Iggy Pop, Rise Against Highlight Day One At Riot Fest In Chicago

Iggy Pop performs on stage on day one at Riot Fest. Friday, September 18, 2026 at Douglass Park in Chicago, Illinois

Photo by Ethan Chivari

“Riot Fest! How we feelin’ tonight!” shouted Rise Against singer Tim McIlrath at the top of a Friday evening performance in Chicago ahead of headlining fest sets by Iggy Pop and Twenty One Pilots. “I usually tell people that we came a long ways – but we did not travel a long way to party with you tonight!” said the frontman of the Chicago-based band. “We are right where we belong.”

Remaining independent throughout, Riot Fest has grown exponentially over the course of 21 years, organically building a unique festival experience that has moved from clubs like Congress Theater (capacity 2,900) and Double Door (capacity 500) while making the leap to outdoor parks over the course of two decades (one of America’s most unlikely festival success stories).

One of the few American festivals to focus on punk, rock and metal, Riot Fest has grown to incorporate a broad range of sounds, with this year’s lineup showcasing acts like British trip hop rapper and producer Tricky and French Canadian experimental rock duo Angine de Poitrine alongside the seminal sounds of Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols.

“It’s great. It’s nice to start a tour and do maybe eight shows – and then you do a festival. So, we kind of got thrown into the deep end. But it’s a very good festival,” said Tricky following his Riot Fest performance Friday afternoon, opening day of a North American run (his first in eight years) which wraps up October 16 in Miami. “It’s a very good festival. We’re staying around. I want to see the Pixies.”

Touring in support of the recent release of Different When It’s Silent, his 15th studio album, Tricky was joined on stage at Riot Fest by vocalist Mitch Sanders, who also appears on the new album.

“It’s different. All of my stuff is different. So, it’s atmospheric,” said Tricky of the new release. “I think most people will be able to relate to it.”

Few bands embody Riot Fest’s commitment to the socially conscious punk rock ethos better than Rise Against, who tore through a blistering one hour set on the Roots stage Friday night.

“Someone said this is our fifth time here. But I come here in the off years. So they all blur together,” said McIlrath with a smile backstage Friday prior to the group’s headlining performance. “Sometimes, I come here to just see a show. And then I end up on stage with Fall Out Boy singing a song. So, it blurs my memory even more. Rain got in our gear once. It was like, ‘Oh. This is Chicago, right!’” he continued during the look back. “But all of the shows we’ve played here, people have really shown up in a way that we don’t expect them to. But they do. And it’s incredible.”

Guitarist Zach Blair took to the stage Friday arms overhead as McIlrath drew the crowd in, pumping his right fist in the air as he delivered the fiery opening to “Re-Education (Through Labor).”

McIlrath clapped overhead at the top of “Under the Knife,” soon shedding his guitar entirely as he mixed it up with fans along the guardrail throughout “Give it All.” Later, the group hit on the importance of solidarity as they delivered “Nod,” the first single from their latest album Ricochet, their 10th.

“Here we are, going into another administration – another fascist administration – of a president who is trying to change the landscape of our country and our politics and our government. I would say it’s more important now than ever,” said McIlrath backstage when asked about the significance of speaking out in song in 2026. “That’s why I feel like that at least this scene that I’m a part of? It needs to be active. It’s all hands on deck. Especially as midterms approach. I feel like it’s very important. If we care about the future of this country? We need to start acting like we care. So, songs, music, bands – whatever it is that you do.”

While the Pixies were soundly drowned out by Rise Against in the early goings of a one hour set on the Rebel stage, Alkaline Trio nodded in the direction of their fellow Chicago punks near the end of a 60 minute performance on the Roots stage, dedicating “Mercy Me” to Rise Against before closing with “Radio.”

Elsewhere Friday, London-born rapper Slick Rick offered up a fun 45 minute run on the Rise stage.

“Say go Slick Rick, go Slick Rick, go!” came the call and response chant from the stage, with the crowd responding as the ensemble sampled Dionne Warwick throughout “Mona Lisa.”

“Make some noise for yourself!” said Slick Rick Friday at Riot Fest, following “Angelic” with one of the most sampled songs in music history in “La Di Da Di,” his 1985 collaboration with Doug E. Fresh.

Following a period of starts and stops, Oklahoma-born pop-punks the All-American Rejects returned this year with Sandbox, their first new studio album in almost 15 years.

Touring in 2025, the band took an unorthodox approach to the road, eschewing traditional venues throughout their “House Party Tour,” one which found them performing anywhere from bowling alleys to backyards while discovering an unexpected multi-generational appeal that has continued to manifest itself in their audience.

“It’s neat. It’s neat at those house parties seeing people revisiting what they used to do – what we used to do. And then also younger people doing it for the first time – because they never had that opportunity to begin with,” said guitarist Nick Wheeler prior to the Riot Fest set. “So, it really is kind of multigenerational. Which is pretty awesome.”

Riffing off their arrival in Chicago, the Rejects took to the Riot Fest stage following a snippet of the Blues Brothers’ take on Otis Redding (“I Can’t Turn you Loose”) Friday afternoon.

Opening with the new “Easy Come, Easy Go,” the first track off Sandbox, phones quickly populated the festival expanse as the group continued with “Swing, Swing.”

Dancing in front of drummer Chris Gaylor, singer Tyson Ritter laid down on stage as he delivered the new “Get This” out of an acoustic opening.

Utilizing lessons learned during the “House Party Tour,” Ritter launched PlayHouse last year, a startup which seeks to help artists create intimate, more sustainable concert experiences, bypassing more traditional venues while cutting out an awful lot of middlemen, increasing artist profits on the road at a time when it’s become extraordinarily difficult for artists to otherwise monetize their music or make a living that’s tenable.

“Everything that you need to do as a band, today, in 2026, has to be in person. That’s from concerts, to selling your own s–t. Make it something tangible,” suggested the singer. “The concert experience is tangible. The record experience is tangible. But the digital world is crushing artistry in every aspect – especially when it comes to monetizing art. So, if you want bands to survive in the next 10 years, you have to support them in all aspects as a fan,” Ritter said. “I take that upon myself for the music I love. And I hope that people realize if they want bands to make it they’re gonna have to show their support.”

“Dirty Little Secret,” which is now closing in on 800 million streams on Spotify alone, followed “Get This,” with Ritter riling up the festival throng as he turned his attention to the massive VIP, Deluxe, Deluxe+ and Backstage experience installations dotting the Riot Fest festival expanse for fans willing to shell out substantial amounts (Riot Fest won’t even publish the Backstage cost on its website).

“I’d like to take this moment to say hi to the rich people over there in that pavilion…” the singer began. “They don’t have to be down here with the peasants. But how are the peasants?” he said to heavy applause, setting up one of the group’s biggest hits. “You all look dirty out there,” Ritter said with a smile as the crowd soon took over the lead vocal on “Dirty Little Secret.”

While John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd would perform a Saturday set of their own, the Sex Pistols arrived for a rare Stateside performance Johnny Rotten-less, with vocalist Frank Carter leading the charge throughout an enthralling 60 minutes on Friday.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” screamed Carter midway through opening cut “Holidays in the Sun.” “Mr. Steve Jones!” said the singer, pointing left proudly as a fiery guitar solo was ignited.

Today, Jones is joined by drummer Paul Cook and bassist Glen Matlock, who wrote nearly all of the only Sex Pistols studio album, 1977’s Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols.

“Thank you for waiting for us!” said Carter early in Friday’s set, setting up “Seventeen.” “Are we getting warmed up yet?”

But day one at Riot Fest 2026, if not the entire weekend, belonged to the one and only Iggy Pop, who stole the show Friday night.

“Iggy! Iggy! Iggy!” came the chant as fans readied for 60 minutes of the punk icon Friday on the Rise stage.

Pop, who will turn 80 this coming April, delivered a scorching performance for the ages alongside his ridiculously tight eight piece backing band.

“Obey fools! Obey Trump!” said the punk legend, skewering the president as he launched into a swinging take on “Lust For Life.”

With his right hand over his head, holding the mic as he shimmied, Pop and company opened with a frantic take on the Stooges’ “TV Eye” to open the set.

The mosh pit soon opened, sending crowd surfers surging toward the barricade as the group tore into “Raw Power,” with Pop stomping left to right across the vast festival stage, pumping his left fist enthusiastically as the song drew to a close.

“Gimme Danger” saw Pop with his left hand behind his back as a three piece horn section (saxophone, trumpet and trombone) shined. Later, jangly guitar drove “The Passenger” with Pop dedicating “Death Trip” to “the stoners.”

“We doin’ alright?” asked Iggy Pop rhetorically, coming up for air midway through a timeless and resplendent Riot Fest performance on a cool fall evening in the Windy City. “Turn on the lights and lemme see everybody,” he continued. “I don’t really have a ride home at the end of the set,” Pop joked. “I don’t know the area very well. Could somebody pick me up?”