Douglas Park – Chicago, IL – 16 Sep 2021
Intro
I’m not trying to toot my horn (Something typically heard prior to the sound of a toot), but I’ve been going to Riot Fest every year since 2009. Prior to becoming a full-fledged 50,000 patrons a day festival, Riot Fest more resembled The Fest in Gainesville. It had shows happening simultaneously in various venues around the city of Chicago. Back then, I would get a full pass if I was really vibing the lineup, or just single show tickets. When RF went the Pitchfork/Lollapalooza route, it hooked me. No matter what, the lineup consisted of at least 20 bands I wanted to see. At one point, I would just buy the tickets when they came out in December prior to any of the bands being announced. I fully trusted that Riot Fest would curate an exquisite lineup and to this day, I have not been disappointed. Sure, some lineups hit closer than others. 2015’s event had The Cure, Jane’s Addiction, Rise Against, The National, Dashboard Confessional, Primus, Weezer, Mudhoney, Senses Fail… and two inches of rain, but that lineup was just stacked!
My wife and I connected over Riot Fest, and almost got engaged there! My plan was to propose to her on the Ferris Wheel, but I found out that she was terrified of them, and carnival rides in general. Instead I proposed the week before so we could celebrate at RF. She’s been my partner in crime at RF since 2013. When COVID hit in 2020, we monitored the news and held out hope that things would be better by fall. When Riot Fest announced that it would be cancelled and allowed for ticketholders to carry their tickets over to the next year, we opted for that route. Then they announced that My Chemical Romance and the Misfits were playing 2022, and offered reduced price tickets to 2021 ticketholders, so we bought those! If they had cancelled 2021, we would have been holding mittfuls of RF tickets!
Although things got dicey with Delta Variant, and some bands dropped off, Riot Fest soldiered on. Entering the week of Riot Fest, trepidation hung in the air. Faith No More and Mr. Bungle bowed out, as did Dinosaur Jr. (much to our chagrin). We feared that the fest itself might be cancelled. They released the schedule late, probably due to the fact that they weren’t sure exactly who planned to show up! When Thursday of Riot Fest arrived, we breathed a sigh of relief.
Pre-party
Thursday at Riot Fest, a treat for those who held their tickets over from 2020; at least it was supposed to be. Eventually The pre-party opened up to all those holding a Sunday ticket and I believe all 3-day ticket holders. Even with the tickets opening up, I would say that Thursday had about half the people of the other days. We enjoyed checking out the stages and the vendors without having to fight our way through crowds.
We did have to deal with some parking issues and a mile walk to the entrance in order to catch a bit of Joyce Manor. JM played their self-titled debut as well as their sophomore effort, Never Hungover Again, in their entirety. An interesting trend proliferated this year, and I believe it started with the Joyce Manor set. Quite a few bands had to back out due to COVID and other issues, and a couple of the bands that did make it honored them with a cover. Joyce Manor closed out with “Helena” by My Chemical Romance. Next up, we grabbed a quick bite. A lot of folks asked what the meat policy would be on Thursday due to the fact that Morrissey (strict vegan and anti-meat guy) curated the bill (this is true, I actually messaged Jim about this when Morrissey was on- ed.). We soon found that not one vendor on Thursday offered meat. An impossible cursebreaker burger from Billy Goat would have to get me by. It did the trick.
After our chow down, I slid over to catch some of Patti Smith’s set. The band sounded good. You can’t mess with “Because the Night,” even if the 10,000 Maniacs version is better. She also pulled out “People Have the Power.” It’s funny how songs age, this one probably launched a thousand protests back in the day, but now it sounds like it belongs in a Pepsi commercial. When you bring up iconic Chicago punk bands, you have to have Alkaline Trio in the conversation. We staked out a great spot for them, and they did not disappoint. They still sound great even if they’re a little longer in the tooth. My stepdaughter suggested that Dan bore a striking resemblance to Jeff Bezos (headslap). The Trio knows how to fire up a festival crowd, they played the hits (“Private Eye,” “We’ve Had Enough”) and also snuck in some goodies for the old schoolers (“Cooking Wine,” “Nose Over Tail,” “Clavicle,” “Cringe”). Closing with “Radio” had everyone in the crowd singing along. Definitely a standout set of the entire fest.
When the lights went down on the Trio, I dragged the crew over to the Morrissey stage. In 2016, Morrissey played Riot Fest and he started his set with a half hour video. I was thinking that he would make up for that faux pas this time around. And he did. He came out on time (shocker) and kicked right into “How Soon is Now.” Clearly the residency in Vegas has Morrissey and his band at the top of their game. They sounded amazing and definitely jockeyed for the best set of the fest. Some other standout tunes: “Shoplifters of the World,” “Every Day is Like Sunday,” and a solid rendition of “Back on the Chain Gang” by Pretenders. Thursday night ended a bit early, which did not disappoint anyone in the group. Although it was a nice treat, we needed to conserve our energy for the days ahead.
Tune in tomorrow for the Riot Fest – Day 1 review. In the meantime, check out the official Riot Fest Pre-party photo gallery here.
This review original stated that Morrissey plays Riot Fest in 2017. This has been corrected to 2016. -editor
