The Strokes and L’Arc-en-Ciel to headline Sonic Festival Summer 2026

The Strokes and L’Arc-en-Ciel will headline this year’s Summer Sonic. The first line-up – organizers will name more acts later – was announced earlier this week. Other big names to watch at Summer Sonic 2026 include British psychedelic jazz and funk band Jamiroquai, led by charismatic singer Jay Kay, K-pop icon Jennie from the hugely successful K-pop band Blackpink, and former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne.

Britpop legend Suede is on the list alongside Leicester’s most famous rock band Kasabian. In addition to visionary British artist FKA Twigs, American a cappella group Pentatonix and Irish rock band Florence Road, Vietnamese-American multi-instrumentalist Keshi will bring his lo-fi hip-hop sound. Several high-profile Japanese artists will also perform in Chiba and Osaka. Besides L’Arc-en-Ciel, the most famous name on the list is undoubtedly the critically acclaimed rock band Sakanaction. Rock band Suchmos will only perform in Chiba.

©︎Summer Sonic

Sonic Summer 2026: Headlines

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the release of The Strokes’ groundbreaking debut album. is this it. The album includes tracks such as “The Modern Age”, “Last Nite” and “Someday” and was named the best album of 2001 by “The Modern Age”. billboard, CMJ, entertainment weekly, New ME and time. The band subsequently released two EPs, The room is on fire (2003) and First impression of the earth (2005), then took a five-year hiatus. Since then, three more incidents have occurred, including new anomaly In 2020, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album.

L’Arc-en-Ciel was formed in Osaka in 1991 by bassist Tetsuya and vocalist Hyde and has reportedly sold over 40 million records. They are an influential visual kei band with seven number one studio albums and 21 number one singles in Japan. In 2012, they became the first Japanese band to sell out Madison Square Garden in New York. Notable tracks include “Driver’s High,” “Honey” and “Ready Steady Go.”

“Summer Sonic 2000” poster | ©︎Summer Sonic

The Origins of Summer Sonic

Creativeman Productions CEO Naoki Shimizu founded Summer Sonic in 2000, with half of the event debuting at Fuji-Q Highland Amusement Park in Yamanashi Prefecture and the other in Osaka. Opening weekend headliners are Green Day and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Other big names include James Brown and Weezer, while lower down the list are up-and-coming acts like Muse, Sigur Rós and Coldplay. The following year, the festival was moved from Yamanashi Prefecture to Chiba Prefecture.

Summer Sonic is held simultaneously at Chiba Makuhari Messe and Osaka Expo ’70 Memorial Park. This year, the event will start on August 14 and run for three days instead of two. See here Information about tickets.

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