Douglas Park – Chicago, IL – 18 Sep 2021
Day 2
Remember what I said about the necessary things to have a fun and rewarding Riot Fest? Well on Friday night I did those things (sleep, eat, refrain from alcohol). On Saturday, I woke up ready to face the day! We had high hopes of getting there at 1pm for The Bronx. We got there in time to see about ten minutes of their set, they rocked though. RF has to give them a later slot next time!
Next I broke off from the group for Citizen on the Rise stage. I remember these guys from a few years back and had them circled on my list. They didn’t disappoint. I’ve heard these guys described as melodic hardcore, that is a bit of an oxymoron, but when you hear their music it makes sense. They sorta remind me of Cursive.
After Citizen, I had about 4 hours with no bands circled. During this time I caught a little bit of GWAR. My stepdaughter (18) loved it. She has aspirations of seeing them next year, getting up front, and wearing white. Dare to dream. After that, I ventured to the Rise stage for Four Year Strong. Never really got into these guys, but they rock. We grabbed lunch and I caught a bit of Hepcat. These guys made me want to bust out my swing dancing moves! If I could only remember them. We caught a little bit of Ganser. They provided a chill soundtrack as we digested our lunch laying in the shade. Caught a few songs from State Champs. I need to listen to these guys more.
We had our hearts set on seeing Bayside, but first we needed to check Chicago legends The Bollweevils. Saw some of their set and cut, safe to say we will see them again soon. Bayside hit the Rise stage to a huge crowd for that area. We had to weasel our way up just to get a decent spot. They dropped some bangers including “Sick Sick Sick,” a sing-along favorite, and “Masterpiece.” Jack O’Shea melted our faces with some of his delicious licks (sorry just channeled Jack Black there). Bayside made my day on Saturday for sure.
Sometimes at Riot Fest the best laid plans often go awry. In this year’s edition, I had Rancid triple circled. I’ve seen them a few times, and they always bring the goods. Unfortunately I only caught a few songs: “Roots Radicals,” “Fall Back Down,” “Journey to the end of the East Bay,” and “Maxwell Murder.” I would have liked to have caught “Salvation,” and I guess they did an audience vote at the end: “Ruby Soho” won out over “Timebomb.” While I missed the action at the Rancid show, I caught most of Rise Against. I’ve seen these guys a bunch of times and I miss the old stuff like the fogies always say. RA always rocks the house, so I shouldn’t complain. They came with their heavy hits. I hoped to hear “Everchanging,” that didn’t happen. A standout RF moment occurred when Damien from Fucked Up came out to help on a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son.” Glad I got to see that.
While we scurried to the Rise stage for a good spot to see Taking Back Sunday, Tim serenaded the crowd with a rousing sing along of “Swing Life Away.” If you know anything about Riot Fest’s history, you know that there are certain bands that play every year. GWAR, Andrew WK, and Taking Back Sunday. TBS stands out to me as a band that will do whatever Riot Fest asks of them. I think one year they played three different stages and an aftershow. We had TBS triple circled this year, and they did not disappoint. A potential side effect of playing a large festival, is being downwind from another loud band. In this case, Run The Jewels blasted bass heavy cuts across the entirety of Douglas Park. Adam from TBS did his best to joke about it, but it might have put the band off of their A game. We still sang along to all the hits including “What’s it Feel Like to be a Ghost,” “Liar,” “Flicker, Fade.” To their credit, they also busted out the best cover of the fest: Weezer’s “My Name is Jonas.” That whipped the crowd into a froth.
Discretion is the better part of valor at Riot Fest, and we decided to make an early run to the exit and catch the end of TBS’s set on our walk. To our chagrin they closed with “Cute Without the E” and “Make Damn Sure.” Talk about going out with a bang!
Tune in tomorrow for the Riot Fest – Day 3 review.
