Electronic DJ and producer Barry Can’t Swim will headline this year’s Frost Arts and Music Festival, the Stanford Concert Network (SCN) announced Thursday. Better known as Frost Fest, SCN’s annual show will return to Frost Amphitheater on April 11.
Barry Can’t Swim, known as Joshua Mainnie offstage, has quickly risen to be a highly sought after artist in electronic music. Known for blending jazz influences and house rhythms, his work has earned critical acclaim and drawn large crowds across major festivals in 2025, including Coachella and HARD Summer. His 2023 debut album, “When Will We Land?”, helped solidify his rise, positioning him as a defining voice in the current wave of electronic and dance music.
Joining him as the opener of Frost Fest will be pop duo Frost Children, while the genre-bending indie-pop duo Between Friends will offer direct support.
According to SCN leadership, the triad was selected intentionally to reflect student listening habits while expanding the festival’s appeal to the student body.
“We polled a lot of people at the beginning of the year,” said Natalie Shtangrud ’26, one of the SCN directors. “We looked at Instagram polls, talked to our friends and analyzed what artists students were actually going to see. We also paid attention to what performed well at Frost last year, and there was a clear trend of students really enjoying DJs and house music.”
Planning for Frost Fest began as early as last summer, with artist selection taking shape by September. SCN organizers compiled data on student preferences, attendance trends and live music demand before narrowing down a list of potential performers.
“When it came down to it, we wanted to pick an artist we thought a lot of students would genuinely enjoy,” Shtangrud said. “At the same time, it was important that Frost felt like there was something for everyone. Bringing in Between Friends helps attract a different crowd and genre, which makes the overall experience more exciting.”
Advisor and former SCN director Johan Sotelo ’25 shared his excitement about this “genre shift” from previous years’ emphasis on pop and hip-hop music. “Electric and dance music does super well at Frost, and this will really be a show people can look forward to and dance at as the community kicks off Spring quarter,” Sotelo wrote to The Daily.
The 2026 lineup follows a landmark year for the festival. In 2025, SCN brought Doechii to Frost Amphitheater, marking the first sold-out Frost Fest in Stanford history. Austin Konig ’26, another SCN director, said that last year’s success helped “inform both the scale and ambition” of this year’s booking decisions.
Continuing the tradition of student involvement at Frost Fest, a Stanford student DJ will open the show. The DJ will be announced at a later date.
“We still wanted students to be a part of opening Frost,” Shtangrud continued. Selecting the DJ at a later date “felt like the most logistically feasible way to keep that tradition alive while working within our timeline,” she said.
Like last year, Frost Fest 2026 will be a closed show, meaning tickets are limited to Stanford students and affiliates. This year, however, each Stanford student will be able to purchase up to three additional guest tickets, an increase from last year’s two. Tickets will be available through the Frost website, with general sales starting on Friday, Feb. 20, at 10 a.m.