Riot Fest 2019 (September 13-15) Tour • Page 2

With blink headlining next year I would love to see The Cure play Riot. Just to possibly see Robert join blink for “All of This”

 

Theoretical wishlist for me would be hop along, all get out (to my knowledge they haven't done all that many big festivals? recently so i feel like that be great in that aspect), pup with a new album under their belt would be cool, illuminati hotties (i saw them live for the first time last night and theyd translate GREAT to a festival setting), and snail mail.

 

I hope GWAR plays

 

Polar Bear Club, Fireworks , Transit, and Ludo are my far fetched hopes.

 

Fireworks does seem like they’re up to something. Would love it if they played.

 

I can’t see this happening

 

Man I am really hoping that Riot Fest can nab Andrew W.K., would be such a rare get!

 

Polar Bear Club would be awesome. Also, hope they bring Tiger Army back.

 

I would like to see some energetic indie rock bands like Franz Ferdinand, The Vaccines, The Hives, Kaiser Chiefs (It could be amazing hearing 'I predict a Riot' at Riot Fest). Maybe The Strokes, YYYs or Vampire Weekend could headline

 

That would be cool, but that's literally catering towards Lollapalooza's lineup (Franz, Vampire Weekend, and The Vaccines all played this past Lolla) so I don't know if that would set Riot apart much or cater to Riot's demographic.

 

Didn't Riot already do that this year though, with Beck, Interpol, Father John Misty, Bleachers, Matt & Kim, Twin Peaks, Cat Power, The Frights, Calpurnia - all bands that could have easily flirted with Lolla too?

 

I know they had to drop but Blink also played Lolla in 2017 too.

 

How were the crowd sizes for those bands? Matt & Kim had a big crowd show up for them but Father John Misty had no one at their stage. The back of the crowd ended at the sound booth and I was easily able to get in front of the sound booth mid-set.

Those are the only two I saw and was surprised how empty FJM was.

 

He probably would’ve had a bigger draw if he wasn’t playing against Incubus. They had a massive crowd

 

Yes, those two should have been swapped. The crowd for Incubus was massive.

 

If I recall correctly, Cat Power didnt have a big crowd as I manage to get im easily for Elvis Costello, and I saw Twin Peaks before him from hisnside of the crowd and they do have a crowd

I was front row in Bleachers and it seems they have a big crowd too, but a lot of us were waiting for Weezer

 

A lot of those bands that played Friday I don’t think had noticeably huge crowds tbh. Bleachers played against Taking Back Sunday and Atmosphere, both of which had bigger crowds. K. Flay didn’t draw super well either sadly.

 

I think one of the biggest "issues" with the Riot Fest line-up this year that wasn't talked about in the 2018 thread was the number of acts who had been to Chicago and/or had done a large US tour 6-12 months prior to the festival.

I was honestly shocked at how many people were there for Weezer on Friday, given that they had played Tinley Park over the summer. But I guess that also speaks to differences in the fan bases (i.e., I don't think Bleachers or K.Flay are the kind of acts with most fans who would go out of their way to see them twice in a touring cycle--whereas Weezer might).

I hope Riot Fest is able to score a few more "exclusives" next year. Even if it's just a "only midwest performance for 2019" kinda deal. I think some of that would have really bolstered things.

 

Also a factor though was likely the ticket cost. $50 for multiple sets in a day is a great deal compared to anything at Tinley Park and their $14 beers.

 

^that, the fact that Tinley is a huge pain in the ass to get to, and the fact the show was the same day as night 2 of Radiohead (which I think was announced first, not positive) likely turned people away from going to the Weezer show.

 

with it being the 15th anniversary, do you think there will be a focus on bands they had before they went full on festival?

 

I don't think that's out of the question. Although, there's always been some sort of representation from that era over the years (Bad Brains, Bad Religion, NOFX, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Naked Raygun, the Lawrence Arms, the Bouncing Souls, 7 Seconds, and so forth)... Unless they shrink in size some I don't really see that being a "focus."

I do think they'll be bringing back a bunch of bands from year's past, though, and hopefully putting more of an emphasis on album plays. Some of those sets were really fun this year, but it felt underwhelming compared to year's previous.

 

What are the chances of Foo Fighters headlining? I would totally be down for that.

 

I think they're too big, but who knows

 

Probably way too big/too expensive, and with no discernible reason as to why they'd play the festival... Especially with their own branded annual festival now.

It's so strange that two weeks ago people were saying things like "I doubt we'll have a festival next year, they're going broke!" and now we're back to speculating if they'll be able to book the biggest contemporary rock band on the planet...