Chicago, IL – 15 Sep 2023
Prelude
When the night air gets crisp, the leaves begin to change their hue, the snot flows out of your nose like a warm Old Style from a high school kegger, you know that Riot Fest is due. The last vestige of Summer since 2005, Riot Fest typically ushers in the cooler weather and “Halloween/pumpkin spice” season.
It seems like yesterday that we were all out at Douglass park shaking our groove things to My Chemical Romance, The Misfits, Nine Inch Nails, Ice Cube, and so many more. The lineup for 2023 goes heavy on the headliners, and lighter on the supporting acts (IMHO). Friday night kicks off with the mighty Foo Fighters anchoring the show. Saturday has the triple whammy of Death Cab For Cutie, Queens of the Stone Age, and The Postal Service. Riot Fest has saved the best for last and booked The Cure to close things out Sunday night. Although the support for these behemoths may lack the headliner’s notoriety, they do pack some bands with street cred on the bill. An up and comer like Turnstile might not be a household name, but they should be. Mars Volta, the steaming/bubbling remnant of At The Drive In can bring it. Bayside, Screaming Females, Sludgeworth (local favorite), The Breeders, Pup, 100Gecs, Smoking Popes, Ride, and AFI round out the top tier.
Day One
As I attended Riot Fest 2023, I ruminated on various subjects concerning bands, their motivation, their catalog, and their legacy. When I strolled through the entry gates, and got my things together, Parliament/Funkadelic greeted me from the Rise Stage. George Clinton, here’s a man going toe to toe with Father Time, and not backing down. Wikipedia lists him at 82 years old. What keeps this man going?!?! He could trade in his colorful outfits and wild hairdos for a comfortable seat on the couch and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Instead, he’s out there bringing the funk to millions with a variation of The Parliaments, a group he founded in 1956. Parliament/Funkadelic did bring the funk! They must’ve told the sound guy to turn it up to 11, because although they competed with the overlapping sets of the metal and punk bands at the other stages, their set was the loudest of the weekend. They played the hits: “Flashlight,” “Atomic Dog,” and even covered “Jump Around!” As for Mr. Clinton, he has the funk in his blood, and I won’t be surprised if he brings it up until the day he dies. An ethos some of the other acts at RF appear to have embraced.
After PFunk, I did some stage hopping. Caught Code Orange. Their brand of metal, by way of new wave and industrial, smacked me in the face. I had them circled on my list after our local metal/burger restaurant, Kuma’s Corner, named a burger after them. The band brought the heat, If the burger is as juicy and sizzling as the sound they were laying down, I gotta try it. Next, I snuck over to catch Kim Gordon. I was hoping in vain for some Sonic Youth: “Bull in the Heather” or “Cool Thing.” Instead, she brought us back to the No Wave magma that birthed Sonic Youth. I applaud her schooling of the next generation on this genre. The Interrupters were not on my list, but they did a solid job representing the ska faction.
Conflicts. Riot Fest created some tough ones this year and this was my first: Quicksand, Bayside, and Screaming Females. Had to skip Quicksand and caught the beginning of Bayside. They riled up the crowd early with “Sick Sick Sick.” Wish I could’ve seen more of them. The band I had circled with an exclamation point, was Screaming Females. My wife and I saw them at The Fest and we didn’t know much about them at the time, safe to say we won’t soon forget the facemelting that Marissa Paternoster dropped on us that day. Screaming Female’s new album, Desire Pathway is firmly entrenched in my top 10 of 2023. Marissa and crew brought the goods. She dropped some choice cuts off the new record and dazzled the small, but faithful, crowd with her axe-wielding once again. A standout set of the festival for sure.
After traversing the grounds for a few hours, our bodies cried out for sustenance. On the far end of the layout sit rows of food trucks and vendors from the Chicago area. After surveying our choices, I landed on The Billy Goat. They have a burger called the Curse Breaker, two patties, jalapenos, onions, and cheese. Definitely a value compared to the other choices and enough to get you through the day.
While we were rebuilding our base for more beers, Say Anything took the stage. I have to say, Max Bemis and crew improved from a few years back, the sound people got the mix right this time. They turned back time and dealt some old favorites including “Every Man has a Molly,” “Alive with the Glory of Love,” and “Wow, I can get sexual too.” Unfortunately, we missed Braid playing Frame and Canvas, another tough conflict.
Turnstile crushed it on their last record Glow On. The buzz carried through to Riot Fest and brought them to an evening slot on the Roots stage. I saw some of their set and it brought me back to the SoCal rock of the 90’s. Although I would’ve liked to stick with Turnstile, I had to run over to the Rebel stage, Fake Names was coming on. As any internet journalist would, I did some research on the Riot Fest lineup. I hadn’t heard of Fake Names, but I had heard of some of the members, namely Brian Baker of Bad Religion, Dennis Lyxzén of Refused, and Brendan Canty of Fugazi. Fake Names proved to be greater than the sum of their parts, as Baker and co laid down the classic punk backdrop, Lyxzen led the juggernaut with his taut vocals and Roger Daltrey-esque stage antics.
As one would expect, a lot of folks at RF lost their shit for the Foo Fighters. I have to admit, that we weren’t all that interested in the Foos. We did opt to catch the beginning of their set. Safe to say, Grohl and Co quickly showed us what the fuss was about. Dave Grohl comes off as a good guy on and off the stage. He’s a pro. He has the stage banter down, his voice sounds strong, his supporting band plays very tight. They’ve been touring for a while, so they have some momentum going. RIP Taylor Hawkins, he was missed. Josh Freese stepped up though, and he wowed us with his chops. Standout tracks: “Learn to Fly,” “Times Like These,” and “Breakout,” which he dedicated to the 50-somethings in the audience with their teenage kids. During “Breakout,” Grohl took the scream section to another level, I turned to my wife and said, “Why does he do that to himself?” This brings me back to the Pfunk issue. Dave Grohl does not have to tour anymore; he has enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life. Let’s say, he just wants to play the songs. He can play the songs without screaming himself hoarse. It’s just in his blood!! He’s a rock and roller!! He knows no other way and you have to commend him for leaving it all out there. As we headed to the Rebel stage, Dave introduced the band and dug into some snippets of covers including: “Sabotage,” “Whip It,” “Blitzkrieg Bop,” and “March of the Pigs.” He talked about how when he saw Naked Raygun at the Cubby Bear when he was 13, it changed his life. Well, we decided to check out a contemporary of Raygun, Sludgeworth, and another Chicago legend, Danny Vapid.
My wife and I saw Sludgeworth at Cobra Lounge a few months back. I had them circled on my Riot Fest schedule even over the mighty Foos. I am an unabashed Vapid fan. I’ve met him a few times (including Saturday where I gave him a fist bump and “great show” as we watched TSOL). He’s a nice guy and his style of punk and power pop just works for me. Don’t get me started on the Methadones (who I’m going to catch at T1 in a month, so amped), The Mopes, Riverdales, the list goes on. We arrived at Rebel just in time for Sludgeworth. Great show. They brought it very similar to the Cobra Lounge including bringing out one of the bandmember’s kids to play drums for a song. We caught “Anytime,” “Someday,” and “Together not Together.” We had to run home to meet some friends that were coming to visit (for Riot Fest) so I couldn’t watch the whole set. Checking Setlist FM, they played “Waste It Away” which is my fave. Oh well, we got home at a reasonable hour and had some energy left for Saturday.
