Riot Fest 2023 Tour • Page 6

I genuinely hope all of next year's headliners are outside of my wheelhouse because leaving the fest at 8:45 with no regrets absolutely rocks.

Here's a few randos I'd like to see in the future though:

Weakerthans
Against Me! (LJG solo stuff is cool but I sure miss the full band)
Mountain Goats
Brittany Howard
Boygenius
Titus Andronicus
The Format
The Stranglers
Rainer Maria
Japandroids
Aesop Rock
Uncle Tupelo
The Darkness
Marvelous 3
The Forecast
Angel Olsen
Head Automatica
Far
Liam Gallagher performing Definitely Maybe (always a long shot but maybe in 2024 for 30 year anniversary)
Torche
Fefe Dobson
Czarface
Ash
Park
Drive By Truckers
Camp Cope
David Byrne

 

Torche us breaking up after their current tour.

 

Well yeah- a few of the acts I posted have been broken up/inactive for years. This is more of an anything goes wishlist kinda thing. Also considering how many bands that just played last weekend that also "broke up" at some point, I'm gonna hold out a little hope!

 

Lots of great picks in here. David Byrne would be so cool. I had heard the Forecast were supposed to tour this year but I guess it never came together.

 

My wife is getting tattooed by Shannon at some point within the next couple months, I'll have her see if she can gather any intel!

 

The Format because I’m still bummed they canceled their tour after rescheduling it three times.

 

I hear you all with the "repetitive" nature of the line-ups. But I'm also not sure how to pull off a line-up that draws, sticks to the roots, and maintains the current size... Without booking Bad Religion, NOFX, Rancid, and the like every 2-3 years or so each. Cutting out the "80s/90s punk" acts kinda makes it a completely different festival in terms of how things are mixed.

But that's where branching out in other genres could work well. Instead of booking "another 90s hip-hop act" to close out that stage, why not go for somebody a little more current who might draw really well? That would allow some flexibility with who you put on the stage opposite... And bump up somebody like the Menzingers or Pup.

Or just saying "Nah, we're not going to book Fear again. Let's book a younger hardcore band with the same vibe as the older bands." Literally 1-2 bands is all you'd need to swap out for it to feel interesting.

 

She tattoos now?

 

Yep. IG: @shannonburnstattoos

 

I might need to make a trip down.

 

Oh shit for real?

 

I feel like thats what they were trying to do in 2018. Like yes, it had Alkaline Trio, Bad Religion and Dropkick Murphys, but they had bands like Beck, Blondie, Interpol, Father John Misty, Young The Giant and Bleachers just to name a few, that while it doenst fit the usual Riot punk vibe they were great addition to it.

I feel this year was a good example too, while it had repeats like Descendents and Alkaline Trio, they had bands like Portugal the Man or Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

I dont think they will cut the 80s/90s punk band as they are the core of the festival and they bring a crowd to the festival. But I feel they do are exapnding to other genres.

With that said: Carly Rae Jepsen and Avril Lavgine for Riot 2023

 

More on the proposed change requiring aldermanic review of events in public areas: Too late to hit brakes on NASCAR, but Reilly moves to curb future special events

 

It’s always easy to forget that PTM started out as a scene band on Fearless and Equal Vision and the YYYs really started as garage punk. They fit Riot Fest more than some other examples.

I’m imagining an Orville Peck set in the early evening in the coming years and thinking about how fabulous that’ll be.

 

Let's be real too. Riot only gets an opportunity to book acts like that after the buzz has worn off and they're on the "downswing." I'm using that last term loosely because it's not like these acts weren't popular when they played. But they weren't buzzed about bands anymore, don't look shiny and new on other festival posters, etc.

Portugal the Man are an undeniably popular band. But they aren't a new band with songs regularly charting on the radio anymore and their name has been appearing on bigger festival posters for 10+ years now. They aren't really getting any bigger, they're just maintaining.

I'm sure Riot offers decent money for sub-headliners, but it can't quite compare to what Lolla or Coachella or whoever has to offer. And if you're a band with a marketing plan tied to performances in front of mass audiences and you skew pop? Riot isn't a good opportunity compared to the others. Probably a cynical take, but I'm basing it on the patterns of bookings that we've seen the last decade or so.

 

That's actually something I've thought about with the decreasing number of rock acts at Lollapalooza and other festivals and the increasing number of legacy acts at Pitchfork and Riot Fest.

Take The National. They can play Lolla. They may close the main stage on one of the nights but they will not draw anywhere near what they can at Pitchfork or Riot Fest (not that I think they'll ever be back at Riot Fest). More bands are willing to take a slot on a smaller festival to play to more people especially if it gets them an early evening or closing slot at Pitchfork or Riot Fest. But that depends on the festival wanting to book them, too, and Riot Fest only seems to have a few slots like that each year.

 

Also, definitely tested positive for Covid today after starting to feel sick on Monday night. Test if you're feeling any amount of sick.

 

I saw on Reddit a lot of people were testing positive too. My dad's been sick since the fest but I'm fine so far, got my new booster two weeks ago so hoping that gives me some protection

 

I got my booster on 9/7 so obviously not enough time for it to be totally effective. The line was very faint on the test so it must be doing something.

 

I last went on Saturday and feel fine today. Was a bit nervous going in as I couldn’t get a booster appointment till a couple days ago, hopefully that means I’m good

 

Haven't heard about any of the people I was with getting sick and most of us had boosters the week before. Fingers crossed we're out of the woods at this point.

@bradpetrik hope your case stays mild and you're all good soon.

 

Thanks. My partner has been feeling sick, too, and tested negative today but I expect that to change.

Feels like the first time, if a bit more mild. Slightly scratchy throat, hoarse voice, stuffy but not too bad, cough (which is the worst part because I have a terrible knot in my back after going to the gym on Tuesday so I can't cough well). It'll pass soon enough.

 

i'm following this thread to see what the lineup will be but unless they change locations i don't think i'll attend riot again

 

If any of us from 4 years ago were reading this thread currently, they’d have no clue what we’re all talking about lol

 

Hope everyone testing positive and/or experiencing symptoms of any sort feels better soon! I feel very lucky to be testing negative.

That's an interesting thought, actually. Riot treats those acts the way that Lolla treats the more Riot-centric acts with a few exceptions (Matt & Kim and Bleachers being the two at the top of my mind).

I was rolling my eyes at Lolla booking and billing both Turnstile and Idles so high because they will undoubtedly never book either act again. They tend to have 1-3 "buzzworthy punk/hardcore/emo band" slots every year. Book 'em once when they're hyped, then never again despite them remaining the same or growing in popularity. Just the way they handle it.

The tricky bit about Riot is that you can only have X number of slots for certain genres each year or it throws the whole balance off. Two stages of 90s skate-punk would effect draw negatively just as much as two stages of hip-hop or "mainstream" indie would. It's whole identity is a blend of all those different things.

Certain years it feels like it skews more in certain directions but it works because of crossover bookings (e.g., Glassjaw draws pretty well from a range of different "punk" sub-genres so they register for folks differently than, say, NOFX might; Less Than Jake has a same sort of effect going on where they definitely fall into that "90s punk" category but also draw from ska fans and people who just want to see them because of the live show).