NEVERMORE, THE GATHERING, CONCEPTION, HAMMERFALL, CRIMSON GLORY Among Confirmed Bands For ProgPower USA 2026

ENSIFERUM, ELUVEITIE, CONCEPTION, EVERGREY, NEVERMORE, HAMMERFALL, CRIMSON GLORY and THE GATHERING (featuring Anneke Van Giersbergen) are among the confirmed artists for next year's ProgPower USA festival, set to take place September 9-12, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The full lineup for ProgPower USA XXV is as follows:

Wednesday, September 9, 2026 - Day 1

1. THE RETICENT (USA)
2. NOVERIA (Italy)
3. FABIO LIONE'S DAWN OF VICTORY (Italy)
4. THRESHOLD (UK)
5. ENSIFERUM (Finland)

Thursday, September 10, 2026 - Day 2

1. FIRES IN THE DISTANCE (USA)
2. SCARDUST (Italy)
3. TERAMAZE (Australia)
4. ELVENKING (Italy) (special set: "Heathenreel & The Winter Wake")
5. CONCEPTION (Norway)
6. ELUVEITIE (Switzerland)

Friday, September 11, 2026 - Day 3

1. DGM (Italy)
2. BRAINSTORM (Germany)
3. CRIMSON GLORY (USA)
4. HAMMERFALL (Sweden)
5. NEVERMORE (USA)
6. EVERGREY (Sweden)

Saturday, September 12, 2026 - Day 4

1. SUNBURST (UK)
2. SEVEN SPIRES (USA)
3. Roy Khan (Norway)
4. REDEMPTION
5. THE GATHERING feat. Anneke Van Giersbergen (Netherlands)
6. VOYAGER (Australia)

The remaining tickets for days three and four will go on sale on Saturday, October 11, 2025 at 12 p.m. EST via Ticketmaster.
Ticket sale dates for days one and two have not yet been announced.

In a recent interview with The Progressive Subway, ProgPower USA festival co-promoter Milton Mendonça was asked about issues with artist visas caused by the current U.S. administration and their policies and how it has affected the festival. He said: "Visa issues are not anything new. As far back as 2010, the festival lost a bunch of bands due to visas. This year, there were some changes that affected the time that it takes for a visa to be processed at the [U.S. Customs and Immigration Services] office. Some changes were made that pulled people out of those offices, and it caused those processing times to become longer. Before you could have a visa applied for, processed, and approved within two to four months — sometimes a little more, sometimes as fast as a few weeks. Once that change happened in January, we had already applied for most of our visas [for 2025], and the time frame changed to up to 10 months. The only thing you can do in those cases is to pay an exorbitant extra fee to expedite the process. On top of that, there's been added scrutiny to the visa applications.

"I would love to say that it's not a political thing, but it sort of is, right?" he added. "No matter how much we try to plan for it: we started all of our visa petitions early this year, played by the rules, and still kind of got screwed in the end. And there were a bunch of bands that were not approved, simply because our government didn't think that they were relevant enough or worthy enough to get a visa. So, yeah, it's a mess. I don't know how else I can put it."

Asked if ProgPower USA has approached any bands from abroad who aren't interested in even trying to perform on U.S. soil right now given the current situation, Mendonça said: "More than ever, we've gotten answers like, 'I think we're going to wait a few years.' This year, we had to expedite every visa petition. And it's not looking like it's going to change anytime soon. The government's web site just says what the average estimated time is. That doesn't really mean anything. It costs about $8,000 to do an expedited visa, just to get them permission to enter the country, let alone all of the other expenses. So, a lot of bands are saying, you know what, it's just not worth it. And we're a 1,000-cap festival. We can only afford so much. So, I can understand when bands say, 'You know what? Unless we get paid double of what you're offering, we can't make it happen.' And it's not because we're trying to be cheap and lowball the bands; we pay very competitive rates. You know, it's the biggest market for metal bands in the world, and it's still one of the hardest for the bands to come and break in."

ProgPower USA began in 2001. The very first festival was February 23–24, 2001, in Lansing, Illinois, just outside Chicago, at J.J. Kelley's. The subsequent events have been held in Atlanta, at Center Stage Atlanta (formerly Earthlink Live).

ProgPower USA founder and promoter Glenn Harveston announced that the 2025 edition of the event — ProgPower XXV — will be his final year of the festival.

For more information, visit progpowerusa.com.