Early Friday morning I boarded a plane headed to Chicago for the first time in my life, in the middle of a pandemic (still), to attend Riot Fest! To say I was both nervous and excited is an understatement.
While there wasn’t a lot of time to do much touristy stuff, I still had a great time (except for you, public transit). I had the opportunity to catch up with family, which means I’ll obviously have the chance to go back to the city and do all the tourist things in the future. This time though was dedicated to music, and I wasn’t mad about it. Since this festival was new to me, it took me a hot minute to remember where each of the five stages was located, but after I did, it was easy to trek between them all. Did I mention it being hot? I understand the Riot Fest mascot is a devil, but it was hotter than Satan’s butthole this past weekend. We were granted a tiny bit of rain on Friday night, but that just made it more humid than anything else. So while I was glad it wasn’t a mucky mess on the festival grounds, I would have welcomed some of that “Windy City” breeze every now and then!
But I digress. My flight was at the butt-crack of dawn on Friday, but that didn’t stop me from staying up late and rocking out! I got into the festival just in time to catch the end of Meg Meyers’ set, then headed straight to Fishbone before cutting out early to catch Circa Survive. After that, I made my way over to Thrice, caught a little bit of Sublime with Rome, but made sure I was over at the Riot Stage to catch all of Motion City Soundtracks’ set. Yes, I’ve seen them a number of times before, but these are one of my staple emo bands, and I love their show every time I see them. This instance was no exception – they ruled! Before hearing most of Dirty Heads’ set, I caught a few songs each from Circle Jerks (not my cup of tea) and Coheed and Cambria who I’ve seen in the past. Dirty Heads managed to really impress me, and I learned that I actually knew one of their songs! The night finished out with The Smashing Pumpkins and a little bit of NOFX on the way out. Clear winners of the day for me were Motion City Soundtrack and Dirty Heads.
Saturday was almost as jam-packed as Friday, and you guessed it, just as hot. Regardless, it was a full day of awesome bands. I made it in time to see Joywave – the talent! They were followed by an equally entertaining GWAR and then Big Freedia with all the twerkers you could imagine. After that I traversed across the park to catch Night Moves on the smallest stage at the festival before heading back in the opposite direction to see Best Coast for the first time. In order to take a break from the sun, I found some shade and took in the groove of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, which wasn’t totally my jam, but they were definitely having a good time. Before taking in the awesomeness that was Saturday’s headliner, Run the Jewels, I made my way to a bunch of different stages to catch a handful of songs from the likes of Mayday Parade, Rise Against, Andrew W.K., and Taking Back Sunday. As great as Run the Jewels were, I sort of regret not staying longer for Taking Back Sunday’s set. At least I’ve seen them a number of times before. Run the Jewels was the clear winner of Saturday because they were on fire and the crowd was amped to see them.
Finally, another hot day for Sunday’s lineup, but no less fun. K. Flay was the first act I caught (sorry 3OH!3), followed up by Body Count. Now, even though I just saw Fever 333 last weekend, that doesn’t mean I didn’t leave Body Count early to catch them. Because I did, and they were awesome again. After that I caught Thursday for the first time ever, then hustled over to Simple Plan. Man did they draw in the crowd! It was also fun hearing everyone saying “I’m a DICK, I’m addicted to you!” I did leave that set early because I wanted to see all of Devo and let me tell you it was WORTH IT. They were incredibly entertaining. I danced in the hot sun for that whole set. Plus they originated basically in my backyard back way before I was born, but still. After them, it was sort of hard for The Flaming Lips, New Found Glory, and Machine Gun Kelly to live up to the hype, but they were definitely still enjoyable. I only stayed for a little bit of Slipknot because you know, I saw them last weekend, too. That, and my feet were revolting against me at that point.
Overall, an extremely fun trip! I was glad I got to see bands that I’ve only ever listened to for the first time, but I was also glad to see some of my favorites from the past. No one I watched really let me down, and the good ones were honestly great! Aside from seeing bands I knew about, it was cool to discover some new music in the form of Dirty Heads, while also seeing an old favorite like Thursday. If I had to pick my favorite sets from the weekend, it would probably tie between Motion City Soundtrack and Devo. This might be a festival I go back to in the future (as long as MCR doesn’t cancel again!). If “Riot Fest Sucks” then I’d love to see it when it thrives.
