Q&A: Cobra Starship Returns to Riot Fest with a Nostalgic, High-Energy Set
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
Photo Credit: Alina Pawl-Castanon
COBRA STARSHIP’S RIOT FEST SET BRIDGES GENERATIONS OF FANS — Riot Fest has always been a place where legends and newcomers collide, but few sets this year carried as much anticipation — or as much nostalgia — as Cobra Starship’s return to the big stage. On Sunday, September 21, frontman Gabe Saporta led the long-awaited comeback with a performance that was both a throwback moment and fresh introduction, reminding fans why Cobra Starship became a defining act of the late 2000s while welcoming a new generation into their orbit.
What made the performance so powerful, though, was the way it bridged eras. The crowd wasn’t just packed with millennials reliving their Warped Tour youth — Gen Z fans were just as loud, taking in Cobra Starship’s high-energy hooks for the first time. The set felt less like a reunion and more like a revival, proving that the band’s dancefloor-punk aesthetic still hits with the same force today as it did more than a decade ago.
Before Cobra Starship lit up the Riot Fest stage, Luna had the chance to sit down with Gabe Saporta for an exclusive backstage conversation just hours before his long-awaited return. Relaxed but buzzing with anticipation, Saporta reflected on what it means to step back into the spotlight after more than a decade away — and how surreal it feels to see a whole new generation of fans discovering his music for the first time.
Saporta also opened up about what’s driving him now: a mix of gratitude, creative fire and a desire to give fans — both longtime diehards and Gen Z newcomers — the same chaotic joy that made Cobra Starship impossible to ignore years ago.
For fans who caught the set later that evening, it was clear that fire translated into a performance that was a celebration, time capsule and rebirth.
Photo Credit: Alina Pawl-Castanon
LUNA: Thank you for talking to Luna. Coming back from a hiatus, how has the fan response felt? Has anything surprised you about how the audience has received Cobra Starship again?
COBRA STARSHIP: I'm so grateful that people care about Cobra Starship 10 years later, and what I love, I think what contributes to longevity is new people learning about you. I just love seeing so many young people there too. I think that's the part that I'm really touched by. Even Warped Tour last month now is unbelievable. For Warped Tour, they don't tell you when you're going to play until the day of and we were playing last. It could have been a death sentence. We played Sunday night, and it’s the last one and everyone’s tired after the long weekend. Back when we were touring, we didn't have this level of technology of the cameras and the drone angles and the video clips. Now we have this great video of a live show of Cobra Starship that never existed before. I'm so happy that we're releasing that. Actually, they did a stream of it, but they allowed us to keep it and put it up on Cobra Starship, so we're going to put it up in the next few weeks. I'm very excited.
LUNA: You’ve been back on some major stages recently — how do you personally prepare for a big performance? Do you have any pre-show or post-show rituals or regimens that help you get into the right mindset before hitting the stage?
COBRA STARSHIP: I was thinking about that today because I'm here with my team and they're awesome, but they're hanging out, going and doing stuff, and I have the looming thought of having a performance in two days and a big one on a big stage. Because I'm not touring and playing every day, it feels much heavier, much more decisive. It adds a little bit of pressure. I'm just staying focused on it. I really just got to focus on making sure that I'm in the best shape to be able to put on a good show. It's exhausting.
LUNA: Has your source of inspiration shifted since the early Cobra Starship days, or do you find yourself tapping into the same energy as before?
COBRA STARSHIP: I still listen to the same music I listen to for warming up. A new artist that I’ve been warming up to now has been blackbear.
LUNA: Do you have a favorite song to perform live that never fails to get the crowd going?
COBRA STARSHIP: My two favorites are “Paparazzi” and “Kiss My Sass” both from the early Cobra days and they just have a lot of great crowd moments and they really come alive.
LUNA: Have you noticed new generations of fans showing up to the shows, and how does that shape the energy in the room?
COBRA STARSHIP: I feel that if I looked out and all I saw was just moms and dads that were in bands 15 years ago and just kind of chilling, I'd be like, that's cool. I'm grateful because we're here looking nostalgic, but to see so many young people losing their minds, it makes us really excited.
LUNA: What’s fueling your fire right now — musically or personally — that’s pushing you into this next chapter?
COBRA STARSHIP: I started a men's skincare company called Brotege that's really meant for dudes that are not doing anything and just don't know anything about how to take care of themselves. It's not only for dudes, a lot of women are using it and they love it. I always say, gross is a state of mind, but I just feel like so many of my friends are such dirtbags and deadbeats that I had to help them. That's really been really fun, because there's a lot of creative elements that go into it. You're developing a product which is now just like writing the music, and then you're building the universe around it, kind of like going on tour and sharing with the world. I'm passionate about that. I feel like everything I've learned in music and community building, I'm applying it to this. It doesn't feel corporate, even though it's skincare, right, which sounds like the most corporate thing you can do. I think it's cool to have time where people who are entrepreneurial and can really do anything they want.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Luna?
COBRA STARSHIP: We just got an offer to go to Australia, so we're going to Australia at the end of December for the Good Things Festival, which is awesome. I haven’t been to Australia in 15 years, so I’m very excited about that. Then for 2026, nothing on the books yet. Between Midtown and Cobra Starship, I try to maybe alternate to one, one year, one the other year since we got back together. Riot Fest is really cool for me, because Riot Fest was the first Midtown show back, so that was awesome. That was three years ago. I hadn't really been on stage for almost 10 years prior to that, so that opened the door for all this.
Photo Credit: Alina Pawl-Castanon
