Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, New Order to play Cruel World 2025

The Cruel World festival, which features a lineup of new wave and post-punk bands past and present every year, returns in 2025. The fest takes place on Saturday, May 17 at Brookside at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. This year’s lineup is topped by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and New Order.

Also on the Cruel World 2025 lineup are The Go-Go’s, Devo, OMD, Death Cult, Garbage, Madness, a reunited Til Tuesday(!), She Wants Revenge, Alison Moyet, Chelsea Wolfe, Blancmange, Mareux, She Past Away, Stereo MCs, Buzzcocks, Nation of Language, Clan of Xymox, Provoker and more. See the full lineup on the poster above, or at the festival website. Tickets go on sale on October 25 at 11 a.m. Pacific.

Read our reviews of recent albums by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and Chelsea Wolfe. Garbage is featured on our list of 91 Essential Alternative Rock Albums of the ’90s.