Have mercy! It appears John Stamos is headed to Riot Fest.
In a surprise announcement Thursday morning, festival organizers shared the actor and musician has “tentatively/begrudgingly agreed” to show up next month during the event’s 20th anniversary year. As some suspected when the lineup dropped in April, Stamos will appear Sept. 20 to sit in on drums for previously announced act The Beach Boys, continuing a special guest spot he’s held in the band on and off for 40 years. The Beach Boys are performing in the penultimate set of the night on the Riot Stage.
The news comes after a hard-fought decade of work by Riot Fest to get Stamos to appear at the event. Efforts began in 2013 when organizers jokingly attempted over Twitter to get Jesse and the Rippers to perform for one of the festival’s infamous reunion sets. That already seemed implausible considering the act was the purely fictional “Full House” band fronted by Stamos’ character Uncle Jesse.
When it didn’t happen, the mission became an obsession for fest organizers. That same year, they commissioned a giant Land O’Lakes butter sculpture of Stamos by food artist Jim Victor as a stand-in. Stamos responded, saying he was “flattered and pretty frightened.” Last year, the idea was rehashed with a new 12-foot foam and resin statue featuring Stamos’ likeness modeled as a Greek god.
Over the years, Riot Fest has also curated a John Stamos art show, hosted a John Stamos birthday party and issued Valentine’s Day cards, T-shirts and other themed ephemera all the while continuing to prod the actor on social media.
When Stamos issued another rejection letter in jest in 2023, Riot Fest even paid actors on Cameo to offer dramatic readings with everyone from Gary Busey to Ric Flair to Corey Feldman declaring, in Stamos’ own words, “I will never go to Riot Fest and I wish you would stop asking me.”
While Stamos has now apparently caved into the pressure, making sure the performance actually happens won’t come easy for Riot Fest.
The actor issued a series of “demands” that must be met to ensure his appearance happens, among them: a look-alike contest, a special edition T-shirt, a Greek-style pizza in his honor created by a Chicago restaurant, a foot rub from Riot Fest’s Twitter Person and fest founder Mike Petryshyn (aka Riot Mike) agreeing to get a John Stamos tattoo — all of which seem to be in the works.
Petryshyn shared in a statement to the Sun-Times, “I don’t know what’s going on. All I know is I’m getting a John Stamos tattoo.”
Stamos wasn’t immediately available for comment. On Thursday, he posted on X “Let’s go Mike — I wanna see this tattoo before I even book a flight.”
Let’s go Mike- I wanna see this tattoo before I even book a flight https://t.co/tbea7Agw4r
— John Stamos (@JohnStamos) August 14, 2025
Looks like Petryshyn is holding up his end of the bargain; on Thursday afternoon, through Riot Fest’s X account, he said: “Game on. I made a tattoo appointment for Tuesday.” Fans can weigh in on the design online at bringjohnstamostoriotfest.com. Designs include Stamos’ character’s catchphrase “Have mercy,” Stamos’ image with a snare drum and, of course, a couple of designs prominently featuring butter.
A Riot Fest spokesperson said in a release, “Over the next few weeks in the lead-up to the festival, we at Riot Fest will make every effort to complete this list of demands from Mr. John Stamos so he will be in attendance at Riot Fest 2025.”
Riot Fest takes place Sept. 19-21 at Douglass Park and will also feature Blink-182, Weezer, Green Day, Jack White, Weird Al Yankovic, Idles and dozens of other acts. Tickets are on sale now at riotfest.org.