Fiesta Oyster Bake has announced the headliners for its 2026 installment, and they’re a bunch of bands just as relevant as last year’s. Meaning, not at all.
The Fiesta San Antonio staple, which takes place April 17-18 at St. Mary’s University, announced the lineup in a Monday morning Facebook post, doubling down on the nostalgia of last year’s fest featuring Sugar Ray, Hoobastank, Vertical Horizon and Tonic.
Like a time capsule replete with iPods, Skoal and JNCO jeans, the 2026 lineup is a reminder of an era best forgotten with bands likely to make you say “Who? Oh, right.”
May we interest you in some Drowning Pool, Saliva, Switchfoot or Candlebox? Sure, they’ve been rotating in the gas station display for some time, but they also taste bad and are full of carcinogens.
Fresh off a gig in Kyrgyzstan, some casino or perhaps a state fair in Idaho, nu-metal band Drowning Pool will play its hit song “Bodies,” as well as … erm … some other songs.
Saliva, of course, is the band responsible for “Click Click Boom,” a tough-guy tune that remains ubiquitous at football games, WWE events and other places where bros in backwards caps get blackout drunk, take their shirts off and yell “Woooo!” much to the embarrassment of their long-suffering wives.
In addition to drowning in a pool of someone else’s saliva, the festival will give you a chance at redemption with a performance by Christian rock band Switchfoot, best remembered for songs “Dare You to Move,” “Meant to Live” and “Stars.” The group also won a Grammy for Best Rap or Rock Gospel Album for the 2009 album Hello Hurricane. So, just remember when you’re head banging, you’re head banging with the Lord.
From a slightly more redeemable era, Candlebox will rep the ’90s — you know, when things were just starting to go to shit. We can track this descent with the emergence of the yarl — thanks, Eddie Vedder and Layne Staley — a vocal style later made malignant by early aughts frontmen such as Creed’s Scott Stapp. Listening back to their 1993 hit “Far Behind,” one could argue Candlebox was guilty of the yarl too. But joke’s on us — that album went triple platinum.
To be sure, all of these bands were a pretty big deal for a hot second, once upon a time. But do nu metal and Christian alt-rock have staying power?
Hell, maybe we’re the ones who are out of touch, considering baggy JNCO pants — the fashion trend previously considered ugly enough to stay dead — have come back. In fact, the early aughts have never fully gone out of style here in San Antonio, where emo holds particular sway.
So, listen, if this is your thing, don’t let us spit in your Monster Energy drink.
We’re sure, from our frosted tips to our Adidas sneakers, that a time will be had. There will copious amounts of oysters, as the name suggests, and the event raises money for student scholarships for St. Mary’s University, which is a worthy cause.
Just don’t say we didn’t warn you when you get the bottom of your JNCOs all muddy whilst body-banging in the pit. And please, ladies, cover your drinks.
Presale tickets will be available starting Feb. 2 at a price of $25 for single day and $45 for two-day passes on the Fiesta Oyster Bake website.
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