There can’t be many places in the world where you can get married by someone dressed as Freddie Mercury, celebrate by watching an aerial stunt show from the top of a big wheel, then round out your night seeing Linkin Park deal out hit after hit to a crowd 100,000 people strong.
That’s precisely how you could have spent your time at Rock In Rio Lisboa over the weekend though.
Transforming Lisbon’s Parque Tejo into the ‘City Of Rock’ for four days throughout June, as the festival returned for its 11th year, Rock Sound was there to capture the fun – and there was a hell of a lot it to be had.
Since the inception of the multi-day festival in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro back in 1985, Rock In Rio has grown exponentially. Branching out to Lisbon for the first time in 2004, over the years it has expanded to include so much more than music, and this year is no different.
Even before stepping on-site, you could swing by historic pastry shop Pastéis de Belém for a collaboration with Linkin Park, with queues snaking around Lisbon’s streets in hopes of grabbing exclusive goodies from the band.
Once you make your way to the grounds of the City Of Rock, though, good luck trying to cram everything on offer into your schedule. There’s an airshow that plays out like the ultimate half-time show each day, lighting up the sky with a demonstration of synchronized loops, dives and pyrotechnic effects. There are immersive experiences all throughout the iconic Route 85, celebrating four decades of music and culture. Just a short walk away, you’ll find the School of Rock, a space dedicated to platforming the next generation of talent with performances by students from across the globe.
You can hop on the giant wheel for views of the festival site and the Tagus River, there’s a zip line travelling directly in front of the main stage, and there’s even a whole area dedicated to Portugal’s love of football, broadcasting the World Cup matches on a huge screen.
Then, of course, there’s the music. On the festival’s opening day – dedicated to the pop universe and its biggest chart-topping stars – we saw Katy Perry top the bill with a set that found her dancing with aliens, fending of calls from her exes on prop phones, and crowd-surfing in a giant inflatable water bottle.
It was a triumphantly fun way to kickstart Rock In Rio Lisboa 2026, but the festival’s second day moved the spotlight over to the rock world. Rounding out with Linkin Park headlining to a crowd of 100,000, here’s a run through of every artist we managed to catch throughout the day.
Grandson
“No matter what they try to tell you… You are not alone, and you should not be afraid,” Grandson declared mid-way through his opening set on the festival’s main stage, setting the tone for an hour of politically charged rap-infused rock ragers. Taking aim at everything from the militarisation of technology (‘AUTONOMOUS DELIVERY ROBOT’) and nationalism (‘LITTLE WHITE LIES’) to society’s role in pushing people to commit unspeakable acts (‘Darkside’ and ‘YOU MADE ME THIS WAY’), frustration flows through every moment of Grandson’s time onstage, but it’s served up in a way that encourages community over complacency. Emphasising the importance of standing together, channelling our anger into forward motion, and picking one another up when we fall – there’s no better way to kickstart a day celebrating the immense power of rock music.
The Pretty Reckless
If you managed to catch The Pretty Reckless at Download earlier this month, you know that they’re essentially the perfect festival band. Embodying an unstoppable rock-and-roll energy and with enough devilishly anthemic tracks to more than comfortably fill their hour-long stint on the World Stage, from the second Taylor Momsen and co. step onstage – it’s clear they’ve not come to play around. From the rousing stomp of ‘Death By Rock and Roll’ to the gorgeous sensuality of early cuts ‘Miss Nothing’ and ‘Make Me Wanna Die’, everyone in the field appears transfixed, captivated by the sheer rock power radiating from the four musicians before them. A stunning display of the type of mystifying, unifying wonder this music is capable of creating, it’s further proof that The Pretty Reckless are at the top of their game right now.
P.O.D.
When you can launch into a set with a song loaded with the kind of fervent energy and rousing singalongs that ‘Boom’ boasts in abundance, you’re onto an absolute winner, especially when you’re faced with an audience as enthusiastic as this. With the evening’s antics in full swing by the time the Californian nu-metal icons take to the Palco Music Valley stage, the likes of ‘Satellite’ and ‘Youth Of The Nation’ transport us straight back to 2001, whilst newer cuts ‘Afraid To Die’ and ‘I Got That’ showcase the punchy, scream-along choruses that dominate 2024 album ‘Veritas’. With temperatures soaring to 32 degrees in Lisbon, warming up is almost the last thing Rock In Rio Lisboa needs, but as the crowd disperses after a last roaring rendition of ‘Alive’ – P.O.D. have ensured that vibes are at an all-time high.
Cypress Hill
There’s something about Cypress Hill firing out a whole hour of psychedelic rock-infused hip-hop tunes as the blazing Portuguese sun goes down that feels almost magical. Stepping onto the World Stage right before Linkin Park, over three decades on from their formation, the Californian crew are still going strong. Whilst that’s partly thanks to their 1996 hit ‘Illusions’ bringing a new generation of fans into the fold with its recent TikTok resurgence, it’s also down to the fact that they have so many absolutely undeniable songs in their arsenal, ready to deal out to a crowd more than ready to play. Powering through the high-octane haziness of ‘I Wanna Get High’ and ‘Hits From The Bong’ and the almost playful fury of ‘Can’t Get The Best Of Me’ and ‘(Rock) Superstar’, despite B-Real having to cut things short due to a crowd injury after ‘Insane In The Brain’, the quartet proved exactly why they belong in front of crowds this size.
Linkin Park
Since joining the band back in 2024, Emily Armstrong has said that ‘Waiting For The End’ is her favourite Linkin Park song, and when you see her perform it tonight – it’s incredibly easy to believe. Powering through the final few shows of a relentless touring schedule, as the ‘A Thousand Suns’ cut reaches its emotional climax, her voice cracks as she raises a hand to wipe at her eyes. In front of her, there of plenty of people doing the exact same thing.
That simple collective reaction speaks volumes about the magnitude of this moment, capturing so much of what this band has come to mean to the 100,000 people stood in this field. With some having set up camp at the barrier from the minute the festival’s gates opened, it’s a reminder that Linkin Park is a family, and everyone is welcomed to join.
Closing out Rock In Rio Lisboa’s first weekend with an unstoppable headline set, that spirit of unity soars through the band’s entire set. Early classics ‘Crawling’ and ‘One Step Closer’ are met with raucous response from the seemingly never-ending sea of bodies, whilst the likes of ‘Two Faced’ and ‘Up From The Bottom’ spark similar chaos, closing out with shouts of, “we love you, Emily!”.
With an incredibly well-deserved break from touring ahead, Linkin Park’s return to Rock In Rio Lisboa emphasises that no matter how much has changed, their core message will always remain the same. Rock music is about togetherness. It’s about supporting each other through the darkest and brightest moments. It’s about trying to focus on what unites us, rather than what divides us. And in 2026, we need that more than ever before.
Rock In Rio Lisboa will return this weekend, with Rod Stewart headlining the World Stage on June 27 and 21 Savage closing things out on June 28.
