Got Fourth of July plans yet? The 2026 Waterfront Blues Festival lineup dropped this morning. If you’re not feeling particularly patriotic in this 250th year of American independence, the fest’s genre-spanning (what music doesn’t have a bit of the blues in it?) lineup is looking like a pretty sweet alternative to watching whatever comes out of the White House’s “most spectacular birthday party.” It’s spread across three days and three stages at Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park this summer, kicking off Thursday, July 2, and finishing Saturday, July 4, with its famous fireworks display over the river—though the pyrotechnics will have to compete with headliners Tank and the Bangas. 

The NOLA band won the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album last year, but don’t let the poetics fool you. The Bangas also bang, especially on their 2022 album, Red Balloon. The ultimate hype man Wayne Brady opens it with a radio DJ skit, then come features from Lalah Hathaway, Trombone Shorty, and the queen of twerking and New Orleans bounce Big Freedia. Retro soul trio Durand Jones & the Indications headline Friday, serenading crowds waterside, and, also from NOLA, the eight-piece band the Revivalists top the bill Thursday. You know the song: Hear “I wish I knew you when I was young / We could’ve got so high” over chirpy disco chords in the band’s megahit “Wish I Knew You” from 2015.

Headliners aren’t the only names to look out for. Seratones, the soul rock outfit fronted by AJ Haynes, turns anthemic pop songs glitchy and electric with overdriven bass. Afro-Caribbean funk band Cymande, a short-lived but influential group in 1970s London that reunited in recent years, puts on a live show you do not want to miss.

As has been the case since the festival started up in 1988, you can no doubt count on a strong showing of Portland legends. Gathering Ural Thomas & the Pain, Toody Cole and Her Band, and Lo & the Steele Family Band in the same place should legally require some kind of historical record. The Delines, the “retro country soul” group Willy Vlautin and Jenny Conlee (of the Decemberists) both play in, are also full of local history. Cowpunk honky tonkers Jenny Don’t and the Spurs are bringing their Americana charms. And Glitterfox, a soulful indie-pop group and one of Portland’s most promising emerging bands, gives a sense of the current scene. 

Check out the full artist list below, and see the Waterfront Blues Festival’s website for details; tickets go on sale today.