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ALTer EGO’26 Takes Over Kia Forum
January 21, 2026 Review by Kevin Gomez
ALTer EGO, the annual alternative music festival presented by iHeartRadio, returned to their home of the Kia Forum in Inglewood Saturday night. With one of the greatest lineups yet, they couldn’t have found a more explosive way to the start the show.
One of the best live acts today, Cage the Elephant welcomed the fired-up crowd by kicking off with “Spiderhead” as flames blew up behind them. Brad Shultz switched to acoustic guitar for “Neon Pill,” the title track from their latest album, while Nick Bockrath nailed a trippy guitar solo.
Lead singer Matt Shultz led the “ooh ooh-oohs” and falsettos for “Trouble,” before the band switched to Southern rock on “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked.” “Shake Me Down” was perfect, highlighted by Jared Champion’s thundering drums. Matt, all swagger and strut, must be what it was like for teens watching Mick Jagger in the ‘60s.
“Cigarette Daydream” nearly brought me to tears with Matt’s pleading voice as the band’s music brings nostalgia for ancient memories. Cage the Elephant put an exclamation point at the end of their set with “Come a Little Closer” that brought the house down.
Following the song’s conclusion, as he usually does, Brad smashed his guitar on the floor and handed the destroyed body to a lucky fan in the audience.
The crew from “The Woody Show” on Alt 987 was on stage to bring up almost monday. From “right down the street in San Diego,” as Woody introduced them, they kicked off with “jupiter” (this band really likes to stylize in lower case).
This was a really big opportunity for the youngest band of the night, and it was obvious they were grateful and making the most of every minute. Lead singer Dawson Daugherty got the crowd to clap along to the intro of “cough drops.” In between songs Daugherty admitted, “These are all the bands [playing tonight] that we used to cover in high school.” They played “lost” and closed with what Woody called “one of the biggest hits of 2025,” “can’t slow down.”
Booker and Stryker from Alt 987’s afternoon show introduced Mt. Joy (Mt. Joy was a late addition to the festival as they were a last-minute replacement for Myles Smith). They opened with the indie-folk “Lucy.”
For “In the Middle,” they welcomed Gigi Perez, who also performed later that evening. Perez lent her powerful, sultry vocals which really elevated the entire song. Mt. Joy gave me Lumineers vibes as they played the spacey “Astrovan.”
They finished up with their big indie hit, “Silver Living” as lead vocalist Matt Quinn sang, “drink your wine, smoke your weed.”
Woody, Menace, Gina and Greg of “The Woody Show” returned to introduce the wildly popular Good Charlotte. Woody mentioned that the band just released their eighth studio album after a long hiatus.
I severely underestimated how popular Good Charlotte is, but these fans have stuck by them, even as it seemed like they may never play live again. And yet, here we are and the band is set to kick off a summer co-headlining tour with Avenged Sevenfold. They opened with “The Anthem,” which got the entire building singing.
“Girls & Boys” was followed by “Reject,” their single from last year’s “Motel Du Cap” as images from the album’s artwork played on the screen behind them. They performed the disco pop hit, “Dance Floor Anthem.” Lead singer Joel Madden said, “Thank you, Los Angeles for having Good Charlotte back. It’s been a very long time. We’re just a little band from Maryland but Los Angeles has been our home for many years now.”
If the crowd had been a bit timid up until their set, Good Charlotte invigorated them by ending with “Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous,” which got the entire arena jumping along.
DJ Christen Limon brought out Nicole Alvarez, “the latest addition to the Alt 987 family.” Alvarez said, “Most of you know me, and for those that don’t, I look forward to getting to know you.” They then introduced the immaculately talented Gigi Perez.
Fans got a sneak preview of her talent from her duet earlier with Mt. Joy, but that was just a taste of what was to come. She’s nothing short of a powerhouse, blessed with an incredible voice, and is also a talented guitarist.
She opened with “Please Be Rude” playing acoustic guitar. She swapped for an electric guitar for “Chemistry,” featuring a nice solo from her lead guitarist. She played “Sugar Water” and welcomed Bella, her younger sister to provide some beautiful two-part harmony. She finished a great set with one of my new favorite discoveries, her mega hit, “Sailor Song.”
As Sublime took the stage, drummer Bud Gaugh, in black cowboy hat, hammered the intro for “Date Rape” as lead singer Jakob Nowell wheeled in on a Rascal scooter.
He alternated his time on stage between riding on the scooter and walking around with a single crutch. Nowell announced, “I broke my fucking ankle at the last festival we played.” Most guys in his situation would just take a seat on a stool, but Nowell was going to strut and work the stage one way or another.
Nowell asked for a moment of silence for Bob Weir (Grateful Dead guitarist who passed away last week) before Sublime played “Scarlet Begonias.” Nowell was able to balance long enough to play guitar for “Wrong Way” and then afterward laughed, “That’s about as long as I can stand and sing.”
When discussing what song to play next, Nowell said, “This is a big radio show, we should do a big radio hit,” leading them to play “Doin’ Time.” After, Nowell said, “Last year we had a number one song for eight weeks in a row because of you guys,” and they went into that hit, “Ensenada.” They played the ‘90s anthem “Santeria,” and closed with “a fast punk-rock song,” “Same in the End.”
Booker and Stryker returned to introduce Twenty One Pilots, who Stryker mentioned have an upcoming live concert film called “More Than We Ever Imagined.”
Drummer Josh Dun – wearing a mask completely covering his face with two red-lit eyes – began pounding away and as an explosion on stage hit, singer Tyler Joseph jumped up over his piano, completely covered up like a ninja. For “Promises and Contracts” Joseph stood on a platform that was behind held up by audience members in the front row.
After both men had shed their masks and costumes, Joseph said, “This is a very special show – this is the first ever show Josh has played as a father.”
For the big drum outro of “DRUM SHOW,” Dun walked off stage and played drums on a set that was balanced on a platform that fans held above their head. For “RAWFEAR,” Joseph hopped off the stage and began walking through the floor, eventually singing on a set of stairs, before continuing to walk across the entire first tier of the arena.
Joseph played bass and sang while continuing to walk back toward the stage for “Ride.” As he returned to the stage, he brought Stryker out and said, “[he] was the first person to ever play us on the radio” and Stryker sang the song’s finale chorus.
A short video on the screen featured Jack White saying, “I give Josh and Tyler permission to do this song” and the duo kicked into their bodacious cover of “Seven Nation Army” (as performed at White’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction). Twenty One Pilots closed out their set with “Stressed Out.”
Special guests Tony Kanal and Adrian Young of No Doubt took the stage to bring out their longtime friends, Green Day. The usual pink bunny hyped the crowd up as “Blitzkrieg Bop” played on the PA.
The band exploded into “American Idiot” while pyro and fireworks launched behind them. Billie Joe Armstrong changed the lyrics to, “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda” and if you thought that’s all he had to say about current politics, you’d be wrong.
During the breakdown of “Holiday” Armstrong said, “This song is anti-fascism. This song is anti-war. We stand up for our brothers and sisters in Minnesota” gaining a huge ovation of cheers.
The representative from California has the floor!
Tre Cool started the steady drumbeat for “Know Your Enemy,” which during the song’s breakdown Armstrong invited a female fan on stage to sing along with him as 17,000 fans jumped in unison.
That’s what struck me about Green Day’s set – after a long festival, you would expect many fans to leave, not necessarily because they weren’t fans but because it was a long show and a lot of people came out for different acts.
And yet, I didn’t see a single person leave or try to beat traffic; every single seat was packed.
Jason White had a couple of really nice guitar solos during “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” supported by guitarist, Kevin Preston. Mike Dirnt led the iconic bass intro to “Longview,” while Jason Freese had excellent keyboards on “St. Jimmy” and the following song, “21 Guns.”
Armstrong laughed during the first verse of “When I Come Around” and he laughingly admitted, “I fucked up the lyrics.” The band left and Armstrong came back to play solo acoustic on “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” as Dirnt and Cool returned by his side for the song’s finale. Armstrong ended with the sage advice, “Please look out for your neighbors. Make sure you take care of each other. Make sure you love one another. Protect each other. Chinga la migra!”
There’s no better way to kick off the new year than ALTer’ EGO and iHeartRadio seemed poised to continue making ALTer’ EGO bigger and better every year. Until 2027, y’all.
FESTIVAL PHOTO GALLERY
by Highway One Photography
TO FOLLOW
SID 260118 | TRACI TURNER | EDITOR
