ZooTunes 2026 Schedule Includes Pavement, The Breeders, Belle & Sebastian, and More

This summer marks the 42nd year that Seattle‘s Woodland Park Zoo will hold its annual ZooTunes concert series. I believe that the first time I ever attended one of these shows was Bela Fleck and the Flecktones back in 2000. I snuck onto the premises, but, unlike most concerts I had attended up until that point, there was no crowd to blend into. Everybody was sitting down. An elderly woman with a walkie-talkie apprehended me easily. She was 5ft tall at best and escorted me out in an embarrassing fashion, while showing me off to her fellow staff members. She might as well have been dragging me out by my ear. Of course, I just walked back in, but there’s still something funny about the whole situation to me. Flash forward 25 years, and I was being escorted TOWARD the stage on the North Meadow before anyone else had been admitted. This time, I had a photo pass and a pair of comp tickets for the second night of two sold-out WILCO shows.

My relationship with ZooTunes has always been a little conflicted. The Wilco show was great, but we were also on the rail, and I got in for free. The moment the gates were open to the public, we were surrounded by a wave of rabid concertgoers throwing down blankets all around us and staking their claims. There are regularly swarms of high-backed Tommy Bahama chairs, and, depending on the show, people are more than happy to pop them up right in front of you with no regard. On the flip side, that same crowd is liable to complain at others for “blocking” THEIR view by dancing or standing for a show. A lot of this seems to vary depending on who’s performing, though. We’ve seen some really tremendous shows there.

Over the years, we’ve caught such names as Leo Kottke, John Prine, and Seu Jorge performing his David Bowie covers from Life Aquatic while decked out in full Team Zissou attire. I almost cried at the Mountain Goats show. I fully cried from the side of the stage, while witnessing Built To Spill play There’s Nothing Wrong With Love in its entirety. Your vantage point can definitely play a role in your experience, as can the ticket price, but one thing that is difficult to refute is that the lineup has been getting increasingly more impressive in recent years. The announcement that was just released for this summer is no exception.

Returning names like Mountain Goats and Built To Spill are featured, but so are impressive ’90s indie rock pulls like Pavement, The Breeders, and Belle & Sebastian, who will be celebrating the 30th anniversary by performing their If You’re Feeling Sinister album with Quasi opening the show.

Tickets go on sale Friday, February 27th, at 10 am PST. Ticket prices have gotten a bit steep for some of these, but expect some of these to sell out. We recommend looking into whether you can find any artist presales and/or checking places like Reddit for the inside scoop on a presale code. BECU cardholders have had presale access as well, in the past.

GOOD LUCK! See you in the North meadow.