Following its massively successful, sold-out 2025 debut on Randall’s Island, John Summit’s Experts Only Festival will officially return to New York City on September 19–20, 2026. Produced in partnership with Medium Rare, Relentless Beats, and EMW, the festival is poised once again to deliver one of the largest dance music events in the city, bringing together global talent, elevated production, and the unmistakable, high-energy Experts Only community.
To reward returning fans, 2025 attendees will receive exclusive first access to 2026 tickets through the Festival Loyalty Presale, beginning Tuesday, November 25 at 12pm EDT / 9am PDT. These loyalty tickets will be extremely limited and offered at the lowest pricing tier, giving past attendees a significant head start before the wider public on-sale.
The announcement arrives on the heels of an extraordinary inaugural year for Experts Only Festival. In 2025, the two-day, sold-out event drew more than 50,000 fans and earned widespread acclaim from major outlets including Rolling Stone, Forbes, the New York Post, and Dancing Astronaut. Coverage praised the festival’s impact on New York’s music landscape with headlines such as “Is John Summit bringing music festivals back to NY? In short, yes—100 times yes,” “John Summit’s Experts Only Fest Is Huge Success in New York,” and “Fans flock to Randall’s Island for John Summit’s inaugural Experts Only music festival.”
The debut edition showcased two headlining sets from John Summit, alongside performances from Kaskade B2B Cassian, Green Velvet B2B Layton Giordani, LP Giobbi, Kasablanca, DJ Seinfeld, Pete Tong, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (TEED), and more. Building on that momentum, the 2026 event will expand its footprint, elevate its production scale, and continue to grow the dedicated Experts Only community.
Additional details—including the full 2026 lineup—will be announced in the coming months.