Jagged Little Pill at festival scale — the '90s' most cathartic songbook, still sung full-throated by everyone in the field.
Sounds like Sheryl Crow, Fiona Apple, Meredith Brooks, Natalie Imbruglia
Riot Fest 2026 Lineup
Chicago's punk-rock family reunion, 21 years in — legends, reunions, and carnival rides in Douglass Park.
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 alt-rock across 102 acts.
Riot Fest 2026 lineup: all 102 acts
Search it, filter by day, stage or genre — save anything straight to your schedule.Browse all 102 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.
From Manchester, UK · Sounds like The Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen
San Diego post-hardcore romantics enjoying a massive TikTok-era second act — the scene's most swooned-over comeback.
From San Diego, CA · Sounds like Sleeping With Sirens, A Day To Remember, Dance Gavin Dance, Bring Me The Horizon
Prog-metal's cathedral builders — polyrhythms, lasers, and total audience surrender, Danny Carey's drumming alone worth the pilgrimage.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like A Perfect Circle, Deftones, Meshuggah, Puscifer
Genre-agnostic arena duo — rap, ukulele, and existential dread with a devoted Clique, lore deep enough for a wiki.
From Columbus, OH · Sounds like Grandson, AJR, Panic! at the Disco, Waterparks
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.
From Chicago, IL · Sounds like The Lawrence Arms, AFI
Forty-plus years of polysyllabic melodic punk — three-part harmonies over an unwavering political line, still the genre's reigning intellectuals.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like Rise Against, Descendents
Conor Oberst's trembling opus — the confessional songbook of a generation, from basement-tape quiver to orchestral sprawl and back.
From Omaha, NE · Sounds like Cursive, Phoebe Bridgers
Milo goes to Riot Fest — the caffeinated blueprint for all pop-punk, still fast, still nerdy, still out-hooking the generations they invented.
From Manhattan Beach, CA · Sounds like ALL, Bad Religion
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.
From London, UK · Sounds like Nick Lowe, Squeeze
The godfather, shirtless as ever — punk exists because of this man, and the Stooges songbook still hits like a dare.
From Detroit, MI · Sounds like The Stooges, Lou Reed
The Faygo flies at sundown — whoop whoop, and genuinely one of music's strangest, most loyal communities gathered in one place.
From Detroit, MI · Sounds like Twiztid, Esham, Kottonmouth Kings, Yelawolf
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.
From Queens, NY · Sounds like Wu-Tang Clan, JAY-Z
Punk's poet laureate — 'Horses' remains a sacrament, and every performance still reads as testimony, rock's great living poet at work.
From New York, NY · Sounds like Television, PJ Harvey
Loud-quiet-loud's inventors — the band your favorite band ripped off, with 'Debaser' through 'Where Is My Mind?' still setting the terms.
From Boston, MA · Sounds like The Breeders, Nirvana
Chicago's melodic-hardcore conscience — two decades of fists-up anthems delivered with undimmed conviction, 'Savior' still closing rooms.
From Chicago, IL · Sounds like Bad Religion, Pennywise
Genre-collapsing alt-pop pioneer — 'L.E.S. Artistes' to now, always ahead, new wave and dancehall in one voice.
From Philadelphia, PA · Sounds like M.I.A., TV on the Radio
The original scandal, touring with Frank Carter up front — anarchy, museum edition, still louder than you, and Frank makes it feral again.
From London, UK · Sounds like The Clash, The Damned
Mike Ness's Orange County punk band, forty years deep in rockabilly-tinged songs about bad decisions — tattooed survival as an art form.
From Fullerton, CA · Sounds like Rancid, The Bouncing Souls, Dropkick Murphys
Bob Mould's post-Hüsker Dü trio — melodies buried under an absolutely enormous wall of guitar, 'Copper Blue' still ringing.
From Minneapolis, MN · Sounds like Hüsker Dü, Bob Mould, Buffalo Tom, Superchunk
Long Island emo royalty — mic-swinging catharsis, twenty-plus years deep, 'MakeDamnSure' still a communal throat-shred, and yes, the mic still swings.
From Long Island, NY · Sounds like Brand New, The Used, Straylight Run, Senses Fail
'Gives You Hell' and a wildly fun second act — the internet's favorite reunion, with Tyson Ritter in full chaos-uncle mode.
From Stillwater, OK · Sounds like Jimmy Eat World, Boys Like Girls, Fall Out Boy
Nate Ruess before fun. — horn-flecked, sincere power-pop that reunion crowds have waited fifteen years to hear, and sing accordingly.
From Phoenix, AZ · Sounds like fun., Rilo Kiley, Steel Train, Jack's Mannequin
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.
From Boulder, CO · Sounds like Breathe Carolina, Family Force 5, Cobra Starship, Metro Station
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.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like Devin the Dude
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.
From Philadelphia, PA · Sounds like Cap'n Jazz, American Football, Snowing, Glocca Morra
Almost There But Not Really
Angine De Poitrine
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.
From Ontario, CA · Sounds like Hot Mulligan, Origami Angel, Free Throw, Sweet Pill
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.
From Queens, NY · Sounds like The Menzingers, Saves the Day, Silverstein
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.
From Oklahoma City, OK · Sounds like Origami Angel, Free Throw, Just Friends, Carly Cosgrove
Texas pop-punk comedians with better songwriting chops than the joke suggests — twenty-five years of hooks hiding under the punchlines.
From Wichita Falls, TX · Sounds like Simple Plan, Zebrahead, Wheatus, Fenix TX
Riot grrrl founders, reunited — 'Pottymouth' still snarls, and the sarcastic, minimal punk that helped launch a movement remains gleefully intact.
From Olympia, WA · Sounds like Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney
Gaslight Anthem's voice in troubadour mode — Jersey heart, whiskey throat, and heartland songcraft that trades the amps for storytelling without losing the ache.
From New Jersey · Sounds like The Gaslight Anthem, Bruce Springsteen
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.
From Washington, DC · Sounds like Jawbox, Shudder to Think
Cork's melodica-toting indie romantics — Fontaines-adjacent and rising fast, with a windswept, literary streak all their own.
From Cork, IE · Sounds like Fontaines D.C., The Murder Capital, Just Mustard
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.
From Atlanta, GA · Sounds like The Starting Line, Mayday Parade, Boys Like Girls
Oklahoma's nightmare-noise auteurs — grinding, harrowing songs about American rot, critically adored precisely because they refuse any comfort.
From Oklahoma City, OK · Sounds like Godflesh, Big Black
Theater-kid pop-punk menace — self-branded 'bubble-grunge' with a wink, Brooklyn duo energy engineered for glitter and mosh in equal parts.
From Brooklyn, NY · Sounds like Scene Queen, Cherry Pools
SF punk with gravel and melody — Fat Wreck-lineage songwriting that pairs busted-romantic lyrics with East Bay drive.
From San Francisco, CA · Sounds like One Man Army, The Lawrence Arms
Gothic pop with metallic edges — theatrical dark-pop vocals over production that keeps one boot in the metal scene.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like Poppy, Bad Omens
Sacramento punk fury, sharpened into one of the scene's best live bands — snarling hooks and pit control well beyond their years.
From Sacramento, CA · Sounds like Amyl and The Sniffers, Mannequin Pussy
Mexican emo-rock pioneers — border-town anthems for a generation that learned to scream along in Spanish first.
From Matamoros, MX · Sounds like Zoé, Panda
Vein.fm side project gone huge — grunge-gaze heaviness for the new generation, Deftones worship refracted through hardcore muscle.
From Massachusetts · Sounds like Deftones, Loathe
Cincinnati glam maniacs — Freddie Mercury theatrics with backflips, piano-stomping rock 'n' roll played like a dare.
From Cincinnati, OH · Sounds like Queen, The Darkness
LA psych-punk perpetual motion machine — relentless krautrock grooves and fuzz freakouts that never let the tempo sag.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like Osees, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
Gauzy new-school shoegaze riding the revival's crest — Phoenix pedals-and-whisper bliss aimed at the genre's dreamiest register.
From Phoenix, AZ · Sounds like Slowdive, Julie
Immigrant-punk cabaret — accordion, fiddle, and total mayhem, Eugene Hütz conducting the tent like a ringmaster on his third espresso.
From New York, NY · Sounds like Flogging Molly, DeVotchKa
Santa Cruz melodic hardcore — Fat Wreck loyalty since '95, political fire delivered at skate-video velocity.
From Santa Cruz, CA · Sounds like Strike Anywhere, Bad Religion
Flint doom-gaze — crushing sadness, gorgeous guitars, and slowcore patience that makes the loud parts land like verdicts.
From Flint, MI · Sounds like Cloakroom, Duster
Dublin's next post-punk export — snarling and kinetic, riding the same wave that carried Fontaines out of the city.
From Dublin, IE · Sounds like Fontaines D.C., Gilla Band
Snotty SoCal punk provocation, decades deep — deliberately tasteless, weirdly tuneful, and proud of every complaint letter.
From Huntington Beach, CA · Sounds like NOFX, Vandals
Intergalactic latex monsters spraying fake blood on the front rows since 1984 — thrash chops under the costumes. Wear a poncho.
From Richmond, VA · Sounds like Municipal Waste, Lordi
Newer West Coast hardcore working the same fast, mean seam as its Bay Area peers — no-frills aggression built for short, violent sets.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like Sunami, Drain, Scowl, Pain of Truth
Welsh post-hardcore romantics — soaring, heart-first heaviness, every chorus written to be wept through, Cardiff sincerity at full wingspan.
From Cardiff, UK · Sounds like Static Dress, Loathe, Boston Manor, Casey
Early-2000s emo cult favorites, back on the boards — Vagrant-era warmth for everyone who kept the CDs.
From Auburn, AL · Sounds like The Get Up Kids, Saves the Day
'90s emo cult favorites, reunited for the faithful — bittersweet boy-girl vocals from the genre's tender first wave.
From Boston, MA · Sounds like Rainer Maria, Jimmy Eat World
Self-made silk — Detroit R&B auteur with a devoted following, self-released and sounding more expensive than most majors.
From Detroit, MI · Sounds like Miguel, Gallant
Beastie Boys energy for the TikTok era — relentless, giddy, all-caps fun, two friends rapping like the '80s never ended.
From State College, PA · Sounds like Beastie Boys, bbno$
Wry Toronto jangle — Pavement's grandkids with better jokes, deadpan verses stuffed with sly detail, slacker charm with a novelist's eye.
From Toronto, CA · Sounds like Pavement, Parquet Courts
Horns up — Gainesville ska-punk party engineers since '92, confetti cannons and crowd games as standard equipment.
From Gainesville, FL · Sounds like Reel Big Fish, Streetlight Manifesto
Twinkly Long Island emo sweetness — soft-spoken hooks and math-lite guitars that hug rather than punch.
From Long Island, NY · Sounds like Oso Oso, Origami Angel
The Bronx's punk band in full mariachi regalia — a bit that became a genuinely accomplished second career, now several albums deep.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like The Bronx, Los Lobos, Calexico, Chicano Batman
Tokyo's hyperspeed noise legends — 30 years of joyful sensory assault, laser-gun guitars and chirped vocals at impossible tempos.
From Tokyo, JP · Sounds like Lightning Bolt, Boredoms
Fifth-wave emo standard-bearers — twinkly riffs, food-pun titles, real feelings, and crowds that scream every self-deprecating word.
From Berkeley, CA · Sounds like Hot Mulligan, Prince Daddy & the Hyena
Moog-powered anxiety anthems — 'Commit This to Memory' remains scripture, and 'Everything Is Alright' remains a group confession.
From Minneapolis, MN · Sounds like Jimmy Eat World, The Starting Line, Say Anything, Fall Out Boy
NYHC party priests since '82 — Jimmy G leading hardcore's longest-running good time, circle pits with a smile since day one.
From New York, NY · Sounds like Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags
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.
From Montreal, CA · Sounds like Amyl and the Sniffers, The Distillers, L7
Cardiff's funniest, fiercest punks — group-chat energy with riffs, in-jokes sharpened into anthems, the funniest serious band in Wales.
From Cardiff, UK · Sounds like Amyl and The Sniffers, Lambrini Girls
Hermosa Beach skate-punk institution — 'Bro Hymn' will level the park, as it has for thirty years.
From Hermosa Beach, CA · Sounds like Bad Religion, NOFX
Seattle art-punk cult heroes, reunited — jagged and beautiful, dance-punk urgency that a generation of bands studied.
From Seattle, WA · Sounds like Blood Brothers, Sleater-Kinney
John Lydon's second act — the band that invented post-punk's rulebook by burning the first one, still gleefully contrary.
From London, UK · Sounds like Wire, The Fall
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.
From Toronto, CA · Sounds like Jeff Rosenstock, The Menzingers, Joyce Manor
Melbourne post-punks — wiry, literate, buzzing, in the great Australian art-school tradition, sharp songs delivered with nervous energy.
From Melbourne, AU
Scrappy Philly indie-punk with bite and heart — yelped hooks and basement-show devotion, scrappy precision honed over years of touring.
From Philadelphia, PA · Sounds like Slaughter Beach, Dog, Great Grandpa
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.
From Michigan · Sounds like Hot Mulligan, Arm's Length
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.
From New York, NY · Sounds like Ho99o9, Model/Actriz, Trash Talk, Zulu
Chicago's rawest-throated punk songwriter — a hometown hero slot for songs that turn anxiety into gang vocals.
From Chicago, IL · Sounds like The Menzingers, PUP
The Ruler — rap's greatest storyteller, eyepatch and all, 'Children's Story' still the masterclass every MC studies.
From The Bronx, NY · Sounds like Doug E. Fresh, Big Daddy Kane
Jazz-schooled grunge — sludgy riffs, sly writing, and solos that betray the conservatory training, with the guitar work doing the heavy lifting.
From Brooklyn, NY · Sounds like Speedy Ortiz, PJ Harvey
Philly's ferocious hardcore standard-bearers — blistering screamo velocity spliced with hip-hop and biting political fury, critical darlings for good reason.
From Philadelphia, PA · Sounds like Zulu, Show Me the Body, Turnstile, Death Grips
Stomach Book
Richmond melodic hardcore — raised fists and open hearts, protest-punk conviction that never aged into cynicism.
From Richmond, VA · Sounds like Avail, Rise Against
DC duo making a genuinely enormous racket for two people — fuzz, sludge, and swagger in the Death From Above tradition.
From Washington, DC · Sounds like Death From Above 1979, METZ, Bass Drum of Death, The Garden
Auckland's harmony-stacked power-pop treasures — jazz-school chops, huge hearts, and 'Expert in a Dying Field' proof of mastery.
From Auckland, NZ · Sounds like Alvvays, Courtney Barnett
Atlanta mathcore chaos with a violin — brilliant, exhausting, unmissable, a band juggling chainsaws and mostly catching them.
From Atlanta, GA · Sounds like The Dillinger Escape Plan, SeeYouSpaceCowboy
Australian pub-punk perfection — smoko forever, mullets and minute-long anthems about life's essentials, the nation's finest short-song economists.
From Sunshine Coast, AU · Sounds like Amyl and The Sniffers, Cosmic Psychos
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.
From Toronto, CA · Sounds like Hot Water Music, Iron Chic, The Lawrence Arms, The Menzingers
Richmond punk with an activist heart and huge, communal choruses — new-ish but already a natural Fest fit, solidarity as setlist.
From Richmond, VA · Sounds like The Bouncing Souls, War On Women, Against Me!, The Interrupters
The Paradox
Detroit ska-core lifers — fast, political, joyful, and still the best argument that those three go together.
From Detroit, MI · Sounds like Less Than Jake, Operation Ivy
Nate Amos writing straightforwardly beautiful songs after years of deliberately difficult ones — Water From Your Eyes' other half, unmasked.
From New York, NY · Sounds like Mitski, MJ Lenderman, Pavement, Water From Your Eyes
Post-hardcore's elder statesmen — heavy, literate, endlessly evolving, and never once coasting on the back catalog.
From Irvine, CA · Sounds like Glassjaw, Underoath, Deftones, Brand New
Trip-hop's shadow king — the whispered menace of 'Maxinquaye' live, Bristol paranoia thickened by three decades.
From Bristol, UK · Sounds like Massive Attack, Portishead
Chicago garage-rock loyalty — loose, warm, hometown-beloved, Grateful Dead ease at garage-band volume, the city's easiest hang.
From Chicago, IL · Sounds like Whitney, The Orwells
VANA
Yes, Dave's daughter — and a genuinely arresting voice striking her own path, closer to torch song than stadium rock.
From Los Angeles, CA · Sounds like Wolf Alice, Phoebe Bridgers
Whispers
Chicago bedroom alt-rock, growing fast — moody hooks with a DIY spine, a bedroom project outgrowing the bedroom.
From Chicago, IL · Sounds like Wallows, Hippo Campus
Wry Leeds post-punk gone disco — talk-sung satire you can dance to, Britain narrated mid-groove, grooves with a permanent smirk.
From Leeds, UK · Sounds like Dry Cleaning, LCD Soundsystem
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.
The lineup by day
- Friday, September 18: Twenty One Pilots, Iggy Pop, Rise Against, Pixies, Alkaline Trio, The All-American Rejects + 30 more
- Saturday, September 19: Tool, Morrissey, Social Distortion, Nas, Bad Religion, Sugar + 28 more
- Sunday, September 20: Pierce The Veil, Alanis Morissette, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, The Format, Patti Smith, Taking Back Sunday + 26 more
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?
102 acts across three days, plus the carnival rides.
What days do specific acts play?
Every act's day is already on this page — expand the full lineup below or check the day-by-day breakdown.
How do I figure out which of the 102 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.
Going to Riot Fest 2026? Get tickets ↗
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