Sleep returns to New York with a new lineup, Nov. 16 at Irving Plaza

Eight years after its last city date in our records, the stoner-doom institution comes back with Al Cisneros, Dale Crover and Bubba Dupree.

The last time Sleep played New York in our records was July 27, 2018, at Brooklyn Steel. A lot has changed since then, including half the band.

Sleep plays Irving Plaza on Monday, Nov. 16, with the show starting at 7 p.m. Tickets run $54–$139.25 through Ticketmaster. The date was announced Oct. 20, and it lands at the very end of the band's North American tour: Philadelphia's Theatre of Living Arts is the night before and Washington's Lincoln Theatre the night after, per Loudwire. Irving Plaza holds about 1,200 people, small for a band with this kind of reputation.

The big story is who's on stage. Guitarist Matt Pike is out. The 2026 Sleep is co-founding singer and bassist Al Cisneros, Melvins drummer Dale Crover, and Void guitarist Bubba Dupree, as Ultimate Classic Rock and Knotfest reported when the tour was announced. For a band whose sound has always rested on Cisneros's bass and a wall of riffs, swapping in two players from other corners of heavy music is a real change, not a cosmetic one.

Matt Pike is out; Dale Crover and Bubba Dupree are in.

The lineup didn't arrive empty-handed. Sleep paired the tour announcement with its first new song in eight years, per Knotfest and Metal Gigs. That gap lines up almost exactly with the band's absence from New York stages, so Monday is the first real chance for local fans to hear both the new song and the new people in the same room.

The tour itself is a long one: roughly 30 shows from Sept. 8 to Nov. 17, split into a September leg and a November leg, according to Ultimate Classic Rock and Levitation. By the time Sleep reaches Irving Plaza, this version of the band will have had two months of shows to settle in. That matters with a lineup this new. The first shows of a reunion or a reshuffle can be tentative; the late ones usually aren't.

A few practical notes. A 7 p.m. start on a Monday makes this an early night by New York standards, so if you're coming from work, don't linger over dinner. The price range is wide, so check what each tier actually includes before you buy, and stick to the Ticketmaster link above rather than resale. Bring earplugs. It's Sleep.

For a lot of heavy-music fans in this city, Sleep's catalog is close to scripture, and any lineup change is going to be argued about. The best way to settle the argument is in the room. Monday night, a block off Union Square, the new Sleep gets its New York hearing.

Sources: Sleep 2026 tour dates — Loudwire (loudwire.com); Sleep 2026 tour dates — Ultimate Classic Rock (ultimateclassicrock.com); Sleep Debut New Line-Up, North American Tour Dates and First New Song In Eight Years — Knotfest (knotfest.com); SLEEP Return With First New Music In Eight Years And Massive North American Tour — Metal Gigs (metalgigs.us); Sleep 2026 tour, new lineup — Levitation (levitation.fm); Irving Plaza — Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)