Riot Fest 2024 Tour • Page 159

Yeah it looks like that was an oversight, Jer/Skatune Network commented that in the replies of the post and the account liked the post.

 

Oh good! :)

 

The Manchester Orcheatra show is a bit of a throwback tonight. Heavy and loud for the most part.

 

Riot is always a lot for me to recover from. It’s always a bit overstimulating and a lot to digest but man…

The weekend was such a blast! Now to get back to Boston and do nothing but drink Gatorade and complain about how old I am for the next 36+ hours!

 

Riot Fest Number six in the books, number four bringing my dad all three days. Didn't know as many acts going in this year but still had a phenomenal time. Here's my highlights and lowlights.

Highlights:
Fall Out Boy - hadn't seen them since Monumentour and my god what a show. I'm a sucker for a chronological setlist and the entire band sounded phenomenal. Bang the Doldrums is one of my favorites by them so was ecstatic to hear that.

Something Corporate - Never saw Andrew McMahon live before but this absolutely sold me on buying tickets to whatever show he does here next. He is so innately talented and knows how to work the crowd. Played everything I wanted from them. My dad had only heard Something Corporate on the way from the hotel to the fest but he said this set was a highlight for him.

Doom Scroll - I'm sold on folk punk, their energy was great. Felt like a perfect set to listen to in the rain.

Games We Play - The singer jokingly calling out people who got cheated on as losers is one of my favorite Riot moments ever. Super tight set in general.

Lowlights:
Sublime - felt like I was watching a mediocre Sublime cover band. My dad and I agreed that we miss Rome. Hopefully Jacob grows into the role of their frontman as he does more shows with them.

Gel - this is one of my favorite bands and I had a blast coming out of mosh retirement to throw kicks in the mud for this set but I was underwhelmed with their stage presence. Younger hardcore bands can struggle on festival stages but if Drain could bring it last year I was hoping Gel would this year too. Cutting the set short by 10+ minutes was kind of whack as well. Turnstile did the same thing in 2019.

Overall one of my favorite Riot Fests, the gauntlet of NFG -> Sum 41 -> Offspring -> FOB on Friday is hard to beat

 

I really had a great time this year aside from the heat. Some unorganized thoughts:
- Moving off Mexican Independence weekend: A+. Never had to worry about my parking situation at 54th/Cermak, and the city is just calmer in general.
- Attendance must have been way down this year. I'm a bad judge of crowd size, but I never had to wait more than a few minutes for food or water and had no trouble getting good spots at every set I watched. Especially SoCo — I walked up a few minutes after Slaughter Beach Dog ended figuring I would be stuck back by the sound booth, but I easily got to the third row. Would love to know the actually stats though.
- Favorite sets: Something Corporate, Fall Out Boy, Waxahatchee, The Armed, Winona Fighter, The Aces. The few Pavement songs I saw sounded amazing too.
- Really only saw a couple artists I wasn't into. Checked out a bit of Home Front and they weren't my thing. Health might be good but I'd never know with how the bass was vibrating my entire body.
- Food prices are crazy everywhere, but special rip-off award to the $20 half quesadilla.
- I just feel so lucky that this is my hometown fest so I don't have to stress about travel or making plans with friends. I can just show up, see bands I love, and probably run into tons of people I know.
- As usual, I hope staying in Douglass Park comes with commitments to work with and give back to the neighborhood.

Also, started a thread for next year: Riot Fest 2025 • forum.chorus.fm

 

Offhand, how bad was it? I'm always pleasantly surprised at how affordable both Lolla and Pitchfork keep things.

 

A comically huge slice of bland pizza was $15 and a Polish Plate of a blintz, potato pancake, and 4 pierogis was $19 but would fill you up for the entire day

There was also a spot selling burritos for $10 but they didn't take cash so I couldn't see how big they were

 

Paid like $28 for a burger and fries, which I guess isn't horrible with tip but I think is more expensive than past years. Billy Goat was usually my go to option on the cheaper side, but I don't think they were there at all this year?

Wasn't feeling the polish plate this year, though that is a good option for under $20, which is why I ended up with the quesadilla (not having their prices posted should have tipped me off that it would be expensive).

 

The burrito was ehh on size but packed a punch. I got a burrito and 3 falafel bites all together for $16 and I never needed food again for the whole day. I’m also 6’4 and close to 300lbs. So you know I be eating.

 

I'm trying to dig it up from my budget but offhand, looks like around $40 for two people to eat each day at Pitchfork. Lolla is a bit harder because if you register your wristband you get that $10 credit and this year Uber had a lounge where you could get a $20 credit added to your Lolla wristband as well so it was pretty affordable for the one day. Regardless, those two festivals always seem to keep prices down in comparison to Riot Fest, possibly suggesting that Riot Fest takes a bigger cut from the food vendors than P4K/Lolla.

Not to say that it's a huge gap but it's noticeable. Also, P4K and Lolla have better/more vegetarian options than Riot Fest IME.

 

That $15 pizza slice is huge and is such a goddamn savior when you're a couple drinks in and need to level out

 

I had to split it with my friend because it was so big

 

Since they teased the 20th year being a big deal I’m gonna make a crazy guess.

Green Day headlining 2 nights
Op Ivy reunion
Dolly Parton co-headlining Op Ivy night

 

I hate to be a pot stirrer, but Weird Al announced his 2025 tour and he's playing Kalamazoo, MI on 9/17.

He's also playing Rivinia (?) Festival on 6/29 though in Highland Park so that might affect his chances.

 

What all did they say in teasing the 20th anniversary?

 

The ticket giveaway contest that included passes for next year just said "the 20th Riot Fest is going to be really special."

 

biggest highlights: st. Vincent, sublime, sincere engineer, fallout boy, LJG/catbite, cypress hill

Also rocked: gel, the vandals, nofx (sat night), saxsquatch, the warning, dead milkmen, dickies, the armed, public enemy, nekrogoblicon

only meh sets for me were mastodon (sound issues) and sitting through both spoon and dr dog while waiting for st. Vincent and sublime (no ill will to either just not the most exciting acts while waiting for 45 mins)

favorite crowd moment was the grounds crew backing a truck load of mulch into the pit during Strung Out and just letting all the punks do the work of throwing it out of the truck in a way that looked chaotic and fun

 

I also thought they didn't sound great and only ended up watching about 20 minutes of their set, but I figured I just wasn't feeling that style of metal after Gel and Sunami had me in a hardcore mood.

That sounds so awesome.

 

Another great year. Am more exhausted than normal I feel like though lol

Highlights:
- Sum 41/Drug Church was an awesome way to start the week both bands crushed
- Spiritual Cramp, Drug Church, Lawrence Arms were probably my favorite sets Friday
- Basement after show was awesome really glad I went
- Was awesome to see hometown homies HAM play to such a big crowd so early in the day Saturday
- The LJG aftershow might have been my favorite set of the weekend. Was so much fun didn't think we were going to get the entire Op Ivy discog that night
- St Vincent, Beck, Waxahatchee and Pavement all sounded really good. Wish I got to see more of them
- NOFX was really great all 3 nights. Going to miss them had a blast at all 3 sets
- Also walking out of NOFX and ending the festival with Santeria was pretty perfect. Jakob sounded awesome, hopefully get to see them next year

Lowlights:
- Having to leave FOB early, they were crushing it.
- The Chisel dropping last minute
- Was excited to see ManOrch but wish they would have done the aftershow set at the festival instead of Cope. Didn't fit the vibe burning alive in the sun and watching those songs
- Caught the last TBS song and I always try to defend how they sound but yeesh that had to been the worst. Only saw makedamnsure though
- Fiddlehead getting kinda screwed by the rain and playing at the same time as sunami was a bummer. Crowd wasn't there and they ended 10 mins early.

All together had a very good weekend. Got to catch Brendan Kelly last night too which was the perfect send off for a weekend in Chicago

Can't wait for next year!

 

My highlights over the weekend:

Friday: Hot Mulligan was amazing as usual and should be treasured. The FOB production (and performance/set) were some of the best I’ve seen at a fest.

Saturday: The Hives brought the energy. Health was something I didn’t know I would be interested in. Something Corporate had an incredible aftershow.

Sunday: Something Corporate brought it again (and people got married!). Oliver Tree always bring a weird and wild show.

 

Take those Covid tests if you’re feeling sick. It finally got my ass after not getting it this entire time

 

Agreed on these two points fully! It was nice leaving the festival every night and not sitting in traffic for 40-60 minutes to get home. Finding an Uber and/or a cab was easier than it's ever been too. But we also always left the venue by 9:30 each night.

The crowds definitely felt much lighter. It was still pretty crowded but it didn't feel tight or jammed anywhere. And the food lines were always reasonable. Part of me wonders if it was because of the artists they had. There wasn't a MCR or Foo Fighters. There were people camping out for Fall Out Boy and Slayer at the main stage, sure, but you also had people who didn't leave the NOFX stage all day. It just felt like the crowd was a bit more "spread out" and a little lighter than usual. If that makes sense.

I mean, if you're going to stir a pot, this is the one to stir. Bring on the Al, baby!

You were there too?!! Regrettably, at that point in the day, my partner's body was aching and she was ready to PTFO so... We had to leave after Catbite's set. I got so bummed when I started seeing the social media posts about the OpIvy set at the Empty Bottle... How long did LJG play before jumping into the OpIvy stuff?

Oof. My partner was saying she felt sick last night... But we're both still testing negative. Hope it's not too bad. Feel better!

 

After digesting the weekend I have to say that this might actually be one of my all-time favorite years. Definitely top three. And it wasn't any one set so much as the weekend vibes on the whole. My highlights/lowlights:

Festival in General: The layout was awesome and RiotLand was implemented better than I thought it was going to. Pretty fun to explore... But I'd be lying if I said I didn't want them to go back to the regular "4 big stages + Rebel" next year. The drink selections in Deluxe were great this year. It was also nice that they had a few different vegan options to choose from. FestiMac and MeetStop were both amazing and I hope they come back next year!

Friday: The Lawrence Arms, Drug Church, and Winona Fighter were far and away my favorite sets of the day. I was bummed to miss a chunk of Cypress Hill and all of Public Enemy because we had to eat but... Sitting in Deluxe and watching the Offspring played. Fall Out Boy sounded awesome from the 6-7 songs we wound up watching. My biggest disappointment for the day was ALL; weak set list was weak.

Saturday: This day felt like it was all a highlight! But the Hives and Basement were probably my favorites. Also caught full sets from Liquid Mike, Codefendants, Heart Attack Man, Buzzcocks, Sir Chloe, the Hives, Dillinger Four, and Basement -- all of whom were awesome. Also caught partials from Princess Goes, Sincere Engineer, Spoon, Descendents, St. Vincent, and Pavement. I still don't understand why anybody likes Pavement in the year 2024 but... That's probably just a "me" problem. And the rest were all amazing. Kinda wish timing worked better so I could have seen more of St. Vincent and Sincere Engineer.

Sunday: Got there late because of the rain and did a lot of sitting around. The Laura Jane Grace/Catbite Operation Ivy set was far and away my favorite set of the weekend. It was just so rad seeing so many of those songs performed live for the first time... And done in such an incredible way. They really did it justice. I'm still reeling from that. Cobra Skulls, Cursive, and the Vandals were also really fun. And the first half of Sublime's set that I caught was way better than it had any right to be. Jakob sounds amazing.

And, obviously, NOFX all weekend was... Fun. I only caught 30-40 minutes each night but it was always great. I just decided to spread my wings a bit more and consider the Boston shows my "last" ones. Haha.

 

She did a couple solo songs to start, Hole In My Head and I'm Not A Cop (maybe 1-2 more? I can't remember) and then brought Paris out and did All Fucked Out, Pints of Guinness and Baby I'm An Anarchist