Noise Pop drops full lineup for the 2025 festival — and it’s impressive

The Bay Area’s biggest celebration of independent music, Noise Pop Festival, just announced the third and final phase of its lineup — and the roster includes considerably bigger names than in recent years. 

For starters, Noise Pop — with performances at numerous venues from Feb. 20 through March 2 — will have three headliners instead of the usual two. And they’re impressive gets: The guitar-wielding and ever-stylish art rocker St. Vincent, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service, and quasi-uncategorizable West Coast hip-hop wizard Earl Sweatshirt top the bill. 

Sweatshirt has back-to-back shows Feb. 25-26 at Great American Music Hall. Gibbard and St. Vincent’s Annie Clark will perform at Grace Cathedral, the Gothic house of worship atop Nob Hill that has been home to visually stunning programming in recent years. 

Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m., available on a per-event basis or with GA or “SuperFan” badges priced at $235 to $455.

Filling out the next tier of acts is a mélange of names representing the best of indie rock’s early-aughts heyday, such as the American Analog Set and Mercury Rev, alongside summer festival mainstays like Soccer Mommy and SOSA. Perhaps the most unexpected name on the list is Cymande (“si-MON-day”), a British funk group first active in the early 1970s.

Founded in 1993, Noise Pop has always been a local promoter, and the festival has deepened its ties to musical communities that lie far outside any definition of indie rock — most notably, via a partnership with SF JAZZ. But the Bay Area’s scene is as well represented as ever, from hometown darling Geographer to Oakland’s Grammy-winning Fantastic Negrito, whose performance at 4 Star Theatre will be accompanied by a screening of his film “White Jesus Black Problems.”

Red Room Orchestra, a sprawling collective that took its name from a dream location in David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks,” is a SketchFest staple, and this year’s tribute to the late director is bound to be a huge sell. Organizers are presenting it as a fundraiser for “Twin Peaks” cast member Carel Struyken, who played the Giant on the show and lost his Los Angeles home to wildfire.