William Shatner, Taking Back Sunday And Mud As Riot Fest 2026 Wraps Up

William Shatner performs, backed by his metal band The *uckers, on stage on day three at Riot Fest. Sunday, September 20, 2026 at Douglass Park in Chicago, Illinois

Photo by Ethan Chivari

“Oh boy. I was at a concert several years ago on a hot August evening. This is a cold September evening! Thank you for braving the elements,” said William Shatner at the top of one of the weekend’s most heavily anticipated Riot Fest performances (despite a cold, rainy and muddy Sunday in Chicago).

While Saturday at Riot Fest 2026 was rainy, which led to the cancellation of one concert performance (Afroman) and a slurry of shortened festival sets throughout the day, the conditions in Chicago’s Douglass Park were nothing compared to what would soon await concertgoers as Riot Fest prepared to wrap up its 2026 performance slate on Sunday.

Heavy rainfall overnight and Sunday morning led to pooling in the park which forced the festival to push doors back about three hours from 11AM to 2PM. Once again, artists and festivalgoers alike were left to navigate abbreviated fest sets Sunday in Chicago. But, as doors finally opened – and somewhere around 50,000 fans began traversing the highly saturated grounds – mud became an almost instant issue (and one that would grow increasingly worse in the run up to headlining performances by Pierce the Veil, Alanis Morissette, Twin Peaks, Elvis Costello & The Imposters and Insane Clown Posse).

When it rains, festivals get muddy. But, in a Chicago summer dominated by severe weather and frequent tornado outbursts, Sunday’s conditions were on a wholly different level, leaving fans to pull together and make the most of a wet, dirty, slippery, often putrid concertgoing experience that left Chicago’s Douglass Park a muddy mess.

“I look like I’m at the Bass Pro Shop!” said bundled up, water resistant Sincere Engineer singer/guitarist Deanna Belos Sunday at the top of the day’s first performance on the Roots stage. “We all do!”

At it since 2017, Sincere Engineer hails from the Windy City, releasing four studio albums along the way (including the new Probable Claws, which dropped this past June).

Following “Anemia,” Sincere Engineer offered up “Corn Dog Sonnet No. 7,” daring to ask the age old festival question, should you mosh in mud (the answer Sunday seemed to be a resounding yes)?

“How’s everyone doing out there? Don’t I look like Oasis in this jacket?” joked Belos, mocking Liam Gallagher’s seemingly omnipresent hoodie as she set up “Fireplace.”

While Shatner provided one of the more surprising Riot Fest aftershow opportunities this year, Bob Mould and SUGAR may have proven to be the most exciting.

For two decades now, Riot Fest has hung its hat on unlikely reunions, with SUGAR standing as the perfect 2026 example. The Riot Fest stop is part of a U.S. run scheduled to wind down next month in Athens, Georgia (the first tour together since 1995 for Mould, bassist David Barbe and drummer Malcolm Travis).

Thursday night, SUGAR kicked off Riot Fest with a blistering 23 song 90 minute performance, which included new SUGAR music like “House of Dead Memories.”

Mould didn’t get a chance to dust off any of the group’s three new tunes during a Saturday fest set cut short due to rain. But Thursday night at vaunted Chicago club Metro, where Mould has performed countless times solo, with SUGAR and as a member of seminal Minnesota punks Hüsker Dü, he did.

“How are you doing Chicago?!” asked Mould rhetorically three times in a row Thursday to the sold out intimate crowd of about 1,000. “This is a quiet one,” he joked, tearing into “Hoover Dam.”

In addition to the reunions and aftershows, full album performances have also long been a pertinent part of the Riot Fest stew, with Taking Back Sunday offering up 2006’s Louder Now from start to finish as the band’s third studio album turns 20.

“We hope people are as excited to hear it as we are to play it,” said singer Adam Lazzara backstage prior to the group’s album run on the Riot stage. “Being able to play any record from start to finish is cool – just because that’s how you intended it to be experienced, you know? And we spend a lot of time thinking about stuff like that. So, to be able to share it in that way is really special and we’re happy for that opportunity.”

Since forming two decades ago, Riot Fest has grown exponentially, quickly outgrowing small clubs and theaters as it made the leap to outdoor parks. Today, Riot Fest functions as one of the country’s only independent festivals dedicated to celebrating punk, rock and metal sounds (while growing to incorporate everything from rap to electronic elements).

In those 21 years, Taking Back Sunday has performed what appears to be a whopping 12 times.

“We are very happy to be here. They’ve included us a lot over the years. And nothing feels better than that. We feel like we get to hang out with the cool kids, you know? It’s pretty sweet,” said Lazzara. “2005 was their first year. And how cool is that? That they’ve built this incredible thing,” said the singer. “They were one of the first festivals in all of America to get festivals right. Because in Europe, they’ve got it locked. But Riot Fest was one of the first ones here. And how cool is it that they’re still here now? And just ripping! I’m happy to be part of that story.”

Indie rockers The Format pushed through a one hour set Sunday on the Roots stage, performing in support of their most recent studio album Boycott Heaven, their third.

“Hey! What’s up, Chicago? You’ve been through hell today,” said singer Nate Ruess. “Let’s have a good time.”

Sunday in Chicago, “If Work Permits” began with Ruess’ vocal and acoustic guitar, with the band soon kicking in.

“We’ve been kind of bumming around Chicago for two weeks,” said Ruess on stage of his Riot Fest 2026 experience. “I love it here. I wanted to move here. But then this weather happened,” mused the singer with a smile. “Then I realized I live in Santa Barbara.”

Following a “Riot Fest Late Night” aftershow at Chicago club Park West Saturday, Shatner took to the Riot Fest stage Sunday despite the weather to further debut his forthcoming metal album.

Part of his humorous list of demands for appearing at the festival included a video introduction from mythological metal icons GWAR.

“You know him as an intergalactic space captain… but don’t forget T.J. Hooker!” said GWAR’s Blöthar the Berserker during the pre-recorded intro, referencing beloved Shatner roles in both Star Trek and the 80s police sitcom.

GWAR has now appeared for 14 consecutive years at Riot Fest, performing annually since the festival first moved outdoors in 2012.

Despite divisive times, GWAR has capitalized on a unique strategy, uniting fans in the live concert expanse in unparalleled fashion via an approach to live performance that incorporates elements of everything from satire and sci-fi to mythology and choreographed “violence.”

“We slaughter politicians and celebrities! And people seem to love it!” said bassist and backing vocalist Beefcake the Mighty of the group’s live set. “So, we keep doing it!”

As usual, GWAR had sound advice backstage Friday prior to a one hour headlining set on the Radical stage.

“Don’t join a band. And don’t get in the music business. Get a job,” said Beefcake. “Try McDonalds! You can work your way up to fry cook. Next thing you know, you’re manager! And then? You go to Hamburger University and you get a gold McDonalds arches ring. You get a gold fricking ring! That’s worth it right there,” he advised. “The only other advice I can give you is don’t do anything I’ve done in life. Because I don’t have any money. What would I do with it? I don’t have any pockets.”

As he did on stage at the aftershow, Shatner navigated his metal foray Sunday at Riot Fest, backed by a four piece band during a six song mix of covers and originals.

“I’ve made several albums now with Robert Sharenow, my writing partner. We met over Peking duck,” explained Shatner on stage last month at Fan Expo in Chicago. “One day, the label says, ‘Why don’t you do a heavy metal album?’ And I had the title. What the F is Heavy Metal?” he continued. “My band is the *uckers. Rob and I have written 5 songs. 3 of which we’re going to do here at Riot Fest. And I’m still living the title of that album!” said Shatner with a devious smile. “I didn’t understand that heavy metal comes in a variety of flavors. But I’m starting to understand. And we’ve got covers.”

Sunday at Riot Fest, Shatner took to the stage backed by the *uckers delivering an almost surreal spin on the metal genre during an often odd but blistering 35 minute set on the Rebel stage.”

“Bow down humans and welcome to the stage, a heavy metal superstar!” said Blöthar, wrapping up GWAR’s intro with a humorous reference to Shatner’s 1978 take on Elton John’s “Rocket Man.”

Sunday, Shatner supplied an almost spoken word vocal over the band’s performance and a rock leaning vocal track, laughing maniacally at the top of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” to open the set.

“Make some noise!” shouted Shatner, with a late guitar solo cutting through a churning bassline throughout new original “Rage.”

“The *uckers, OK?” said Shatner with a wave of the arm, gesturing to his tight backing group. “If I do the splits on this wet stage… I don’t do the splits, OK?” he continued, setting up the group’s take on Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades.” “Again, Chicago is the place. The center of the world. And on this night, the rain is at the center,” he said, setting up a rousing take on the punk/metal classic.

“I don’t wanna live forever,” sang 95 year old actor and singer William Shatner during “Ace of Spades,” channeling Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister as Riot Fest 2026 wound down in Chicago.