Ballard music fans who spent every November at the Freakout Festival have a new destination this fall.

Baba Obscura, a four-day, six-stage festival organized by Baba Yaga owner Ryan Granger and Desert Daze's Phil Pirrone, takes over Pioneer Square Nov. 5–8 with a garage, psych and punk lineup that echoes what Freakout built over years in Ballard.

Tickets start at $150 and are on sale at babaobscura.com.

The timing is no accident. Freakout organizers announced in May they were shifting to year-round shows and would not hold a 2026 festival. Baba Obscura lands on the same November weekend Freakout long anchored. Granger is bandmates with Freakout co-founder Guy Keltner in the band Mala Suerte, which is also on the Baba Obscura bill.

"Knowing that Freakout wasn't going to be happening … leaves a gap in the market for bands or agents that typically would plan on coming through around that time," Granger told the Seattle Times. "So (we) kind of had to make a decision to hurry up and get going with it and establish it this year in the fall."

The confirmed lineup leans into the same territory Freakout fans know: Texas psych lords The Black Angels, Nigerian desert blues guitarist Mdou Moctar (solo), influential garage punks The Gories, Bay Area post-punks Provoker and Sub Pop's Downtown Boys. Pacific Northwest acts fill out the bill, including Portland's Rose City Band, Vancouver's Black Mountain (playing as a duo) and Seattle bands Dark Chisme, Zookraught and Naked Giants.

Granger, a veteran Seattle rocker who opened the musician-owned Baba Yaga in Pioneer Square in 2024, partnered with Pirrone after mutual friends connected them. Pirrone ran Desert Daze outside Los Angeles until it went dormant after its 2022 edition. The Desert Daze name carried weight with national acts during booking.

The bulk of the festival takes place across twin stages at Baba Yaga and the Axis event space, plus the Central Saloon. The Black Angels' Showbox date, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album "Passover," is included but requires an additional ticket charge.

Stage curators include Sonic Guild, KEXP DJ Albina Cabrera and Skyler Locatelli of Freakout. Granger plans to shift the festival to a late-summer weekend in future years and add an outdoor stage for larger acts.