Almost Monday Marks Full Circle Moment During Electrifying ALTer EGO Debut
By Kelly Fisher
January 18, 2026
Almost Monday brought an electrifying vibe to the stage as the band made their full-circle debut at iHeartRadio ALTer EGO presented by Capital One. The 2026 event returned on Saturday night (January 17) at Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.
The San Diego-based pop-rockers kicked off their set with “jupiter,” and continued with “cough drops,” “only wanna dance,” “lost” and “can’t slow down.” The group took the stage with upbeat, infectious energy as they marked a full circle moment with the California crowd. Lead singer Dawson Daugherty (one-third of the trio, along with Cole Clisby and Luke Fabry) pointed out that “these are bands we covered in high school, and it’s absolutely surreal” to be included in the lineup alongside them. Before closing Almost Monday’s set, he said “what an honor, man. What an honor.”
Almost Monday scored a nomination at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards in the Best New Artist (Alternative) category. The show will take place this spring at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Like in years past, iHeartRadio is letting the fans choose the winners in several new and established categories. Fan voting will determine this year’s Favorite Broadway Debut, Favorite TikTok Dance, Favorite Debut Album, Best Lyrics, Best Music Video, Favorite On Screen, Favorite Tour Photographer, Favorite Soundtrack, Favorite Tour Style, Favorite Tour Tradition and Favorite K-pop Collab. Social voting begins on January 8th, and will close on March 19th at 11:59pm PT for all categories. Fans can vote by visiting iHeartRadio.com/awards. Tune in to see which artists will take home an iHeartRadio Music Award on Thursday, March 26th at 8pm ET live (PT tape-delayed) on FOX. The show will also be broadcast on iHeartRadio stations across the country and on the iHeartRadio app.
See the full list of nominees here.
Other artists in the 2026 iHeartRadio ALTer EGO lineup included Cage The Elephant, Mt. Joy, Good Charlotte, Gigi Perez, Sublime, Twenty One Pilots and Green Day. Watch some of their performance highlights below.