You don’t need to go 88 MPH in a Delorean to travel back to the ’80s in 2025.
The annual Cruel World Festival will take you to the “Where’s The Beef” decade — regardless of what speed you travel — when the ’80s-tastic extravaganza goes down at Pasadena, CA’s Rose Bowl Stadium on Saturday, May 17.
Throwback headliners on the bill next year include new wave synth icons New Order, brooding rocker Nick Cave with his backing band The Bad Seeds, genre-bending Devo, pop heroes The Go-Go’s and Aimee Mann’s ‘Til Tuesday, playing together with their original members for the first time in 35 years.
Orchestral Manouevers In The Dark, Garbage, Madness, Death Cult (aka The Cult before The Cult) and The Buzzcocks are also slated to perform at the one-day hootenanny.
Plus, ’90s hitmakers Stereo MC’s and ’00s alt-indie group She Wants Revenge will be there as well.
In total, 29 (!) acts will take the stage at Cruel World in spring 2025.
Fans that want to attend can purchase tickets for Cruel World on sites like Vivid Seats; the official on-sale is Friday, Oct. 25.
Vivid Seats is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.
They have a 100% buyer guarantee that states your transaction will be safe and secure and will be delivered before the event.
Cruel World Festival 2025 tickets
A complete breakdown of all the different Cruel World ticket types can be found below.
Cruel World ticket types |
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General Admission |
VIP |
Cruel World complete lineup
Curious who the other acts on the nostalgia-heavy lineup are?
For a closer look, here are all the artists set to take the Cruel World stage in May 2025.
’80s stars on tour in 2024-25
Many acts that broke big in the early days of MTV are striking out yet again this year and next.
Here are eight (!) you won’t want to miss live.
• Sting
• Daryl Hall with Howard Jones
Who else is on the road? Take a look at our list of the 50 biggest concert tours of 2024 to find the show for you.
Why you should trust ‘Post Wanted’ by the New York Post
This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change.