City Folk 2026, Day 5 at the TD Stage: Bad Nerves, Sex Pistols, and Alice Cooper

[A final report from Zachary Resnick and Ross MacDonald. – AC]

The final night of 2026’s City Folk Festival in Ottawa saw legends of punk and rock take to the main stage for a star-studded night of live music. 

The evening was kicked off by the Essex powerpunk quintet Bad Nerves, some of the best punk rockers to come about in recent years. 

They emerged to the Ramone’s ‘Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio,’ and opened explosively with ‘Baby Drummer.’ 

It was fast and furious punk rock, leading directly into ‘Don’t Stop,’ which got the crowd hopping. One thing I love about punk shows is you get a lot of songs for your buck. No stops, just tune into tune into tune. 

Case in point, there was barely time for the last note to settle when the band launched into the rollicking ‘Electric 88,’ followed by ‘Plastic Rebel.’ 

Lead singer Bobby Nerves (real name Robert Clemson) finally took a beat to greet the crowd, acknowledge this was their first ever show in Ottawa, and debut a track off of their upcoming album, the heavy ‘NETWORK.’

Again, there was not a moment to waste, as the band played directly into ‘Radio Punk,’ followed by the fast-paced and slithering melodies of ‘Television.’ 

As the band played the opening chords of ‘USA,’ the crowd was jumping and a circle pit had formed. This continued for ‘New Shapes,’ with Nerves remarking that they’d only seen one single, solitary crowd surfer thus far in the show. 

Next up was the thrashy ‘Antidote,’ followed by the tongue-in-cheek ‘The Kids Will Never Have Their Say.’ 

There was just enough time for Nerves to take a sip of water before exploding into the supersonic ‘Loner,’ and transitioning that into ‘You’ve Got the Nerve.’ 

Their hyper speed set closed out with ‘Can’t Be Mine’ followed by ‘Dreaming,’ and it was obvious that the crowd was warmed up for what was to come. 

Swelling strings and midnight blue lights announced the arrival of the Sex Pistols and Frank Carter to the stage.  Drummer Paul Cook showed that he’s still got the stuff and dominated his kit, before some heavy riffs kicked us into ‘Holidays in the Sun.’ 

This led right into ‘Seventeen,’ which itself led right into ‘New York.’ See what I mean about getting your money’s worth at a punk show?

Speaking of, by this point, Carter had descended down from the pit to sing from amongst the fans. No stranger to the punk rock scene by any means (he also led Gallows and the Rattlesnakes), Carter was as fine a frontman as anyone could want, save for Johnny Rotten himself (RIP.)

Calling for a huge circle pit to form, Carter started off ‘Pretty Vacant’ from within it. He called for the pit to become even bigger and launched into ‘Bodies.’

Finally, back on stage, a brief pause allowed Carter to cheekily address the average age of the crowd, asking everyone to bounce for ‘(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone.’ 

Next up was ‘Liar,’ then it was finally time for ‘God Save the Queen,’ which earned a thunderous pop.

This led right into ‘No Fun,’ which Carter dedicated to fellow acts Panic Shack and Bad Nerves. During the bridge, Carter had the honor of introducing the remaining three members of the Sex Pistols, including the aforementioned Cook, bassist Glen Matlock, and guitarist Steve Jones. 

Carter called yet again for a big hole to be opened in the mosh pit, citing this as the most important part of the show. The band declared this would be a women’s only pit before exploding into ‘No Feelings,’ and I gotta say, it was indeed the happiest pit I’ve ever seen. 

This continued into ‘Problems,’ before the band closed out their set with ‘Anarchy in the U.K,’ to a sing along and standing ovation. 

The sun had set. The moon was out. A spooky backdrop of a haunted attic appeared on the screen as things went bump in the night. A large crypt appeared on stage, opened, and he was there: the Godfather of Shock Rock, Alice Cooper. 

The show opened with a mix of ‘Hello Hooray/Who Do You Think We Are,’ then flowed into ‘Spark in the Dark’ as lightning flashed on the screen behind. 

Not making us wait for the hits, Cooper treated us to ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy,’ before the lights blazed red for ‘House of Fire.’ 

Things were heating up, as by this point Cooper had abandoned his top hat and jacket. A large part of the show’s electricity could be attributed to 22-year-old guitar phenom Anna Cara, who joined the band in April, and has immense talent and stage presence for someone so young. 

Pulling out a fencing foil, Cooper lunged into the gritty ‘Billion Dollar Babies.’ ‘I’m Eighteen’ got a huge pop from the crowd with visuals of a sketchbook appearing onscreen behind Cooper, who had traded foil for crutch. 

His next props were some skull-shaped maracas, which he shook to the beat of ‘Muscle of Love.’ 

Another big hit, another huge pop – blood red lights from the stage floor announced ‘Feed My Frankenstein.’ Halfway through the song, a giant effigy of Cooper marched out on stage, which drew even more cheers. 

Things slowed down ever so briefly, then ramped back up for the opening of ‘Dirty Diamonds.’ This was followed by the mellow (for Cooper) ‘Caught in a Dream.’ 

The next onslaught of songs was the trifecta of ‘Hey Stoopid,’ ‘Dangerous Tonight,’ and quite possibly the sexiest song in Cooper’s catalogue, ‘Poison.’ 

Cara got more time to shine with a thunderous guitar solo, which led into ‘Brutal Planet.’ 

Some other high points of the act were ‘Cold Ethyl,’ ‘School’s Out,’ covers of Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2’ and Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’ 

Cooper and band closed their freakshow with ‘Under My Wheels,’ and City Folk was closed out for another year, but what a note to go out on.