Overview Cruel World is Goldenvoice's one-day festival of post-punk, new wave and goth on the golf course at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, the bill where Tones on Tail played their first set in 40 years and 'Til Tuesday their first show in 33. Morrissey, Duran Duran, New Order and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have all headlined. The three stages are called Outsiders, Sad Girls and Lost Boys, and Club Doom runs DJs between them. On site Doors open at 11:30 in the morning and curfew is 11 at night. Gates are all ages, the Clubhouse admits 21 and over, and there is no re-entry. The ground is grass with no assigned seating, so people spread blankets and towels well back from the stages, and picnic tables are scattered across the site. A checkerboard dance floor is laid under stretched black shade sails with a bar at its edge. Record Safari brings an air-conditioned tent of new and used vinyl and holds what people buy until the end of the night. The site is cashless. Behind the main stage the San Gabriel foothills go gold at sunset. Audience The festival's own allowed-items list names Doc Martens, fishnets, black eyeliner and parasols. Umbrellas are what gets turned away at the gate. Ages run wide, and children five and under come in free with an adult. Most of the crowd wears black through a full afternoon of Southern California sun. Talent and Influencers Morrissey, Bauhaus and Blondie headlined the first edition in 2022. In 2023 Siouxsie played her first United States show in 15 years, on a bill with Iggy Pop. Duran Duran headlined in 2024, the year Ministry went back to With Sympathy and Twitch. New Order and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds closed 2025, on a bill that also carried a one-off Death Cult set from Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy. Track record Goldenvoice announced the festival in 2020 for a site in Carson, postponed it, canceled it, and opened at Brookside in 2022. That first edition sold out and a second day was added on the same lineup. In 2023 the Pasadena Fire Department cleared the venue mid-set over lightning, and Siouxsie, Iggy Pop and Gary Numan came back the next day to play. Brand presence Ten partners appeared on the partner page for the 2025 edition. A partner takes a footprint in the general-admission field, carries its mark on the site map, the festival app and the website, and may use Cruel World's own marks in its marketing. The festival shoots the day and hands back a recap with photography and video.