Goldenvoice is launching a new one-off electronic music festival called Head Trip at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, taking over the same grounds used for Coachella and Stagecoach. Billboard first reported that the event will run October 10–11, 2026, and is being framed as a one-time-only gathering rather than an annual franchise, with a lineup built around arena-scale dance headliners and buzzy club acts.
The bill is led by Skrillex, Calvin Harris, and Swedish House Mafia, three names that rarely share a festival poster in the U.S. Brooklyn Vegan adds that Peggy Gou will perform with Four Tet, while the lineup also includes Floating Points’ “Sunflower Sound System” and the Fisher & Chris Lake show “Under Construction.” Dom Dolla b2b Kettama and additional acts round out the bill, with more names expected as the date approaches.
Positioned as a single-weekend destination event rather than a recurring brand, Head Trip leans into dance music’s current renaissance while borrowing the desert-mythology pull of Coachella’s site. The timing and structure suggest Goldenvoice is testing whether a tightly curated, high-wattage electronic weekend can draw the same cross-regional audience that flocks to Indio each April.
Dates, Tickets and What’s New
According to Billboard, Head Trip is set for Friday, October 10 and Saturday, October 11, 2026, at the Empire Polo Club in Indio. The festival is explicitly billed as a one-off; whether that changes will likely hinge on demand and production performance. As of now, ticket tiers and pricing have not been publicly detailed, and the announcement did not specify whether camping or lodging packages will be offered.
What feels fresh is the pairing of legacy festival titans with club-leaning artists who rarely get top billing at Coachella-scale events. Spin notes that having Skrillex, Swedish House Mafia, and Calvin Harris on the same lineup is a rarity for a U.S. festival, while the inclusion of Floating Points’ immersive “Sunflower Sound System” suggests Head Trip may experiment with more intimate, audiophile-friendly environments alongside the main-stage spectacle.
Why It Matters for SoCal
For Southern California dance fans, Head Trip slots into a fall window that has become increasingly crowded with multi-genre festivals, but still lacks a pure, large-scale electronic anchor on the Coachella grounds. The Indio site’s infrastructure—massive sound systems, established ingress/egress patterns, and on-site production know-how—should help Head Trip avoid some of the growing pains that new festivals face.
It also adds a high-profile option for fans who may have already seen some of these acts at LA clubs or one-offs. Chris Lake, for example, will headline Los Angeles State Historic Park for two nights in June 2026, while Kettama is booked for a pair of San Diego dates at Beach House and Fit Social in May. Head Trip offers a chance to catch them alongside Skrillex and Swedish House Mafia in a more expansive, desert-party context.
Goldenvoice has not yet revealed on-sale timing, but with October just months away, expect ticketing and additional lineup details to follow quickly. Given the star power involved and the limited, one-off nature of the event, Head Trip is poised to become one of the fall’s most sought-after dance weekends on the West Coast.
Last updated March 3, 2026.
Sources: Billboard, Brooklyn Vegan, Spin
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