Last weekend Riot Fest turned 20 years and celebrated with a party hearkening back to all those years of loud music, crazy antics, and mind-blowing experiences. That quite honestly is a lot to live up to, especially in a year where one staple fest was cut from the schedule and another fully embraced the pop scene with only a single rock band in their lineup.
But leave it to Riot Fest to set up a fantastic three days of acts that not only lived up to the festival anniversary outing, but delivered some all-time great sets for the festival. Take a look at my review of the fest below and if you want to check out more shots from the fest you can head over to the daily photo galleries! Friday photos are available here, Saturday photos are available here, and Sunday photos are available here!
FRIDAY
It's a bit of a understatement to say that day one was for the weirdos. Weird Al Yankovic too over the Rise Stage, tranforming it into the Weird World stage for a full day of way off the beaten path artists. Safe to say that most of my day was spent at that very particularly curated stage, hosted by Emo Philips doing comedy in-between a few sets. The day kicked off with Shonen Knife who are as sharp as ever before dipping into the more strange moments of the fest. Mac Sabbath, a mostly Black Sabbath tribute band with attire inspired by McDonalds characters, and Puddles Pity Party, Mike Geier's Pagliacci-esque clown act singing covers, amped the weirdness up quite a bit. Mac Sabbath's ritualistic communion of hamburgers, condiments and confetti was a site to behold. As was Puddles and Ronald Osbourne of Mac Sabbath taking on "Crazy Train" to the cheers of the impassioned Riot Fest crowd.
This did settle down to a bit of a more "normal" pace with Camper Van Beethoven and Sparks. I say "normal" but only in comparison to the beautiful oddity of the previous two acts. Camper Van Beethoven's eclectic mixture of genres to create their chilled out sound was nice moment to zone out and Sparks electrifying stage presence was phenomenal. Russell Mael (who is 76?!) bopped around on stage belting out songs like "So May we Start" and "Beat the Clock" while his brother Ron (who is 80?!) sat stoically at the keys. A perfect pairing that just worked so damn well.
Then there was Weird Al. I kid you not, I don;t think I have ever seen more people in the crowd for one of the side stages before. It was crazy to get through, let alone get out of. Not that you would want to as Weird Al is an unparalleled performer, giving the audience an astonishing display of costume changes, explosive stage presence and of course the highest quality parody songs you could handle.
SATURDAY
Day two of Riot Fest felt a little like last years festival with it's on and off rain. But that didn't really stop the crowd from jamming out to the eclectic lineup. While it wasn't exactly the indie rock Saturday of 2024, it comes pretty close.
As always it pays to arrive early to any festival as the acts going on early are a great way to discover new music or appreciate the lesser known bands you're already fond of. Enter Cliffdiver and Wishy respectively. Cliffdiver had the job of opening the Rise stage on day two and did so instantly with a refreshing sense of positivity and non stop energy. Wishy was the first act over on the Riot stage and brought their fantastic indie rock sound to ease the crowd into the rest of the day's more bombastic sets.
James may have given the most surprising set of the day as every member of the band was radiating joy as they performed on and off stage. Lead singer Tim Booth ventured out into the crowd to share that joy with as man fans as possible.
From 6:25pm-8:25pm, Riot Fest really hit on all cylinders. Dropkick Murphys burst on stage with all the Massachusetts zeal the band embodies. Ken Casey just has a way of riling up a crowd! Buzzcocks over on the Rebel Stage satiated the diehards singing every word of the punk band's oeuvre. Jack White unsurprisingly melted everyone ears with his fantastic set featuring sizzling solo songs like "Lazaretto" intermingled with White Stripes favorites ("Hotel Yorba", "Icky Thump", "Seven Nation Army" to name a few) and Raconteurs jams ("Broken Boy Soldier" and "Steady, as She Goes"). Oh and the Beach Boy were there.
Weezer's set hit all the notes you's expect. Starting things off with their space motif video detailing the band setting off to the Blue Voyage. First half of the set was a great combination of hits and recent gems including nonsensical "Hash Pipe", their defiant "Pork and Beans", and the pitch perfect "Island in the Sun". Towards the middle of the set they hit some favorites from Pinkerton, an album I'm sure many die hard fans are hoping they start doing full album plays of in the future (despite some questionable lyrics here and there). The Blue Album took up the entirety of the latter half of the set, letting each of the ten songs have their time to shine.
SUNDAY
The final day of Riot Fest's 20th birthday was likely one of it's best single days. Sure other night's in its storied history may have had bigger bands, louder sets. But this fateful Sunday had Idles giving the completely devoted crowd the best set I've see at a festival.
Let's rewind a bit. Day three was a Chicago heavy day full of both old favorites and new ones like The Effegies, Footballhead, Smoking Popes, Pegboy, Dehd (who I missed because of Hanson's unfortunate technical difficulties making them 40 mins late), The Academy Is..., and Screeching Weasels (which lead singer Ben Weasel's conservative political leanings felt a little against the grain of the rest of the fest). Pegboy may have had the most invigorating set of the lot as Larry Damore's enthusiasm was unrelenting.
I mentioned political leanings just a moment ago and it can't be ignored. While Ben Weasel's comments may have not landed well with the Riot Fest crowd, Lambrini Girls and Idles' certainly did. Both band's music is inherently political and there sets embraced that. Lambrini Girls kicked off their set with "Big Dick Energy", a song deriding shitty guys from direct abusers to performative white knights. Phoebe Lunny eventually found herself in the crowd, setting them up for a mosh pit. Some handed her a "Fuck ICE" shirt which she proudly wore as she ran down all the fascists, racists, sexist, bigots and just generally bad people running the US, UK (where the band is from), and beyond. At this point, Lambrini Girls were the top of the list of best sets of the fest.
Then came Idles. Usually when your a band known for your lives shows, there's a bit of pressure to perform. However I don';'t think that sentiment exists for Idles. The stage is their natural habitat and the are going to own it ever single time. From the moment Joe Talbot's voice rang out, Idles were giving every bit of themselves to the performance. "Heel/Heal" started things off and immediate it was pandemonium on and off stage. Guitarist Mark Bowen utilized the Green Day's Platform that extended into the crowd to jam, bassist Lee Kiernan launched himself into the audience to crowd surf as he played, all the while Talbot paced around stage growling lyrics with his raw and guttural voice. "I'm Scum" was an undoubted highlight in a set full of the that was almost immediately one upped a couple songs later with "Never Fight a Man With a Perm" which saw a surprise guest in Jack White come on in the middle of the song and deliver a rousing guitar solo that rivaled anything he did the night prior. Crowd surfers peppered the jammed tight attendees, moshes ebbed and flowed, and it all helped built up a band performing at their best.
All photos by Julian Ramirez.
Did you enjoy this post? Please consider supporting Third Coast Review’s arts and culture coverage by making a donation. Choose the amount that works best for you, and know how much we appreciate your support!
