At a festival stacked with generational heavyweights, Sublime delivered the emotional center of the night.
The 2026 edition of iHeartRadio ALTer EGO, presented by Capital One, transformed the Kia Forum into a sold-out celebration of alternative music’s past, present, and future. While the lineup featured high-impact performances from Green Day, Twenty One Pilots, Cage the Elephant, and Good Charlotte, it was Sublime’s set that grounded the night in something deeper: connection, continuity, and reverence.
Rolling onto the stage atop a motor scooter, frontman Jakob Nowell immediately disarmed the crowd with humor. “I broke my leg at the last festival we played,” he laughed, turning what could have been a limitation into part of the show. From the opening moments, Sublime leaned into the loose, communal energy that has always defined their live presence.
Midway through the set, the tone shifted. One week after the passing of Bob Weir, Jakob asked the Forum for a moment of silence. The pause cut through the constant motion of the night, creating a rare stillness inside a festival built on momentum. Sublime followed with a powerful rendition of “Scarlet Begonias,” honoring Weir not as a distant icon, but as part of a living musical lineage.
“Everything here tonight,” Jakob told the audience, “it’s all part of a great chain of rock and roll.” The sentiment framed Sublime’s current era perfectly, not as a revival, but as a continuation.
From there, the set tipped back into joyful chaos. “Date Rape,” “Wrong Way,” “What I Got,” and “Santeria” landed with mass sing-along force, reminding the crowd just how deeply these songs are embedded in Southern California’s musical DNA. At one point, Jakob brought his dog Melvin onstage, tossing him a tennis ball mid-song as the audience erupted. It was an unscripted moment that captured the band’s refusal to calcify into nostalgia.
Sublime’s performance felt especially resonant within the broader context of ALTer EGO. Surrounded by bands that helped define alternative radio across decades, Sublime stood apart by embracing their past without being anchored to it. Their set bridged punk urgency, reggae looseness, and coastal absurdity, reaffirming why their music continues to connect across generations.
Elsewhere throughout the night, the Forum remained in constant motion. Good Charlotte marked their first Los Angeles performance in nearly a decade with cathartic precision. Twenty One Pilots collapsed the distance between stage and crowd. Green Day closed the festival with political bite and spontaneity. But Sublime’s moment, quiet and then explosive, lingered longest.
At a festival designed to celebrate alternative music at scale, Sublime delivered something more intimate. They reminded the room that this music still carries emotional weight, shared memory, and the power to bring 20,000 people to a standstill, if only for a moment.
In a night defined by volume and velocity, Sublime reminded ALTer EGO what endurance really sounds like.
