Midnight Riders: A Southwest Goodbye to Summer at Goldrush Music Festival
Say A Proper Goodbye to Summer w/ Alesso, deadmau5, GRiZ, and Martin Garrix on September 11-12, 2026 At Goldrush: Midnight Riders, the latest edition of one of the Southwest’s largest EDM festivals.
Presented by Relentless Beats, the two-night event brings together more than fifty artists across three stages, set against the backdrop of a built 1880s Western town roughly twenty minutes outside Phoenix At Rawhide Western Town & Event Center in Chandler, Arizona
Rawhide Western Town has served as Goldrush’s original home, and the venue itself is central to the festival’s identity. Saloon facades, jail cells, and dusty side streets give the grounds a character distinct from a standard AZ festival.
The 2026 lineup is super stacked and will undeniably bring the ravers home. Three stages will be spread across the property this year, hosting a lineup that spans house, bass, techno, dubstep, and festival EDM.
Four headliners are set to lead the weekend: Alesso, deadmau5, GRiZ, and Martin Garrix
They are joined by more than thirty artists with some of the best known names in EDM including Green Velvet, Sullivan King, Boogie T, AC Slater, Valentino Khan, Ray Volpe, Deathpact, it’s murph, DJ Pauly D, Kaivon, and Alleycvt, along with a number of rising regional acts.
Beyond the stages Goldrush has some fun side-quests built into the town.
The Dr. Dabber Post Office allows attendees to write and mail a note to a friend, family member, or their future self, to be delivered after the festival ends. Weird & Wonderful brings roaming performers and costumed characters through the grounds throughout the night rather than confining them to a single stage. Find your way to The Hideout for a hidden house stage.
The Geek Silent Disco at Mission Patio has run multiple simultaneous channels in past years, including a country-themed “sounds of the west” channel, allowing attendees to switch between genres via headphones. Red Bull’s Dusty Disco has become one of the festival’s most talked-about additions, a neon-lit space tucked away from the main stages that runs house and disco sets late into the night and has hosted surprise guest appearances in past editions, along with occasional extras such as free hat-decorating stations.
If you’re getting sweaty during these quests, head to Mission to Uranus with DUDE Wipes and get ready for a “trip like nowhere else on the frontier.” Not sure where the trip is going to take us, but curious to find out.
Relentless Beats is known in Arizona for its DJ Competitions and Giveaways. You could win tickets, backstage passes, private meet-and-greets, and an opportunity to get up on the stage and throw down for the full crowd. Follow the Relentless Beats Instagram and don’t miss your chance to be a winner!
Here’s me with San Pacho when I won Meet-and-Greet tickets in 2024!
The festival runs Friday, September 11 through Saturday, September 12, 2026, with gates opening at 6:00 PM and closing at 2:00 AM.
Want to know what it’s really like to be at Goldrush? Here’s a firsthand account of the full 2025 weekend at Goldrush!
Ticket options vary from two-day general admission tickets, GA+ offering express entry, and Weekend VIP and Platinum tiers providing access to exclusive viewing areas.
The event takes place at Rawhide Western Town & Event Center, 5700 W North Loop Rd, Chandler, AZ, approximately twenty minutes from Phoenix, and is restricted to guests 18 and older with valid ID.
Buy tickets and tables, plus find more options and information on their website here.