Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, New Order, Devo and the Go-Gos Among Acts Set for 2025 Cruel World Festival

Dig out the fishnets and lace up the Docs: The Cruel World Festival is set to return to Pasadena on May 17, featuring headliners Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and New Order. Goldenvoice’s one-day event will again take place at Brookside at the Rose Bowl.

Also on the bill of new wave icons, post-punk, dark wave, alternative and adjacent acts are Devo, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Garbage, the Go-Gos, Death Cult, ‘Til Tuesday, Madness, Buzzcocks, She Wants Revenge and Alison Moyet. Garbage, toplined by Shirley Manson, recently played California’s Ohana Festival, and has an eighth studio album planned for 2025 release.

Cruel World will be the final stop for Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ North American tour supporting their 18th album, “Wild God.”

New Order’s lineup is of several original members including lead vocalist Bernard Sumner, though not including bassist Peter Hook.

The event will also mark the first time in 35 years that Aimee Mann’s ‘Til Tuesday (“Voices Carry”) performs with its original members. The Go-Gos will reunite three years after disbanding in 2022; they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the previous year.

The performance by Death Cult, later known at The Cult (“She Sells Sanctuary”), featuring Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy, will be the original goth band’s only California show of the year.

Latter-day darkwave act She Wants Revenge, from the San Fernando Valley, also plans to make Cruel World its only stop next year, organizers said.

Last year’s Cruel World featured more than two dozen acts across three stages, including Duran Duran, Blondie, Simple Minds, The Stranglers, Jesus and Mary Chain, Gary Numan and Soft Cell.

Passes will go on sale Friday at 11 a.m., with a past purchaser presale on Thursday at 11 a.m. A VIP viewing area and Clubhouse option with access to an air-conditioned lounge area will again be available.