SOMETHING IN THE WAY: EMO’S BIGGEST FESTIVAL
Design by Katie Lew
By Mario Sierra-Roca and Julia Schramm
Ten years ago, in mid-December, Run for Cover Records and Fred Perry held the first-ever Something In The Way Festival in New York City’s Webster Hall. In 2026, they’re celebrating their third show, this time presented through the Bowery Boston. Held at Roadrunner over two days, the 2026 Something In The Way Festival brings what is arguably their strongest lineup to date. While 2016 had modern revival emo giants such as Modern Baseball and 2025 had midwest emo originators like American Football, the 2026 lineup is unbelievably well-rounded. Classic acts like headliner Sunny Day Real Estate and openers like No Warning are accompanied by revival emo legends Tigers Jaw and The Hotelier, along with up-and-comers Febuary and First Day Back. But the lineup doesn’t only hold emo bands—Glixen, Horse Jumper of Love, and Momma fill a shoegaze and indie rock-sized void in the lineup, with Graham Hunt and Park National bringing the slacker rock mentality. Rounding off the lineup is a handful of Run For Cover residents, led by returning bands Teen Suicide and Citizen.
The one aspect of Something In The Way that makes it stand out is the fact that no bands overlap, even though the festival has two stages. With five minutes in between each set, you get to see every single band back to back. With tickets right under $150 for both days, you truly get more bang for your buck. Julia, a couple of friends, and I showed up around thirty minutes before doors on Saturday (the day that Explosions in the Sky was headlining), and you could truly tell that everyone was excited. I was very excited to see Tigers Jaw and The Hotelier. Ohhh, The Hotelier. If you told me in eighth grade I was going to be seeing Home, Like Noplace Is There live, I would say you were lying. Thankfully, NO ONE was disappointed.
– Mario
The first band that we were truly ready for was February. The female-fronted screamo band formed in 2023 and has been rising in popularity since, primarily thanks to the help of social media like TikTok, which was reflected in the noticeably younger age demographic of the crowd for their set. Mario and I stood right at the front of the stage. I leaned against the speaker as the crowd pushed and danced, while what seemed like an endless number of people dove off the stage in succession as lead singer Rila Ogawa’s screamo vocals rang through the venue. Ogawa knelt to the ground and breathed shakily into the microphone during breaks from screaming, a moment of further vulnerability amidst the raw and gut wrenching lyrics of the songs they performed. Among songs from their first 2024 self-titled album, they also performed some songs from their latest 2025 album, Run Like a Girl. The crowd sang along to nearly every song, with some people shoving to the front for Ogawa to point the microphone toward them as they screamed every word alongside her, representing Febuary’s noteworthy personal and emotional impact on their many listeners such as myself.
After Febuary, we rushed to the other side of the venue to see a band that I was particularly excited for: Teen Suicide. Of member Sam Ray’s many musical projects (such as Starry Cat and Ricky Eat Acid), Teen Suicide has stayed active the longest, with the help of his wife and musical partner, Kitty Pryde. Sam Ray’s projects have been super important to me since middle school, so it was incredible to see them live after having missed their 2024 tour—even if they didn’t play my favorites from their early 2015 albums. Teen Suicide played a majority of newer songs to fit the harsher and heavier vibe of the festival in place of their more lo-fi piano tracks. They debuted their latest single, “Idiot,” from their upcoming album Nude descending staircase headless. Ray’s somber vocals and heavy guitar combined with Pryde’s bubbly performance and girlier vocals made an enjoyable and unique performance that middle school me definitely would have fangirled over.
After Teen Suicide’s set, Mario and I decided to stay at the bigger stage. As people moved to the opposite side of the venue, we inched our way back up to the barricade, watching the small stage from afar. I wanted to be in the front for Momma, who performed next. Their 2025 album, Welcome To My Blue Sky, had been the soundtrack for my entire fall semester after hearing “I Want You (Fever)” on the radio the day I moved into my dorm. Momma’s discography mostly consists of upbeat, dancey indie rock tracks, so I assumed their performance was going to be a fun and memorable experience, and I was right. Possibly the best set of the day in terms of stage presence and mixing—likely as a result of their extensive sound check which bled into their first song—Momma had the crowd jumping to their biggest hits like “Cross Your Heart” and “Medicine.” A group of girls and I sang along to a majority of their set, which stood as a nice break from the more classic and sad emo acts prominent throughout the day.
– Julia
An hour later, Tigers Jaw got on the big stage, opening with “Hum” and then live debuting one of their new album’s singles “Head Is Like a Sinking Stone.” For a band with so many classic songs that hit the over four-minute mark playing a thirty-minute set, they did an incredible job of not wasting any time. They ripped straight into “Between Your Band and the Other Band” and barely hesitated as they began “Chemicals.” With around ten minutes left, they debuted “Ghost” (another single from the new album) and finished off their set by playing “Plane Vs. Tank Vs. Submarine” straight into “I Saw Water” without skipping a beat. Every single person in the crowd sang their hearts out. Then, as the music faded, The Hotelier began to set up.
The Hotelier played an hour-long set filled to the brim with emotion. Playing fourteen songs in total, The Hotelier put on a magnificent show. Three songs in, they performed “In Framing” straight into “Your Deep Rest,” the same way it plays out on the album. As both songs concluded, the girl next to me caught her breath as she joked that she just let out a decade of trauma. I turned back and saw that the entire crowd demographic had shifted. Julia and I seemed to be the youngest by about seven or so years. Before their set ended, they acknowledged headliner Explosions in the Sky, stating they wouldn’t be a band without them and that their next song, “An Introduction to the Album,” would not have existed without them.
– Mario
On Sunday, we got to the festival at 12:50 p.m. to catch every single band, starting with Glixen.
Glixen featured a noticeably bigger crowd for a first act compared to Her New Knife’s audience from the previous day, which surprised me considering their smaller fanbase. Before they went on, Mario and I ended up talking with someone who told us he had seen Glixen play before, and was excited for their set more than anyone else’s that day. I soon saw why. Founder and lead vocalist Aislinn Ritchie captivated the audience with her soft, tender vocals that broke through the blaring, heavy shoegaze guitar. Ritchie’s cutesy mannerisms accompanied her engagement with the crowd as she waltzed across the stage, pointing to the crowd while singing songs such as “Splendor,” their most popular track. Glixen’s charming performance set the mood for the day as we excitedly waited for what other great acts were to come.
– Julia
The second band on the bill for Sunday was Park National. Although a band I’m not the most familiar with, they put on an incredible show. For a relatively early spot, around 700–800 people were there for their set. “This whole experience has been so unreal, this lineup is like my musical heroes, so to get asked to play something like this is a dream come true,” Liam Fagan, lead singer and guitarist for Park National, told us. I jokingly asked why they didn’t play “Beef Shawarma,” and he answered that they almost did. With only a thirty-minute slot, they tried to fit in songs from every era, which was hard to do.
After Park National, First Day Back played the smaller stage. Besides headliner Sunny Day Real Estate and modern legends Citizen, it seemed that First Day Back was the most anticipated set of the day. Led by singer and violinist Maggie, First Day Back truly revives the ‘90s emo sound, while still bringing a modern charm. Lead singer and guitarist of Everyone Asked About You, Chris Sheppard, endorses them by claiming they’re the best band on the bill (even if he might be biased, as they will be touring together in the spring). They ended their set with “Twelve Mile Train Tracks”, a 6-minute love letter to their hometown of Santa Cruz. “It was definitely surreal to play a bill with a band that… [inspired me]. Sunny Day Real Estate was the first band that really inspired me to sing,” singer Maggie told us, also noting that she loves the fans and the energy they bring.
– Mario
After several sets and a break to get pizza with friends, Horse Jumper of Love was up next on the big stage. Returning to their city of origin here in Boston, Horse Jumper brought their signature slowcore tracks to the venue before the hardcore No Warning was set to play. Unfortunately, my favorite track, “Orange Peeler,” off of their self-titled first album, was not played. Horse Jumper played a majority of the songs from their 2024 album Disaster Trick, along with some from their older albums, including their most popular track, “Ugly Brunette.” Horse Jumper waved a sense of calmness over the crowd. I will take accountability and admit that Mario and I’s view for this set was not great—my view of lead vocalist Dimitri Giannopoulos was completely obscured—but with a slowcore band that focuses on low, monotone vocals and slow and simple instrumentals, all we really needed was some room for swaying and head nodding.
– Julia
Before Sunny Day Real Estate, I also had the pleasure of seeing No Warning, which I almost broke my nose moshing to, and Citizen, where I yelled with everything I had to the two songs I knew from them. As they finished their set, SDRE began setting up. A fourteen-year-old me would’ve probably burst into tears of excitement if you told him he was going to watch Sunny Day Real Estate live, and eighteen-year-old me was on the verge the entire time. They opened with lead singer Jeremy Enigk alone, singing his song “Asleep Under Last Week’s News.” There is not much information about this song outside of its powerful lyrics. Speculated to be written around the late ‘80s, the song still holds up to this day politically, reading “We’ll find our ignorance / Brought down by a society ruled by white politicians.” After that, they ripped straight into “One” and then “Killed by an Angel.” Halfway into their set, they announced that they were going to play a song they haven’t played in twenty-six years, “Snibe” off of The Rising Tide, with their reasoning being today’s political climate. Hearing the song through this lens really brought out the depth of Enigk’s songwriting abilities. They performed their last song, “Sometimes” (a personal favorite of mine), before leaving the stage. The crowd chanted for an encore, and the band returned within a minute. They concluded their set with “Pillars,” “The Rising Tide,” and “In Circles” back to back to back.
– Mario
Something in the Way Festival is a hidden gem in the festival world, bringing out the best of all types of alternative music. Furthermore, it stands as a reminder of the importance of the alternative scenes people have made throughout the past decades. Across the two days, each boasting nine hours of almost non-stop music, the festival bridged countless people and multiple generations through each performance. Teens singing every word of new screamo tracks, day one fans reliving past performances from their younger years, people of all kinds bonding over their longtime favorites or discovering new bands they’ve never heard of before. As we met new and awesome people during each set, it was clear that the shared admiration of raw lyrics, heavy guitar, and getting pushed in the pit seemed to be the only thing that mattered over the weekend. At the end of the long, long day that left our bodies sore, Something in the Way proved that it’s not just a phase, and emo is here to stay.