Alt-Rock Invasion: Bands Crash CMA Fest 2026 on Nashville's Broadway

Rock Takeover

What Were All These Rock Bands Doing at CMA Fest 2026?

Cage the Elephant, Mod Sun, New Translations, and more Nashville-based alt bands descended on Broadway for the anti-CMA Fest

By Joseph Hudak

Joseph Hudak

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June 8, 2026

More than 20 rock bands and artists descended upon Nashville’s Lower Broadway on Friday during the heart of the 2026 CMA Fest to show that Music City is more than just three chords and the truth.

While country fans crossed the pedestrian bridge to see Cody Johnson and Keith Urban headline Nissan Stadium, Cage the Elephant , Dexter and the Moonrocks , Edgehill, Mod Sun , and New Translations were playing over three stages at Jon Bon Jovi’s Nashville honky-tonk, JBJ’s. (In a bit of irony, a band in the window of a branded country-star bar across the street was heard covering Guns N’ Roses.)

The daylong bill was presented by Rocknite , which the city’s stellar free weekly, the Nashville Scene , expertly described as a “creative scene of independent artists who show up for one another.” That was true on Friday, as fans who arrived early staked their claim in front of the main floor stage, while others queued up on 4th Avenue and down Broadway for a chance to see Cage the Elephant — who debuted their new song “Beaches in Tennessee” — headline.

“Rocknite has done a really good job in establishing community of the alt-scene, whether that’s alt-rock, pop, anything left of country,” Oliver Pierce, singer for New Translations, tells Rolling Stone . “Maybe in some way it’s infiltrating, but I’m happy to be a part of any sense of putting a spotlight on the community that we have. It’s been around for a long time and this is just a great magnifier.”

New Translations’ set on the fourth floor of JBJ’s — opposite a wall of enormous photos of Bon Jovi members — leaned on Pierce’s theatrical gift as a frontman. Sporting a black cowboy hat and blackeye makeup beneath his sunglasses, he boisterously commanded the crowd, leading the band through songs off their latest album, Vacation , and 2021’s “This Town,” which shouts out local thoroughfare Demonbreun Street and the city’s omnipresent pedal taverns.

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_Originally reported by [Rolling Stone](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/cma-fest-2026-cage-the-elephant-nashville-rock-1235573935/)._