Riot Fest

live in Chicago (part four) (2014)

Joe

I first attended Riot Fest in 2011 when I was a freshman in college. Back in those days, Riot Fest was held in multiple concert venues across the city. I saw Social Distortion at the Congress Theater and had a great time. 2012 saw the festival's first move outside to Humboldt Park on the west side of Chicago. Riot Fest 2012 had three large stages and a smaller side stage along with a carnival on the grounds. The headliners included The Offspring, Rise Against and Iggy & the Stooges. In 2013 the festival continued to grow adding another large stage and having two headliners a day (Fall Out Boy, Danzig performing Misfits, Blink—182, The Pixies and The Replacements). Following the conclusion of Riot Fest 2013 I thought to myself, how could they possibly make this festival any better? When the lineup was released back in May, my mind was absolutely blown. What was once a small punk fest had grown into one of the best rock music festivals in the country.
A new addition to this year's Riot Fest was an opening night show on Thursday at the historic Aragon Ballroom. The lineup featured two of Chicago's biggest punk bands: Rise Against and The Lawrence Arms with opening support from post—hardcore outfit Touche Amore and teenage punk prodigies Radkey. After a week that consisted of a breakup and an absolutely massive amount of schoolwork I was beyond ready to release some steam at the show. Radkey came on stage and kicked off Riot Fest 2014 with their high energy Danzig—esque song "Out Here in My Head." I first heard of Radkey when they were on the on the Riot Fest 2013 lineup. I was quite impressed with their music but did not see them at last year's fest because their time slot overlapped with Pennywise. Before the first song was over, I had been blown away by just how great of a live band these kids are. The sound was phenomenal and the stage presence was solid. After a thirty minute set that clearly impressed many first time listeners Radkey closed their set with "Romance Dawn" my personal favorite. Up next was Touche Amore who I had only given a brief listen to before the show. When they came on I was not impressed. While they were clearly talented musicians I could not get into it at all. My knowledge of post—hardcore is very limited so they may perhaps be an acquired taste because the crowd seemed to be enjoying them. After a few songs I elected to go downstairs to the merchandize tables and look around. I ended up getting to talk to Isaiah, the bassist from Radkey for a bit before heading back up to see The Lawrence Arms.
The Lawrence Arms did exactly what I expected them to: play a set made up almost entirely of "Metropole" and "Oh Calcutta." On multiple occasions Brendan Kelly told the crowd that he started the band down the street from the Aragon (which confirms my suspicions that the band is named after Lawrence Avenue) and never imagined that his band would be playing in the gargantuan 4,000 capacity venue fifteen years later. Once it was Rise Against's turn the play the venue was filled to capacity and the crowd was getting rowdy. After cutting the lights, Rise Against took the stage opening with "Ready to Fall" one of their most intense songs post—"Revolutions Per Minute." The band proceeded to power through an hour and a half filled with classics like "Re—education Through Labor" and "Prayer of the Refugee" as well as several tracks off of their rarely acknowledged hardcore punk album "Revolutions Per Minute." If I am not mistaken they also played a song from back when they were called Transistor Revolt. Surprisingly the set only consisted of two song from "The Black Market" which was released only last month. During the encore, Tim pulled out an acoustic guitar proceeded to play "Hero of War" dedicating it to all of the Iraq/Afghanistan War veterans who he has met on tour over the years. The date also happened to be September 11th so it was a very touching moment and really showed just how powerful music can be. Following the slowdown, they closed with "Savior" sending everyone home amped up and ready for the festival tomorrow.
After finishing my last Friday class at 12:15 I walked back to my apartment in the pouring rain and 50 degree cold. It looked like it was going to be a repeat of the third day of Riot Fest 2013, a cold, rainy and muddy shit show. Along with a group of friends I arrived at Humboldt Park an hour after gates opened. Sadly I missed Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears because of buses running slower than usual. I did manage to catch Title Fight which was a nice way to begin the fest. While not being too familiar with their music I thoroughly enjoyed watching them jam out on stage and seeing all of their hardcore fans violently finger pointing up close. After Title Fight ended, the rain finally let up. But unfortunately the grass was already completely destroyed and there were pools of water and mud everywhere. Up next was Gwar's second show since the death of lead singer Dave Brockie (aka Oderus). Many people thought Gwar was done after Brockie died but instead they have chosen to come back bigger and stronger than before. The band featured two new singers. Mike Bishop, the band's former bassist and an attractive blonde girl nicknamed Vulvatron. The show was exactly what you would expect from Brockie—era Gwar. Politicians were decapitated, dinosaurs were slayed and the crowd was sprayed with fake blood.
Covered in rain, mud and Gwar blood I made the long trek from the Rebel Stage to the Rock Stage. Since Riot Fest had dramatically increased in size since 2013, the festival's layout was completely different. Last year there were four large stages and one small stage. This year there were five large stages and two small stages. The fest also moved from South Humboldt Park to North Humboldt Park. The new layout had several pros and cons. Getting to North Humboldt Park takes about 20 less minutes for me coming from Roger's Park to the northeast which was nice. It's also within walking distance of the Blue Line which did not affect my transit to the fest but sure adds a level of convenience for many Chicagoans. The close proximity of the Rise, Rebel, Roots, Riot, Revolt and Radical stage was very convenient and there were fewer traffic jams of people trying to get between stages. I give props to the Riot Fest organizers for fixing one of my biggest complaints from last year's fest. Only downside of the layout was just how far away the Rock Stage was from the other six stages. I will have more on that later.
After Gwar finished at the Rebel Stage it took me a good 15 minutes to walk to the Rock Stage to catch Senses Fail. I did manage to hear a few Stiff Little Fingers songs along the way which was nice. I got there several songs into Senses Fail's set and quickly noticed they were trying to cram in their entire album "Let it Enfold You" into their 45 minute set. Buddy Nielson has clearly matured since the album's release ten years ago. Not only are his screams harsher, the clean vocals sounded much less whiney than they do on the record. Overall Senses Fail sounded great and the crowd energy was high. My only complaint is they did not have a chance to playing anything off of their other records (which for the record "Renacer" is by far my favorite).
Up next was Riot Fest Speaks, a discussion panel featuring two members of Pussy Riot, Tim McCilrath from Rise Against, Greg Graffin and Henry Rollins. I was quite excited for this but after several minutes of hearing Henry Rollins rave about how much punk changed his life I figured this would be a better event to watch once a recording is available online if I ever felt inclined. After all, I came here for music not talking. I decided to make my way back over the Radical Stage to see Radkey again rather than standing way in the back for NOFX. Their crowd was very small (that's what happens when you are competing against NOFX and We Came as Romans) but the energy level was very high. I stood relatively close and an older guy, maybe around 50 years old was next to me, and he was completely blown away by Radkey (I assume he was a little drunk but still it was cool to see someone so hyped for a band they have never heard of). Between songs the crowd gave enormous applauses and I even heard people say stuff like "who the hell are these kids? They're amazing!" Having been a Radkey fan for a while I was happy to see people really appreciating these kids music. After the set, I got a chance to talk to the bassist Isaiah again for a little bit again and was shocked to find out Radkey is still unsigned and produce all their music completely DIY. I told him it's only a matter of time until Epitaph, Fat Wreck Chords or Victory come knocking at their door. He seemed to think I was joking but I was entirely serious. Having the chance to chat with them twice really showed me just how down to Earth they are and I wish them nothing but the best in their coming years of touring.
Up next I had a tough decision to make: Gogol Bordello, Mastodon or Murder City Devil's. I ended up choosing Gogol Bordello because it would most effectively put me in position to move to The Offspring afterward. After a high energy set typical of Gogol Bordello it was The Offspring's turn. Despite the fact that Of Mice & Men were playing on the other stage, the crowd at The Offspring was surprisingly filled with lots of teenagers and younger people. The Offspring opened by playing "Smash" front to back which was filled with high energy. They followed up with a closing set of some of their most popular songs including "All I Want" and "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" before closing with "The Kids Aren't Alright." The crowd liveliness was great despite the cold and muddy conditions. I was in no mood to mosh after doing so during Gwar and Radkey and being covered in mud with the temperature dropping into the 40s so I was glad the crowd was more into just jumping around rather than pushing. After The Offspring was another long walk to the Rock Stage to see Rise Against again. I would've liked to see a bit of Slayer but the long distance between stages made it impractical. Rise Against played an almost identical but shorter set list. The rain began to come down much harder and Rise Against's light show looked incredible up against the rain. Sadly they did not play "Dancing for Rain." But luckily we got a cover of "Teenage Lobotomy" featuring Fat Mike. With Rise Against, Slayer and Jane's Addiction all ending at the same time, so getting out of the park was a fiasco. Luckily I only had a short walk to Wicker Park.
In Wicker Park is the small club Double Door, where Bad Religion and Anti—Flag were having an after party. Unfortunately I missed most of Anti—Flag because I was stuck walking with a friend who is really fat and walks tremendously slow. But in the end it did not matter because I have seen Anti—Flag before and all of their shows are pretty much the same. Bad Religion came on stage and played for almost two hours. Any song anyone could have possibly wanted them to play, they played. By the end I was ready to get out of there because I had not sat down in over 9 hours. Overall they played a fantastic set and it was great to see a band as legendary as Bad Religion play in a small club. I regret not going to the Cock Sparrer/Stiff Little Fingers after party happening at the Concord Music Hall but I still had a great time.
Day two of Riot Fest was a beautiful day, 65 degrees and sunny. Unfortunately it was still a muddy mess. After a late night out thanks to Bad Religion I slept through The Pizza Underground and Anti—Flag Saturday afternoon. Luckily I made it in time for Streetlight Manifesto. Streetlight played a fast set taking hardly any breaks between songs (well aside from taking a minute to say "we love Chicago but fuck Victory Records"). During Streetlight's set I decided to test my luck moshing. To make a painful and muddy story short: it did not go well. I felt bad missing The Buzzcocks for Streetlight but in terms of quantity I know more Streetlight songs so I elected to see them. Following Streetlight I had a few hours to kill before another band of interest was playing. I decided it was a good time to look around at some of the merchandize tents. Riot Fest had many of your typical festival vendors: hippie tapestry salesman, PETA, hand blown glass pipes "for tobacco use only," (for the record weed smoke was everywhere all weekend and the public cigarette/vaporizer ban in Chicago was not being enforced at all) booths from Epitaph, Fat, Rise, etc. Lots of pointless materialistic possessions I would have love to waste money on but as a college student with a relatively small budget I had to be a smart shopper. I ended up stopping at the Pirate Press Records booth and chatting with the actual owner of the label and a few members of the Downtown Struts for a bit; all really nice and down to Earth guys.
Back on the music side of things, South African shock artist Die Antwoord was up next. Some mediocre indie band played five minutes beyond their set time and caused Die Antwoord to be late. The crowd was clearly getting pissed off by this (as they should be considering a marquee band like Die Antwoord was only getting 45 minutes). After a late start, Die Antwoord picked things up right away. For those who are unfamiliar with Die Antwoord, a quick YouTube search would do better for your understanding of them than my explaining could. In short, the crowd was going crazy, the sound was phenomenal and the stage presence was excellent. One thing that threw me off was the group's backup dancers were dressed a bit like the Klu Klux Klan but considering one of the dancers was black and they are from South Africa I assume they are most likely unaware of the coincidence in costume so I did not think much of it.
After about 15 minutes I ducked out to get a good spot for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. The mud at the Rise Stage was almost unbearable. Just standing and waiting in the spongy mud for the Bosstones was a drain on my leg muscles. Once the Bosstones came on, all leg pains were quickly forgotten. The band sounded phenomenal. Whoever was controlling the sound mixing was doing a fantastic job balancing the horns and guitars. They played exactly what you would expect them to (Dr. D, Rascal King, Royal Oil, Impression that I Get, etc.). Following the Bosstones was Me First & the Gimme Gimmes. I caught about fifteen minutes before realizing that I hate pop music and punk covers hardly make the songs any better. Regardless, they sounded great considering they rarely play live and Fat Mike sure thought he was hilarious saying "this song is cover" before every song.
Up next: Wu—Tang Clan, this year's token rap group. The crowd was absolutely massive for Wu—Tang. For the first time at the fest I noticed security personnel amongst the crowd rather than just as entrances. I thought it was odd they would ramp up their presence for just one band. But I quickly realized Riot Fest gave them all time off to see the one group at the fest that appealed to many security guards. Wu—Tang did exactly what you would expect a veteran rap group to do. Spend lots of time hyping up the crowd, making everyone chant their individual names and then occasionally playing a song. The crowd energy was amazing and to be brutally honest, hearing 50,000 white people shouting "Wu—Tang Clan ain't nuthin to fuck with" cracked me up a little. About halfway through Wu—Tang I ducked out so I could get myself up close for Cock Sparrer.
I have been listening to Cock Sparrer for years and they are probably the only band in my top ten favorites that I have not seen live before so I was ecstatic to finally be seeing them. When they took the stage and the opening riff to "Riot Squad" began the whole crowd went insane. Luckily the mud had turned from a soggy disaster into a compact, moist and bouncy surface that was perfect for moshing. Not slippery and not painful to land on like dry grass or concrete. What surprised me most about the crowd up close was how young it was. I remember being a high schooler seeing bands like Street Dogs and Guttermouth; when I would look around at the gigs I would always notice that I was by far the youngest person there and there were very few people within ten years of me. When it came to punk I was a bit of a pessimist because there were so few young and exciting bands and no other kids at the gigs, just older people. Fast forward four years and there's exciting young bands like Radkey and tons of kids younger than me going crazy for bands three times our age. Punk now seems to be in good hands. Overall, Cock Sparrer played a great set filled with everything you would expect from "Take ‘em All" to "What's It Like to Be Old?" and of course the traditional set closer "We're Coming Back" (I sure as hell hope they are coming back before age catches up with them).
Because I worked my way up really close for Cock Sparrer I was separated from my friends. As with most major festivals cell phone reception is non—existent so rather than waiting around hoping to find someone I knew, I decided to spend some time solo wandering around. I was starving so I decided to cave in and buy the overpriced food (I had been surviving all weekend on the $1 snickers bars and Gatorades the Humboldt Park baseball team was selling to raise money). Being the Pollack that I am, I ended up getting a foot long kielbasa covered in grilled onions, sour kraut and ranch sauce. I took my food to the hill between the Riot/Roots Stage and the Rock Stage. The Flaming Lips were playing and had an incredible light show going on. I was more than content sitting and eating watching the pretty lights even though I normally have no interest in indie, alternative or whatever you want to call them. Unfortunately I then realized that because I let my stomach do the thinking it completely slipped my mind that The Descendents were finishing up playing on a different stage. To make matters worse, they were playing "Milo Goes to College" front—to—back and I missed it.
At this point I was ready to call it a night. None of the headliners (The National, Samhain and Taking Back Sunday) really interested me. Unfortunately I was separated from all of my friends who are from my hometown, the far southwest Chicago neighborhood of Mount Greenwood. Being from a pseudo—suburban neighborhood of Chicago I knew they would not be able to figure out how to get to my apartment from Humboldt Park without my help so I needed to wait for them. So I sat on the hillside watching Taking Back Sunday from a distance. I cannot report on how they sounded or what they played because I do not know their music and I was preoccupied with the weed, cigarettes and vaporizer I had neglected to use all day. When I finally met up with my friends it took us another three hours to get back to Rogers Park because of CTA's incompetence to accommodate the large crowds and the disturbing lack of taxis.
By the last day I was completely spent and had hardly any energy left. But that did not stop me from pushing my way to the front for The Bouncing Souls. I saw The Bouncing Souls open for The Gaslight Anthem a few years ago and it was a pretty lackluster show so I was pleasantly surprised by how much more energy the band and the crowd had this time around. They played a their typical set list including "Hopeless Romantic" "Manthem" "Lean on Sheena" and "So Jersey." I also got a kick out of the fact that the wrestler CM Punk and the Dropkick Murphys were standing behind the stage all bobbing their heads singing along.
Following the Souls I had a few hours to kill so I thought it would be the perfect time to check out the official Riot Fest haunted house. It was created by Zombie Army Productions, the masterminds behind Statesville (by far the best commercial haunted house in Northern Illinois). The theme was a post—zombie apocalypse containment facility. It was pretty corny but the plotline took quite a few jabs at corporate America which gave me a few laughs. Overall I was entertained; it killed 30 minutes and only cost $10. Back on the music side of things, I caught about 15 minutes of Naked Raygun from a distance. They play Riot Fest just about every year so I did not feel the desire to watch them closely this time. I was more preoccupied with what was happening next. Cerebral Ballzy was playing on the tiny Revolt Stage. The crowd was massive and rowdy before they even took the stage. The pits were absolutely insane, Honor Titus looked completely drunk on stage and I am pretty sure there were some kids snorting cocaine in the pit. It was definitely the "punkest" show of all Riot Fest, that is if your definition of punk is to be surrounded by drugged up kids listening to a Black Flag knock off (no offense to Cerebral Ballzy, I really enjoy their music but it reminds me of Keith Morris Black Flag a little too much).
Then it was time for the Dropkick Murphys, my all—time favorite band. I was quite disappointed to see they were only getting 45 minutes to play. At Riot Fest 2012 they were the co—headliner and got to play for an hour. Just two years later they are playing a midafternoon set. Just goes to show how much Riot Fest has grown the past few years. Hearing Teagan & Sarah play on the other stage while waiting for DKM was pleasant but the anticipation to see my favorite band made it hard to care. When "The Foggy Dew" came on and the DKM banner was revealed the crowd went crazy and a mad rush forward ensued. Mosh pits had broken out just as Jeff DaRosa skipped on stage to play the first notes of "The Boys Are Back." 45 minutes of Celtic punk carnage followed. They played a very diverse set list (at least one song off of every album besides "Do or Die" and "Sing Loud, Sing Proud"). The most pleasant surprises were "Blood and Whiskey" "The Walking Dead" and a Nipple Erectors cover (the exact song I do not know). The show ended with "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" followed by a mash up cover of "Takin' Care of Business" "American Band" and "Blitzkrieg Bop." If you ask me, I much preferred it to their cover of "TNT" they have been closing out shows with the past few years. It was my eighth time seeing DKM and it was one of the best.
Up next was the Blue Meanies but they were playing on the opposite end of the park. My friends and I picked up some merch and food along the way so by the time we made it to the Blue Meanies it was almost time to head back to the other end of the park to see Social Distortion. Since the Blue Meanies are from Chicago I figured I would have another chance to see them, at a giant festival is not ideal either. Leaving the Blue Meanies early also gave me the chance to hear some Patti Smith as I walked to Social D. For a 60—something year old she sure had a lot of energy to spend telling everyone to go out and be activists and change the world (a little corny but I respect her for it). Social Distortion came on and played a diverse set list including "Gimme the Sweet & Lowdown" (a personal favorite) "Another State of Mind" "Ball and Chain" and "Machine Gun Blues" among others. I personally love that Social D has added a keyboarder/pianist to their live shows. A few songs gave off a punk rock Jerry Lee Lewis vibe which I am totally okay with. Despite it being their first show in almost two years and age not being on their side, Mike Ness and Social D put on a great show.
And now for my closing act of Riot Fest 2014, the ever present and trying to stay relevant New Found Glory. Why they got a full hour set and artists like Patti Smith and Dropkick Murphys did not is beyond me. Regardless, I still enjoy New Found's music. Because of the long trek from Social Distortion I missed them opening with "Understatement" my favorite song of theirs. I was shocked by how small the crowd was for NFG. Yeah, The Cure was playing on the other stage but it was still shockingly small. The people who were there were very much into it so the small crowd was not a bad thing since it meant I got to walk up very close without having to push or strategically maneuver. NFG played about 45 minutes of music I did not know (must have been songs that were not on "Sticks & Stones" or "Catalyst"). Then finally they ended with "My Friends Over You" this nostalgic middle school anthem felt great to sing and it was a perfect way to end Riot Fest 2014.
Trying to round up all of my friends before leaving was stressful because we needed to get the hell out of Humboldt Park before headliners (The Cure, Bring Me the Horizon and Weezer) finished. We finally got ourselves rounded up and as we were getting on a bus I heard Weezer say something about playing their last song, so we cut it quite close. Luckily Sunday's commute home was just over an hour, must more pleasant than the day before.
With the fest over, it was time to reflect. All of my friends started to talk about which Riot Fest was the best ever (most still stand by 2012 as the best). I personally do not think they are worth comparing. 2012 was fantastic because I was a wide—eyed 19 year old kid attending his first festival seeing long—time favorite bands like Rise Against, A Day to Remember and Alkaline Trio for the first time. 2013 had its share of special moments that could not possibly be replicated. This year had so many bands I wanted to see I was basically rushing around all three days and hardly had time to chill out (which was not a bad thing). Unfortunately I did not get to see several bands I wanted to, including Of Mice & Men, The Descedents, Slayer and The Murder City Devils. But that does not matter in the end. When the Riot Fest lineup is released in May I spend the whole summer getting myself acquainted with the music of as many bands as possible so it is inevitable I am not going to see all of them. I am grateful to Riot Fest for exposing me to bands I would not otherwise have heard even if I did not get to see them. That is the beauty of Riot Fest or any music fest for that matter.
Here I am a week later, I still have not gotten around to cleaning my mud caked shoes, my vest needs some re—stitching and I still have some lingering knee pain. Riot Fest 2014 is still very much fresh in my mind but I am already looking ahead to 2015, which could be my last for a while if graduate school takes me out of state. If I was in charge of Riot Fest, 2015 would feature: Iron Maiden, Rancid, Sum 41, Fall Out Boy performing "Take This To Your Grave" Sham 69, Strike Anywhere reunion, The Transplants and Lupe Fiasco as the token rapper.