A second edition of the festival took place on May 20, 2023, featuring Siouxsie and Iggy Pop as headliners with a run of 20 other artists including Billy Idol, the Human League, Love and Rockets and Echo & the Bunnymen.

On February 11, 2020, Goldenvoice announced the inaugural Cruel World Festival set to take place on May 2 at the Dignity Health Sports Park grounds in Carson, California, outside of Los Angeles.

[2] In June 2021, Goldenvoice announced that the inaugural festival would finally take place on May 14, 2022, with minor lineup alterations and a new site at the Brookside Golf Course at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

[5] Los Angeles Times wrote: "Cruel World time-travels back to that moment when synthesizers were supplanting guitars and rebel teens born into baby boomer hegemony were hungrily seeking new sounds, ideas and hairdos".

[6] Siouxsie and Iggy Pop were announced as headliners, joined by Billy Idol, the Human League, Love and Rockets, Echo & the Bunnymen, Gary Numan, Gang of Four and many others.

Other artists in the lineup will include Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Garbage, the Go-Go's, Death Cult, 'Til Tuesday, Madness, Buzzcocks, She Wants Revenge and Alison Moyet, as well as a returning slot for Devo.