Fuerza Regida had already made history as the first música mexicana band featured on the cover of Rolling Stone — but their showcase on Friday night was a chance to remind everyone of the bold, audacious appeal and formidable stage presence that have brought the San Bernadino favorites to the top. Led by the relentlessly charismatic frontman JOP, Fuerza blasted through a packed setlist that included massive hits like “Marlboro Rojo,” imbuing tradition and classic música mexicana sounds with the brash, rebellious spirit of 21st-century rock stars.
The guys brought reinforcements to the showcase. A few years back, JOP co-founded the music label Street Mob, which has become a hub teeming with young talent and names that have quickly become some of the most exciting in música mexicana. Fuerza’s night at Rolling Stone’s Future of Music showcase — following Lola Young‘s opening-night performance on Thursday — became a Street Mob takeover, representing just how much this group has shaped the look and feel of the genre today.
Fuerza Regida (from left): Moisés López, José García, Samuel Jáimez, Khrystian Ramos, and JOP
Samantha Tellez for Rolling Stone
The first band to kick everything off was Linea Personal. One of the newest bands on the Street Mob roster, the quartet has stood out for its smoother, more sentimental approach to música mexicana — and for the wildly likable onstage presence of singer and frontman Gustavo Raya-García. Though the guys were some of the youngest onstage — their ages range from 17 to 25 — they didn’t miss a beat as they opened the festivities with the flickering strings of their corrido “Holanda,” a song they released back in 2024. They bounced through their repertoire from there, hitting high points like the dreamy “Balazos” and “Te Hubieras Ido Antes.” As the crowd screamed every lyric back to them, Raya-García leaned down from the stage to sign autographs for fans losing their minds in the front row. Next to him, his little brother Aidan Raya-García, 17, helped with back-up vocals.
Next, Clave Especial took it upon themselves to hype up the crowd. They’ve had huge momentum in the last year, rising through the ranks to become one of Street Mob’s most promising signees. The band cut its teeth as young college kids, gigging throughout California, something that clearly has made them a tight-knit band of performers. They swung through an upbeat setlist that included “La Neta,” “Tu tu tu,” “Como Capo,” and an unexpected cover of “Arriba Los Corridos,” by the OG group Los Alegres del Barranco Musical. The latter seemed to be a proud vindication of corridos, a style that’s been increasingly under scrutiny in música mexicana because of its tradition of name-checking outlaws, bandits, and cartel leaders. Clave performed all of their songs with a ton of conviction, raising the energy and prepping the crowd for what was to come.
Fuerza Regida headlined Night Two of Rolling Stone‘s Future of Music showcase at SXSW 2026.
Samantha Tellez for Rolling Stone
That gave Chino Pacas plenty of runway as he bounded onstage for one of the most off-the-wall sets of the night. The Mexican singer has charmed his way to the top of the música mexicana scene with his distinct, grit-filled delivery — even Drake hit him up to have him write a corrido for him. The 19-year-old sparkplug has relentless livewire energy and got things going with “Hoy de Perlas.” He put everything out there, sometimes stopping and letting the crowd yell out entire choruses for him — and thrilling everyone when surprise guest Chuyin, the newcomer known for wearing a giant doll-like mask, popped out to help him. Toward the end, Chino started feeling the rock & roll energy and leapt offstage, crowd-surfing into adoring fans.
In a lot of ways, his performance set the atmosphere for the main event. A brief video that recounted Fuerza’s journey going from backyard gigs to billions of streams pumped up the crowd — especially day ones who had followed the band’s trajectory all that way. Just after 11 p.m., the guys stepped out in matching studded leather vests, striding onstage with all the swashbuckling bravado they’ve earned since leaping out of San Bernadino, California. Instantly, it was straight to the hits: JOP sprang into action with their mega-hit “Marlboro Rojo,” a track that rocketed up the Billboard charts, hitting number one on Hot Latin Songs.
“Let’s go back in time,” he proclaimed at one point, taking the band back to a few of their earlier songs, like “Excesos,” from 2023. Still, Fuerza fans found hits from all eras that prove the band’s versatility: energetic corridos like “Que Onda” with Chino Pacas and smoother dancefloor starters like “Me Jalo” with cumbia outfit Grupo Frontera.
Toward the end, JOP looked up cheerfully into the crowd and showed off the streak of rebelliousness that’s defined so much of his own persona: “They’re telling me to get off, you know, but I’ma hit you guys with one more,” he teased as the fans shouted for more with chants of “Otra! Otra! Otra!” They launched into “Cuando No Era Cantante,” the massive reggaeton remix the guys hopped onto in 2024. With a swell of applause and a burst of smoke and explosions, Fuerza closed out the night — an apt ending for a band that isn’t afraid to break the rules a little bit.
