Jagged Little Pill at festival scale — the '90s' most cathartic songbook, still sung full-throated by everyone in the field.
Riot Fest 2026 Lineup
Chicago's punk-rock family reunion, 21 years in: legends, reunions, and carnival rides in Douglass Park.
Find the acts you'll love at Riot Fest
Name a few bands you love and we'll scout all 106 acts on the Riot Fest bill for the ones you shouldn't miss.
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Set times are out for Riot Fest 2026. Save any act and it lands on your day-by-day plan, with overlapping sets flagged so you can see what you would miss. No account needed to start.
About Riot Fest 2026
Riot Fest is Chicago's punk-rock family reunion, 21 years in: three September days in Douglass Park where legends, reunions, full-album sets, and carnival rides coexist like it's the most natural thing in the world. The 2026 bill is peak Riot Fest chaos theory: Tool's lasers and Morrissey's melancholy on the same weekend as Twenty One Pilots, Alanis Morissette, and Pierce The Veil, with an undercard that runs from Iggy Pop and Patti Smith to GWAR's fake blood and Insane Clown Posse's Faygo showers. Nowhere else does a lineup treat punk history (and punk absurdity) with this much affection.
Expect punk, emo, rock and pop-punk across 106 acts.
Riot Fest 2026 lineup & schedule: all 106 acts
Search it, filter by day, stage or genre. Save anything straight to your schedule.Browse all 106 acts →
Search it, filter by day, stage or genre. Save anything straight to your schedule.
The Smiths' voice, complicated as ever — when he shows, nothing else sounds like it, and the songbook remains untouchable.
San Diego post-hardcore romantics enjoying a massive TikTok-era second act — the scene's most swooned-over comeback.
Prog-metal's cathedral builders — polyrhythms, lasers, and total audience surrender, Danny Carey's drumming alone worth the pilgrimage.
Genre-agnostic arena duo — rap, ukulele, and existential dread with a devoted Clique, lore deep enough for a wiki.
Chicago's heart-skull institution — graveyard romance in three chords, with Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano trading morbid valentines across two-plus decades of dark pop-punk.
Forty-plus years of polysyllabic melodic punk — three-part harmonies over an unwavering political line, still the genre's reigning intellectuals.
Conor Oberst's trembling opus — the confessional songbook of a generation, from basement-tape quiver to orchestral sprawl and back.
Milo goes to Riot Fest — the caffeinated blueprint for all pop-punk, still fast, still nerdy, still out-hooking the generations they invented.
The angry young man of '77, now the canon itself — pump it up one more time, with a songbook that runs from spite to Bacharach.
The godfather, shirtless as ever — punk exists because of this man, and the Stooges songbook still hits like a dare.
The Faygo flies at sundown — whoop whoop, and genuinely one of music's strangest, most loyal communities gathered in one place.
Illmatic. That's it, that's the blurb — QB's finest in career-renaissance form, with a late-era run most rappers would kill for as a peak.
Punk's poet laureate — 'Horses' remains a sacrament, and every performance still reads as testimony, rock's great living poet at work.
Loud-quiet-loud's inventors — the band your favorite band ripped off, with 'Debaser' through 'Where Is My Mind?' still setting the terms.
Chicago's melodic-hardcore conscience — two decades of fists-up anthems delivered with undimmed conviction, 'Savior' still closing rooms.
Genre-collapsing alt-pop pioneer — 'L.E.S. Artistes' to now, always ahead, new wave and dancehall in one voice.
The original scandal, touring with Frank Carter up front — anarchy, museum edition, still louder than you, and Frank makes it feral again.
Mike Ness's Orange County punk band, forty years deep in rockabilly-tinged songs about bad decisions — tattooed survival as an art form.
Bob Mould's post-Hüsker Dü trio — melodies buried under an absolutely enormous wall of guitar, 'Copper Blue' still ringing.
Long Island emo royalty — mic-swinging catharsis, twenty-plus years deep, 'MakeDamnSure' still a communal throat-shred, and yes, the mic still swings.
'Gives You Hell' and a wildly fun second act — the internet's favorite reunion, with Tyson Ritter in full chaos-uncle mode.
Nate Ruess before fun. — horn-flecked, sincere power-pop that reunion crowds have waited fifteen years to hear, and sing accordingly.
DONTTRUSTME and the rest of the MySpace-era catalog, played fully self-aware — neon electro-rap chaos that has aged into a gleeful, shout-along riot live.
Because he got high — the one-song folk hero whose loose, self-deprecating stoner-rap turned a novelty smash into a quarter-century touring career.
Aim High
Beloved and long-dormant Philly emo pioneers back from reunion — noodly twinkling guitars, yelped vocals, and pure basement-show joy that a whole generation of Midwest-emo revivalists learned from.
Almost There But Not Really
Masked Saguenay duo who loop double-necked microtonal guitar into hypnotic, odd-metred math rock — 2026's strangest breakout story.
Ontario emo revival with a knack for the exact line that lands hardest — huge choruses, harder feelings, and a scene-beloved catalog that punches far above its weight.
ASAVA
Queens punk with a morbid streak and lead guitar lines that owe more to metal than emo — craftsmanship that turned a scene band into a twenty-year institution.
Fifth-wave emo at its most frantic — tapped riffs and throat-shredding payoffs in equal measure, from a band that treats catharsis as a competitive sport.
Texas pop-punk comedians with better songwriting chops than the joke suggests — twenty-five years of hooks hiding under the punchlines.
Riot grrrl founders, reunited — 'Pottymouth' still snarls, and the sarcastic, minimal punk that helped launch a movement remains gleefully intact.
Gaslight Anthem's voice in troubadour mode — Jersey heart, whiskey throat, and heartland songcraft that trades the amps for storytelling without losing the ache.
J. Robbins's angular post-hardcore, reunited — Dischord DNA all over it, wiry riffs and odd meters from one of the DC scene's sharpest writers.
Cork's melodica-toting indie romantics — Fontaines-adjacent and rising fast, with a windswept, literary streak all their own.
Atlanta pop-punk lifers — 'Chroma' still hits like 2005, a front-to-back scene classic that never needed a follow-up to justify the devotion.
Oklahoma's nightmare-noise auteurs — grinding, harrowing songs about American rot, critically adored precisely because they refuse any comfort.
Theater-kid pop-punk menace — self-branded 'bubble-grunge' with a wink, Brooklyn duo energy engineered for glitter and mosh in equal parts.
SF punk with gravel and melody — Fat Wreck-lineage songwriting that pairs busted-romantic lyrics with East Bay drive.
Gothic pop with metallic edges — theatrical dark-pop vocals over production that keeps one boot in the metal scene.
Sacramento punk fury, sharpened into one of the scene's best live bands — snarling hooks and pit control well beyond their years.
Mexican emo-rock pioneers — border-town anthems for a generation that learned to scream along in Spanish first.
Vein.fm side project gone huge — grunge-gaze heaviness for the new generation, Deftones worship refracted through hardcore muscle.
Cincinnati glam maniacs — Freddie Mercury theatrics with backflips, piano-stomping rock 'n' roll played like a dare.
LA psych-punk perpetual motion machine — relentless krautrock grooves and fuzz freakouts that never let the tempo sag.
Gauzy new-school shoegaze riding the revival's crest — Phoenix pedals-and-whisper bliss aimed at the genre's dreamiest register.
Immigrant-punk cabaret — accordion, fiddle, and total mayhem, Eugene Hütz conducting the tent like a ringmaster on his third espresso.
Santa Cruz melodic hardcore — Fat Wreck loyalty since '95, political fire delivered at skate-video velocity.
Flint doom-gaze — crushing sadness, gorgeous guitars, and slowcore patience that makes the loud parts land like verdicts.
Dublin's next post-punk export — snarling and kinetic, riding the same wave that carried Fontaines out of the city.
Snotty SoCal punk provocation, decades deep — deliberately tasteless, weirdly tuneful, and proud of every complaint letter.
Intergalactic latex monsters spraying fake blood on the front rows since 1984 — thrash chops under the costumes. Wear a poncho.
Newer West Coast hardcore working the same fast, mean seam as its Bay Area peers — no-frills aggression built for short, violent sets.
Welsh post-hardcore romantics — soaring, heart-first heaviness, every chorus written to be wept through, Cardiff sincerity at full wingspan.
Early-2000s emo cult favorites, back on the boards — Vagrant-era warmth for everyone who kept the CDs.
'90s emo cult favorites, reunited for the faithful — bittersweet boy-girl vocals from the genre's tender first wave.
Self-made silk — Detroit R&B auteur with a devoted following, self-released and sounding more expensive than most majors.
Beastie Boys energy for the TikTok era — relentless, giddy, all-caps fun, two friends rapping like the '80s never ended.
Wry Toronto jangle — Pavement's grandkids with better jokes, deadpan verses stuffed with sly detail, slacker charm with a novelist's eye.
Largemouth
Horns up — Gainesville ska-punk party engineers since '92, confetti cannons and crowd games as standard equipment.
Twinkly Long Island emo sweetness — soft-spoken hooks and math-lite guitars that hug rather than punch.
The Bronx's punk band in full mariachi regalia — a bit that became a genuinely accomplished second career, now several albums deep.
Tokyo's hyperspeed noise legends — 30 years of joyful sensory assault, laser-gun guitars and chirped vocals at impossible tempos.
Fifth-wave emo standard-bearers — twinkly riffs, food-pun titles, real feelings, and crowds that scream every self-deprecating word.
Moog-powered anxiety anthems — 'Commit This to Memory' remains scripture, and 'Everything Is Alright' remains a group confession.
NYHC party priests since '82 — Jimmy G leading hardcore's longest-running good time, circle pits with a smile since day one.
Montreal's swaggering party-punk force — riff-first, cowbell-friendly, and built to blow the roof off. One of the weekend's most kinetic sets.
Cardiff's funniest, fiercest punks — group-chat energy with riffs, in-jokes sharpened into anthems, the funniest serious band in Wales.
Hermosa Beach skate-punk institution — 'Bro Hymn' will level the park, as it has for thirty years.
Seattle art-punk cult heroes, reunited — jagged and beautiful, dance-punk urgency that a generation of bands studied.
John Lydon's second act — the band that invented post-punk's rulebook by burning the first one, still gleefully contrary.
Toronto's chaos-pop-punk stars — self-lacerating lyrics, unhinged energy, choruses built to be screamed back until throats give out. As big a name as this fest books.
Melbourne post-punks — wiry, literate, buzzing, in the great Australian art-school tradition, sharp songs delivered with nervous energy.
Scrappy Philly indie-punk with bite and heart — yelped hooks and basement-show devotion, scrappy precision honed over years of touring.
Rose of Demise
Michigan midwest-emo risers — 'always cloudy' and ascendant, twinkle-and-shout catharsis for the new wave, the next names in the scene's group chat.
New York hardcore built around a banjo run through a wall of distortion — genuinely unlike anything else, and heavier than it has any right to be.
Chicago's rawest-throated punk songwriter — a hometown hero slot for songs that turn anxiety into gang vocals.
The Ruler — rap's greatest storyteller, eyepatch and all, 'Children's Story' still the masterclass every MC studies.
Jazz-schooled grunge — sludgy riffs, sly writing, and solos that betray the conservatory training, with the guitar work doing the heavy lifting.
Philly's ferocious hardcore standard-bearers — blistering screamo velocity spliced with hip-hop and biting political fury, critical darlings for good reason.
Descendents and ALL's guitarist out front for once — solo records where punk's best-loved voices line up to sing his songs, downstrokes as precise as ever.
Stomach Book
Richmond melodic hardcore — raised fists and open hearts, protest-punk conviction that never aged into cynicism.
DC duo making a genuinely enormous racket for two people — fuzz, sludge, and swagger in the Death From Above tradition.
Auckland's harmony-stacked power-pop treasures — jazz-school chops, huge hearts, and 'Expert in a Dying Field' proof of mastery.
Atlanta mathcore chaos with a violin — brilliant, exhausting, unmissable, a band juggling chainsaws and mostly catching them.
Australian pub-punk perfection — smoko forever, mullets and minute-long anthems about life's essentials, the nation's finest short-song economists.
Toronto punks who grew out of ska into gravel-throated, big-hearted melodic punk. A modern Fest cornerstone with a knack for the last-song-of-the-night singalong.
Richmond punk with an activist heart and huge, communal choruses — new-ish but already a natural Fest fit, solidarity as setlist.
The Paradox
Detroit ska-core lifers — fast, political, joyful, and still the best argument that those three go together.
Nate Amos writing straightforwardly beautiful songs after years of deliberately difficult ones — Water From Your Eyes' other half, unmasked.
Post-hardcore's elder statesmen — heavy, literate, endlessly evolving, and never once coasting on the back catalog.
Trip-hop's shadow king — the whispered menace of 'Maxinquaye' live, Bristol paranoia thickened by three decades.
Chicago garage-rock loyalty — loose, warm, hometown-beloved, Grateful Dead ease at garage-band volume, the city's easiest hang.
VANA
Yes, Dave's daughter — and a genuinely arresting voice striking her own path, closer to torch song than stadium rock.
Whispers
Yes, that William Shatner — deadpan spoken-word delivery over a full rock band, and the 'Common People' bit keeps turning out weirdly moving.
Chicago bedroom alt-rock, growing fast — moody hooks with a DIY spine, a bedroom project outgrowing the bedroom.
Wry Leeds post-punk gone disco — talk-sung satire you can dance to, Britain narrated mid-groove, grooves with a permanent smirk.
The headliners
Twenty One Pilots — Genre-agnostic arena duo — rap, ukulele, and existential dread with a devoted Clique, lore deep enough for a wiki.
Tool — Prog-metal's cathedral builders — polyrhythms, lasers, and total audience surrender, Danny Carey's drumming alone worth the pilgrimage.
Morrissey — The Smiths' voice, complicated as ever — when he shows, nothing else sounds like it, and the songbook remains untouchable.
Pierce The Veil — San Diego post-hardcore romantics enjoying a massive TikTok-era second act — the scene's most swooned-over comeback.
Alanis Morissette — Jagged Little Pill at festival scale — the '90s' most cathartic songbook, still sung full-throated by everyone in the field.
Up-and-comers to catch early
Fleshwater — Vein.fm side project gone huge: grunge-gaze heaviness for the new generation.
Glixen — Gauzy new-school shoegaze riding the revival's crest.
Panic Shack — Cardiff's funniest, fiercest punks: group-chat energy with riffs.
Teen Mortgage — DC duo: surfy garage-punk with debt-generation bite.
Joey Valence & Brae — Beastie Boys energy for the TikTok era: relentless, giddy, all-caps fun.
Violet Grohl — Yes, Dave's daughter, and a genuinely arresting voice striking her own path.
Other acts worth planning around
Iggy Pop — The godfather, shirtless as ever: punk exists because of this man.
Patti Smith — Punk's poet laureate: Horses remains a sacrament.
Sex Pistols — The original scandal, touring with Frank Carter up front: anarchy, museum edition.
Sugar — Bob Mould's post-Hüsker power trio, reunited: Copper Blue front to back, if we're lucky.
The Format — Nate Ruess's beloved pre-fun. band, reunited: Dog Problems, live at last.
Bratmobile — Riot grrrl founders, reunited. Pottymouth still snarls.
GWAR — Intergalactic latex monsters spraying fake blood on the front rows since 1984. Wear a poncho.
Descendents — Playing 'Everything Sucks' front to back. Thirty years on, still faster than everyone.
The Suicide Machines — 'Destruction by Definition' in full: Detroit ska-core's 1996 opening shot, complete.
PUP — 'The Dream Is Over' front to back: the album that broke them, played like it's still at stake.Taking Back Sunday — 'Louder Now' in full: 'MakeDamnSure' guaranteed, mic swings included.
William Shatner & The *uckers — A late add and peak Riot Fest booking: Captain Kirk doing spoken-word rock covers on the Rebel Stage.
The lineup by day
Friday lineup (September 18)
Twenty One Pilots, Iggy Pop, Rise Against, Pixies, Alkaline Trio, The All-American Rejects + 31 more
Friday set times (37 sets)
- Cardinals · Riot Stage
- Glixen · Rebel Stage
- Almost There But Not Really · Radical Stage
- Teen Mortgage · Roots Stage
- Panic Shack · Rise Stage
- JMSN · Riot Stage
- División Minúscula · Rebel Stage
- Greet Death · Radical Stage
- Soul Glo · Rise Stage
- Fleshwater · Roots Stage
- Violet Grohl · Riot Stage
- Radio Free Alice · Rebel Stage
- Slothrust · Radical Stage
- Mariachi El Bronx · Rise Stage
- 3OH!3 · Roots Stage
- Tricky · Rebel Stage
- Worry Club · Radical Stage
- The Paradox · Riot Stage
- Bratmobile · Rise Stage
- Bayside · Roots Stage
- Stephen Egerton · Radical Stage
- Joey Valence & Brae · Riot Stage
- Guttermouth · Rise Stage
- Motion City Soundtrack · Rebel Stage
- Alkaline Trio · Roots Stage
- The Callous Daoboys · Radical Stage
- Slick Rick · Rise Stage
- Santigold · Rebel Stage
- DeathbyRomy · Radical Stage
- The All-American Rejects · Riot Stage
- Sex Pistols · Rise Stage
- Foxy Shazam · Radical Stage
- Rise Against · Roots Stage
- Pixies · Rebel Stage
- Twenty One Pilots · Riot Stage
- Iggy Pop · Rise Stage
- GWAR · Radical Stage
Saturday lineup (September 19)
Tool, Morrissey, Social Distortion, Nas, Bad Religion, Sugar + 29 more
Saturday set times (35 sets)
- Kiwi jr. · Roots Stage
- Whispers · Rise Stage
- Aim High · Radical Stage
- NOBRO · Rebel Stage
- ASAVA · Riot Stage
- The Iron Roses · Radical Stage
- Yard Act · Roots Stage
- Strike Anywhere · Rebel Stage
- Show Me The Body · Rise Stage
- Melt-Banana · Riot Stage
- Burning Airlines · Radical Stage
- The Chats · Rebel Stage
- The Suicide Machines · Rise Stage
- Brian Fallon & The Painkillers · Roots Stage
- Angine de Poitrine · Riot Stage
- Hot Rod Circuit · Radical Stage
- Destroy Boys · Rebel Stage
- Bright Eyes · Roots Stage
- Less Than Jake · Rise Stage
- Gurriers · Radical Stage
- Thrice · Rebel Stage
- Public Image Ltd. · Riot Stage
- PUP · Rise Stage
- Frankie and the Witch Fingers · Radical Stage
- Sugar · Roots Stage
- Descendents · Rebel Stage
- VANA · Radical Stage
- Social Distortion · Riot Stage
- Gogol Bordello · Rise Stage
- Chat Pile · Radical Stage
- Morrissey · Roots Stage
- Bad Religion · Rebel Stage
- Afroman · Radical Stage
- Tool · Riot Stage
- Nas · Rise Stage
Sunday lineup (September 20)
Pierce The Veil, Alanis Morissette, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, The Format, Patti Smith, Taking Back Sunday + 28 more
Sunday set times (34 sets)
- Largemouth · Rebel Stage
- Remember Sports · Roots Stage
- Rose of Demise · Radical Stage
- Stomach Book · Riot Stage
- Macseal · Rise Stage
- Algernon Cadwallader · Rebel Stage
- Daisy Grenade · Roots Stage
- Murphy's Law · Radical Stage
- Holding Absence · Riot Stage
- Ben Quad · Rise Stage
- Pretty Girls Make Graves · Rebel Stage
- Sincere Engineer · Roots Stage
- Haywire · Radical Stage
- Saturdays At Your Place · Rise Stage
- Arm's Length · Riot Stage
- Jejune · Rebel Stage
- The Beths · Roots Stage
- Cartel · Rise Stage
- Dead To Me · Radical Stage
- This Is Lorelei · Rebel Stage
- Pennywise · Riot Stage
- Mom Jeans · Rise Stage
- The Flatliners · Radical Stage
- The Format · Roots Stage
- William Shatner & The *uckers · Rebel Stage
- Patti Smith · Rise Stage
- Taking Back Sunday · Riot Stage
- Good Riddance · Radical Stage
- Twin Peaks · Rebel Stage
- Alanis Morissette · Roots Stage
- Bowling For Soup · Radical Stage
- Pierce The Veil · Riot Stage
- Elvis Costello & The Imposters · Rise Stage
- Insane Clown Posse · Radical Stage
Riot Fest 2026 lineup FAQ
When is Riot Fest 2026?
September 18–20, 2026 (Friday through Sunday).
Where does Riot Fest take place?
Douglass Park, on Chicago's West Side.
Who is headlining Riot Fest 2026?
Twenty One Pilots, Tool, Morrissey, Alanis Morissette, and Pierce The Veil.
How many acts are playing Riot Fest 2026?
106 acts across three days, plus the carnival rides.
What time do specific acts play?
Set times are live. Every act's day, stage, and set time is on this page. Expand the full lineup below or check the day-by-day breakdown.
How do I figure out which of the 106 acts I'd actually like?
Tell the finder at the top of this page a few bands you love. It'll match you with your must-see sets, with reasons why.
Who plays Friday at Riot Fest 2026?
Friday, September 18: Twenty One Pilots, Iggy Pop, Rise Against, Pixies, Alkaline Trio, The All-American Rejects, plus 31 more acts.
Who plays Saturday at Riot Fest 2026?
Saturday, September 19: Tool, Morrissey, Social Distortion, Nas, Bad Religion, Sugar, plus 29 more acts.
Who plays Sunday at Riot Fest 2026?
Sunday, September 20: Pierce The Veil, Alanis Morissette, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, The Format, Patti Smith, Taking Back Sunday, plus 28 more acts.
Are set times out for Riot Fest 2026?
Yes. The full schedule is live: the day-by-day section on this page lists every act with its set time.
Going to Riot Fest 2026? Get tickets ↗
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