Cage the Elephant, Dexter and the Moonrocks Crash CMA Fest at JBJs

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.

Pierce says his group, which evokes the art-rock of Talking Heads, are often mistaken for a country band when they tell people they’re from Nashville. “There is that stigma,” he says. “But we go harder than any part of the city in a pretty major way. You’ve seen Rocknite shows — people are hanging off the banisters. And they do it for the love of the game. Everybody is trying to leave their imprint on this scene that is just booming right now.”

The Rocknite community formed in the Highland Park neighborhood of L.A. and now has offshoots in Nashville, New York, Chicago, and Long Beach, California. Its latest installment in Nashville is slated for Skinny Dennis on Monday night, with Zdan headlining, with another lineup on tap for Bonnaroo this weekend.

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