Tuesday Top Ten: Shows I Saw at Riot Fest

A little over a week ago, I had the pleasure of attending my first Riot Fest, here in Chicago at Douglas Park.  In years past, for one reason or another -- weddings, football games, Oktoberfest, seances, etc. -- the weekend of Riot Fest has been bad for me.  This year, however, the musical gods were looking out for me.  Riot Fest always has an amazing lineup, and this year was no exception.  I went all three days and saw some amazing bands and artists.

Before I get to the music, let's talk about the fest itself.  The only other music festival I can really compare it to is Lollapalooza, and these two fests couldn't be more different as far as the patrons, attitude, and ease of intrafest movement.  There is no EDM, which means there aren't hordes of suburban teenagers tweaking on Molly.  The average age is probably somewhere above 30, which is nice.  And the fest itself is much more compact, which makes it a lot easier to see two bands who might be playing at the same time.  Also, it was a breeze getting into the fest all three days.

I only had a couple complaints:

• First, it is a giant pain in the ass to get to and from the fest.  Douglas Park is kind of in a no-man's land on the near southwest side.  Only one L line goes anywhere near the park, and they didn't seem to be running enough trains after the fest ended each night.  Trying to get a cab or Uber out of there was nearly as bad.  We had to walk about a mile Saturday night to get to a spot where our Uber could pick us up without having to get stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.  I'm not sure there's a solution to this, other than putting Riot Fest in my back yard, as I've suggested no fewer than six times a day for the last six years to the Riot Fest organizers.

• Second, for whatever reason, they didn't announce the daily lineup until about a week before the fest.  I don't know if that was on purpose or if there were issues, but that's not cool.  

• Third, they need to put some lights near the food stands because when it got dark, it was nearly impossible to read a lot of the menus on the booths or to see the giant smoked turkey leg I was wolfing down.

• Fourth, there was a giant emotional support hog that somehow got into the fest, but then again, its owner was wearing jorts.

But the positives far outweighed the negatives, and I'd go back without hesitation.  

Here are the bands and artists for which I saw two or more songs over the course of the weekend:

Friday:  Matt & Kim; Flogging Molly; Bleachers; Atmosphere; Cypress Hill; Weezer

Saturday:  Gary Numan; Reignwolf; Bully; Cat Power; Wolfmother; Twin Peaks; Elvis Costello & The Imposters; GWAR; Jerry Lee Lewis; Beck

Sunday:  Blondie; Alkaline Trio; Father John Misty; Bad Religion; Run The Jewels


Here are my top ten shows that I saw over the course of the weekend:

10.  Atmosphere
One of the people who went with us wanted to see Atmosphere, and I didn't have anyone I wanted to see at the same time, so I went along and was pleasantly surprised.  I only have one Atmosphere song in my music catalog, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  They were entertaining and energetic.

9.  Bully
High-energy punk rock is kind of what Riot Fest is all about, and that's basically what Bully plays.  On a hot afternoon, they took my mind off the heat for a while.  Well, not really, but it was still enjoyable.

8.  Jerry Lee Lewis
Only at Riot Fest can one see GWAR and then walk a hundred yards or so to see an 82-year-old legend of rock and roll.  The Killer can still kill.  It may take him a while to walk from the side of the stage to the piano, but once he gets there, it might as well be 1956.  His band was solid as well, including IU alum Kenny Aronoff on drums.  There aren't too many early rock and roll legends still alive (pretty much just Lewis and Little Richard), much less touring, so this was pretty awesome.  On a related note, one of the oddest moments of the weekend was walking into Riot Fest on Saturday.  I overheard a millennial couple debating the morality of going to see Jerry Lee Lewis later that night because of the fact that, in 1957, Lewis married his teenaged first cousin once removed.  Boys will be boys!

7.  Flogging Molly
Flogging Molly never disappoints.  Never.

6.  Cypress Hill
As part of their set, Cypress Hill played the Black Sunday album in its entirety -- but from back to front.  That was one of my first CDs, so it was a nice trip down memory lane, and I was amazed at how many lyrics I still remember.

5.  Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Declan MacManus and crew played all of his hits and kept up the energy.  We were all amazed that he is 64.

4.  GWAR
One of the bands I was most excited to see was horror metal stalwarts GWAR.  I couldn't tell you the name of a single GWAR song, but I knew it would be a spectacle, and I was right.  Massive costumes somehow don't hinder the band from playing some pretty damn good speed metal.  And then there's the stage show.  Monsters, ghouls, demonic priests, blood shooting from various orifices.  It was everything I had hoped for and more.  And, perhaps coincidentally, it was the show at which the most people tried to sell us drugs.  Yeah, dude, I want to buy acid from a stranger so I can trip for the first time ever at a GWAR show.

3.  Run The Jewels
I had seen Run The Jewels last year at Lolla, and they were great.  At Riot Fest, they were a last-minute surprise addition, and they were the headliners Sunday night.  The people I went with wanted to get close, and so we did.  It was a great show.  Like GWAR, I don't really know any songs, but I didn't have to know any to have fun.  It was a lot of energy, and both Killer Mike and El-P worked the crowd and were funny when they needed to be and serious when they needed to be.  Definitely a great way to end the fest.

2.  Beck
I had never seen Beck before, so I was pretty pumped when he was announced as a headliner.  As I said to a friend during the show, he is basically the David Bowie of our generation -- a rock and roll chameleon who makes good music no matter what the genre.  Xenu has been kind to him.  His show was fantastic.  Great music and great lasers.  The only bummer was that Andrew W.K. was playing at the same time, and I would have liked to have seen him too -- since I like to party -- but I've already seen him in concert, so I stuck with Beck.

1.  Weezer
As of less than two weeks before Riot Fest, blink-182 was supposed to be one of the headliners.  Then, Travis Barker had some health issues, so the band had to cancel their tour.  Enter Weezer to take their place.  Now I like blink-182, but I love Weezer.  They killed it.  In addition to their own hits and their spot-on cover of Toto's "Africa," they covered the Turtles' "Happy Together" (with a little mashup of Green Day's "Longview" in the middle), "Take On Me" by a-ha (acoustic), blink-182's "All The Small Things" to start the encore in honor of who they replaced, and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" to end the show.  To reiterate, I love Weezer.