One of Southern California’s most revered holiday traditions is set to make yet another return with the 2018 announcement of KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas’s lineup. There are plenty of big names, including The Smashing Pumpkins, Florence + The Machine, Chvrches, Death Cab for Cutie, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Bastille, Third Eye Blind, Greta Van Fleet, Mike Shinoda, Billie Eilish, Bad Religion, The Interrupters, Young The Giant, AFI, AJR, Badflower, Mike Posner and Lovleytheband. 2018 marks the 28th year in existence for this Southland instution.

The show will take place on December 8 and 9 in Inglewood, CA at the world-famous Forum. Proceeds from the show will be donated to Para Los Niños, and the Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center. Both of these programs have a goal of helping young people.

Most of the bands on the lineup have had a busy year in 2018. Headliners The Smashing Pumpkins made the biggest waves of all. The band reunited with most of its classic era lineup, minus D’Arcy Wretzky, with not just a tour with that lineup but a full LP of new material. James Iha even focused his efforts on all things Pumpkins, sitting out a tour with A Perfect Circle to reunite with his alt-rock legend bandmates. They then announced a new LP for a November 2018 release, which cancels out the pair of EPs they originally had planned.

Meanwhile, plenty of bands on the bill released new albums in 2018. Florence + The Machine released their newest album, High As Hope, as well as headlining several festivals this summer. Chvrches and Death Cab For Cutie, two indie rock crossovers, also released their latest albums in 2018. Meanwhile, Third Eye Blind made a slight comeback with a well-received cover album and Mike Shinoda struck it alone as a solo artist following the tragic and clearly affecting death of his Linkin Park bandmate Chester Bennington.

Greta Van Fleet are having their breakout moment this year, with the release of their debut LP coming this month. Billie Eilish has had an equally breakout 2018, while Young The Giant keep on keeping on with a new LP, and AFI announcing a new EP earlier this month.

Photo Credit: Alyssa Fried