A New Music Festival is Set to Hit Pioneer Square in Seattle

There's a new music festival coming to the Seattle area. It'll be centered in Pioneer Square, and it will happen the weekend after Halloween. (November 5,6,7,8) The festival is called Baba Obscura and it's being spearheaded by the owner of the Pioneer Square club, Baba Yaga, and Phil Pirrone of A Static Lullaby. 

screen shot / Baba Obscura 2026 — Seattle Music Festival · Nov 5–8

What is Baba Yaga? 

They refer to themselves as Seattle's Morning, Noon and Night Rock'n'roll Clubhouse. Musician Ryan Granger is the owner operator and he has a vision. Great live music and a great kitchen, and now possibly a great music festival. 

According to seattletimes.com,
‘Dubbed Baba Obscura, the new four-day fest (Nov. 5-8) will be a multiclub affair, filling six stages with (but not limited to) garage, psychedelic and punk rock bands like Texas psych lords The Black Angels, Bay Area post-punks Provoker, Nigerian desert blues guitarist Mdou Moctar (solo), influential garage punks The Gories, and Sub Pop punks Downtown Boys.’ 

Most of the festival will take place on two different stages one at the Baba Yaga and another one at The Axis event space. Add to that, the Central Saloon, and for an extra charge you can go see the Black Angels at the Showbox. 

I've attended several shows in Pioneer Square over the years, both jazz and blues and I always felt that the Pioneer Square area was a great place to have an event like this. The downside, of course, is that it can sometimes be a very rough area, especially late at night. Pioneer Square restaurant and club owners are trying to get away from that image. 

Why November? 

The dates for Baba Obscura coincide with another festival that was recently canceled, the Freakout Festival in Ballard. The vision is for the Baba Obscura festival to eventually migrate to a late summer weekend to allow for both indoor and outdoor venues. An opportunity for bands that are too big to play inside the smaller Pioneer Square clubs. 

Garage rock, psychedelic rock, punk rock, and more. 

You may want to plan a trip to Seattle for Baba Obscura.