Riot Fest 2023 Tour • Page 76

Really? What year?

 

2013. They have also sponsored a couple of their shows since then too.

 

This.

I didn’t put them on there because I *want* them. I did it because I don’t think Riot Fest is morally opposed to booking them. And in a year where they don’t have Alkaline Trio, Descendents, Bad Religion, or NOFX to close out a punk stage, I think they’d go back to the local band that hasn’t played the fest in a while.

 

I dont know anything about them, but are they big enough to close a stage?

Although I agree Riot needs more punk bands to be stage closers. Beside the ones you mentioned I would add: Rancid, Pennywise and Dropkick Murphys, and Im sure we will get one of those 3 this year.

 

move the damn fest.

 

i only agree if there is somewhere else to have it, if the only options are douglass or not at all cuz there is no where else for them to go this year, keep it in douglass for a final year and spend all of next year building something new. if riot doesnt happen it could put all of those people out of a job, and people losing their jobs is worse to me than other people not being able to use 1/2 of a park for 10 days or being annoyed at traffic.

 

if they don't have somewhere else to move it its' their own fault at this point. they knew they weren't wanted well in advance.

 

I feel like the eventual goal is to move to Soldier Field in 2026 or whatever the first year is that the bears are gone.

the question is: how are they gonna stay in business until then?

 

I think the chances of the Bears being in Arlington Heights by 2026 are about the same as a Smiths reunion taking place at the Windy City Smokeout.

 

No comment on the Indiana part, but someone commented this in the Facebook group:

 

Coming from someone not from the Midwest, I feel like it would make more sense if they went to Milwaukee? Only 2 hours away and they already seem to be promoting shows over there. Seems like a logical choice? Again, not a midwesterner, so I have no idea what I’m talking about

 

I can’t speak for anyone else but if it moves to Milwaukee I will probably never attend again, unless I was carpooling with someone. I don’t drive and there are not great public transit options to and from Milwaukee, and it would be way more of a hassle because Chicagoan’s would have to rent hotels. Not that it isn’t a hassle for everyone else who comes to Riot now and isn’t local, but there are waaaaay more local Chicagoans who attend that would either have to get a hotel or would just stop attending I feel.

 

This same exact thing is happening with Re:SET in Riis Park, the festival with LCD Soundsystem/boygenius/Steve Lacy

https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/0...music-fest-in-riis-park-listen-to-our-voices/

 

i dont see how they can just up and change cities this year, wouldnt that completely screw up tour routings for all bands and conflict if signed-on bands already have shows in those potential cities + then those bands completely losing a Chicago show? feels like it would need to be chicagoland area or nothing for 2023 at least. so if it was Indiana, it'd have to be the northwest corner that still is chicago adjacent

 

(Scroll down to see the comment the below comment is responding to)

 

not looking good

 

What this comment from RF is responding to:

 

That initial Reddit post strikes me as bullshit. Not in the sense that I think the person is lying... But the way people talk about shit like this online is such that they could know somebody who works for the parks department who said "Yeah, it's not approved yet" and they posted about it with their own spin/interpretation of that information.

When folks on Chorus speculate, we usually make it pretty clear that it's in fact speculation that's occurring. But in the majority of the Internet, in my experience at least, people are very very terrible at it. So I dunno. I'm not taking that as anything more than just some Internet rando... I'm gonna believe the Riot Fest person that says things are on-track right now over that, for sure. But with things like this everything's fine until it's not. So who knows.

Anyway. The rest of it is all an interesting read. And it makes me feel better to see that somebody at the festival is actually directly reading/responding to comments from the neighbors.

 

Yeah, like I said above, I'm not convinced that "Indiana" is on the table. I suspect Riot would cancel it all outright rather than try to shift things this close to the festival. There's ~1.25 months or so until the rollout usually happens and ~6 months before the festival itself. And a move to a different state would mean different laws/regulations, needing to get new vendors, possibly spots to rent some of the equipment they'd need, etc. That's not even getting into the situation you highlighted about tour routings!

And I dunno. I think the second it moves away from a metropolitan area you lose so much of what makes it unique/great, you're shifting accessibility which changes the whole demo they can target, etc.

I just don't see it happening anywhere that isn't Chicago. Especially on such short notice. It doesn't seem practical.

 

Fwiw I have to assume moving to indiana means moving to something right over the border, not like Indianapolis

 

I've moved to a farm downstate and will be glad to host a Wayne's World 2 situation if it comes to that.

 

We do this every year, I’m not concerned

 

Sure, you can say this is just a retread/repeat of previous years, but to me it really does feel like each year it gets worse and worse (and in terms of this year, each day). I'm not saying that the people against the festival in Douglass are 100% correct, but I think reducing this situation down to "it happens every year, no need to be concerned" is maybe not the best outlook, because the pushback/scrutniy/etc. is higher than it has ever been.

Also, this is the first year that the Chicago Park District needs to approve events with over 10,000 people.

 

At least with the Douglass Park situation amongst area residents there is slightly more openness unlike the idiots on Reddit who complain about Lollapalooza because "Grant Park is my backyard" and "I moved to the loop so I could have access to Grant Park" (even though they likely moved after Lolla started there) lol