shows for the last three years.

“And the change has always kept the three core missions of Philly Music Fest front and center, which is highlighting and compensating Philly musicians, supporting independent venues and donating money to music education for kids.”

This year, Inside Hustle, the music industry networking event born as part of the PMF is expanding, going from twice annually to once a month. The series begins Wednesday in celebration of May being Philly Music Month with Caiola and singer Brittany Ann Trambrough on a panel with Bruce Warren of WXPN-FM (88.5).

The free event presented by the PMF, XPN, and the Philadelphia Music Alliance is at the Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1906 Rittenhouse Square at 6 p.m. RSVP at https://bit.ly/InsideHustle052026

Tickets for individual PMF shows go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at phillymusicfest.com and each venue’s website. The surprise headliner nights in Ardmore will go on sale in August.