{"id":416844,"date":"2026-07-29T18:11:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T18:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/416844\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T18:11:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T18:11:46","slug":"review-fandom-rocked-thursday-night-at-san-diego-comic-con-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/416844\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: Fandom Rocked Thursday Night at San Diego Comic-Con 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

If you were lucky enough to win the lottery (or know someone who knows someone, or\u00a0if you are \u201csomeone\u201d), Fandom once again threw the hottest ticket of Thursday night.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of parties during San Diego Comic-Con, but year after year, Fandom\u2019s annual kickoff celebration feels like the one everyone wants an invite to. With Entertainment Weekly no longer hosting its annual bash on Saturday, this year\u2019s event felt like it absorbed even more of Hollywood, with an impressive mix of celebrities, creators, industry folks, influencers, and regular attendees all mingling together atop FLOAT at the Hard Rock Hotel.<\/p>\n

Presented by Halo: Campaign Evolved, this year\u2019s iteration of the rooftop bash featured colorful cocktails courtesy of 196 Vodka Seltzer, as well as a customizable hat-making station from Z2 Comics celebrating And Out Comes the Wolf (and we loved how the customizing felt like it fit right in with the art-centric world of SDCC, so hats off \u2014 pun intended \u2014 to Z2).<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Both were fun additions, but the real reason people clamor for an invite to Fandom is for the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s just something about watching the sun go down over the Gaslamp in downtown San Diego with a drink in your hand, surrounded by hundreds of people who are all still buzzing from the first full day of Comic-Con. Every year the rooftop feels like the place to be.<\/p>\n

And then there were the celebrities. With Entertainment Weekly sitting this year\u2019s party circuit, the caliber of guests felt noticeably elevated. Everywhere you turned there was another familiar face. Keith David (The Princess & The Frog, President Curtis), David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad), Doug Jones (Pan\u2019s Labyrinth), Jack Quaid (The Boys, My Adventures with Superman), Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), the Grimm cast, even Widow\u2019s Bay cast members, wrestlers, and football players\u2026 even if you weren\u2019t actively looking, you\u2019d inevitably bump into someone. Even Wild Wing of the Anaheim Ducks was in attendance.<\/p>\n

As always, the food remained the evening\u2019s weakest point \u2014 though \u201cweakest\u201d is relative. Servers emerged carrying trays that immediately attracted attendees like hungry vultures, and anything good disappeared in seconds. We managed to snag a bacon-wrapped gorgonzola bite and an empanada before they vanished, which felt like a victory in itself.<\/p>\n

The real star of the night, though, was the music.<\/p>\n

After leaning into live bands instead of DJs over the last couple of years (a trend I hope continues!), Fandom has clearly found a winning formula. This year\u2019s performance by The Coverups (fronted by Green Day\u2019s Billie Joe Armstrong, with a surprise appearance by Iron Maiden\u2019s Bruce Dickinson) absolutely ripped. They tore through a set of rock covers, including Whitesnake\u2019s \u201cReady to Rock\u201d, and the crowd ate up every second of it.<\/p>\n

\"\"SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA \u2013 JULY 23: (L-R) Bill Schneider, Billie Joe Armstrong, Chris Dugan, and Jason White of The Coverups perform onstage during the Fandom Party during SDCC 2026 at Float at Hard Rock Hotel San Diego on July 23, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone\/Getty Images for Fandom)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny how often Comic-Con attendees say they\u2019re exhausted by Thursday night. Fandom somehow has the opposite effect. You leave energized, reminded why you came to San Diego in the first place.<\/p>\n

Was it perfect? We still wish there were actual food stations instead of a mad dash every time a tray appeared. But that\u2019s a tiny complaint about what continues to be Comic-Con\u2019s premier party.<\/p>\n

No one does Thursday night better.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you were lucky enough to win the lottery (or know someone who knows someone, or\u00a0if you are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[157346,15060,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-416844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-offsite","tag-review","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}