John Summit's flagship festival lands back at Randall's Island this September after a sold-out debut drew fans from more than 60 countries, a reflection of the growing pull of artist-led festivals.
Experts Only is John Summit's creative world, a record label and festival both curated personally to pull fans deeper into the sound he's shaping. Heading into its second year in New York City this fall, Experts Only Festival reflects a broader shift in live music: artists building festivals around their own taste, and fans investing in the full experience, beyond admission tickets.
Experts Only 2025: Drawing A Global Audience
Last September, over 50,000 fans poured onto Randall's Island over two days for the inaugural edition. Three stages spread across the open green, the NYC skyline cutting the horizon, back-to-back sets from Green Velvet and Layton Giordani on Saturday and Kaskade and Cassian on Sunday, with Summit closing both nights.
Produced in partnership with Medium Rare, Relentless Beats, and EMW, it was NYC's largest dance music festival of 2025, and the first major one to land on Randall's Island since Electric Zoo's 2023 exit.
More telling than any single moment was where the audience came from. Fans bought tickets from more than 60 countries across six continents, with buyers in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Australia joining crowds from across the U.S. For a first-year festival built around one artist's vision, that reach shows the appetite for Summit's curation isn't just a local or regional story.
Within Tixr, the Experts Only team offered VIP upgrades, ferry passes, hotel packages, and merch alongside ticketing in one flow, so fans could shape the weekend that fit them. Fans leaned in, with more than a quarter of 2025 revenue coming from experiences beyond admission tickets.
The Rise of Artist-Led Festivals
Experts Only sits inside a broader shift in live music. More artists are building their own festivals from the ground up, curating the lineup, shaping the identity, and designing the weekend around a specific creative vision rather than headlining a bill built by someone else.
Also powered by Tixr, GRiZ's Valley of the Seven Stars is another example of this model working. The three-day "cosmic campout" in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains sold out its debut last year and returns this October with a bass-forward lineup GRiZ curated personally, including three of his own sets.
Fans respond to this model because the lineup reflects a real point of view. Instead of a generic bill, they're stepping into a world built by an artist they trust, alongside a community of people who trust the same taste. It turns a festival into something closer to a statement, one fans are willing to travel across the country, and across the world, to be part of.
Experts Only 2026: Returning Bigger & Bolder
Phase one of the 2026 lineup shows where the festival is headed. GRiZ, Subtronics, Prospa, LYNY, Korolova, Devault, and more will join John Summit across the weekend, with additional names still to come. The bill widens the musical tent beyond the house-heavy first year, pulling bass music squarely into the Experts Only world without losing the core identity.
Even more fans are traveling in from outside the NYC metro than last year, a sign that Summit's world is pulling further than before. Artist presales have been central to how that demand has built, giving the fans closest to him the first shot at tickets.
Year two is already a clear signal of what artist-led festivals can become when the vision stays intact and the world around it keeps expanding.
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