Escapade Festival (Ottawa, ON, Canada) 2026

About

On a warm June weekend in 2026, the green lawns near Ottawa will pulse with bass as Escapade Festival returns from June 26 to June 28, reclaiming its status as Canada’s marquee electronic music gathering. It’s a music festival with a storied history — this is the 16th edition — and it promises to expand on the momentum built in 2025, when the event relocated to the RA Centre Grounds to accommodate its growing ambitions. Last year’s roster included headline names like Kygo, The Chainsmokers, Disclosure, Excision, Kaskade and RL Grime, as well as stage takeovers by Anjunabeats (celebrating its 25th anniversary) and Cyclops Recordings, delivering everything from melodic house to bass-heavy madness.

The new venue sets the stage for grander possibilities: the Great Lawn Stage is being reimagined with more room to dance, while the House Party Stage shifts to an open-air layout, and a “Megastructure” stage is in development to serve as a fully immersive audiovisual hub. Expect interactive art, larger chill zones, and upgraded infrastructure to match the sonic scale. Festival-village elements expand: food trucks, pop-up activations and an atmosphere geared toward exploration as much as performance.

Attendees should be ready for long days and longer nights. Doors usually open mid-afternoon, and sets flow deep into the night with a mix of international headliners, local heroes and themed sets that break genre constraints. VIP and general admission options give flexibility in vantage and perks, and shuttles, local transport options and nearby lodging make access manageable.

The appeal of Escapade lies not just in its lineup but in its identity as an evolving festival — one that celebrates electronic music’s full spectrum, from dancefloor anthems to underground movements, while pushing production design and site experience forward each year. In 2026, the promise is of a richer, more ambitious edition — more lights, more space, more discovery — all wrapped around that shared feeling of community and euphoria that draws crowd after crowd to Ottawa each summer.