Riot Fest 2021 (September 17-19, Chicago IL) Tour • Page 232

I don't think anything would be stopping a festival from saying "Actually, no. You need to get vaccinated to get in. Here's a link to where you can request a refund." Granted, doing so without a refund option would probably be problematic.

Lolla definitely has it easier, having it implemented from the jump. But it would still be an option for Riot if they wanted to deal with the hassle on the back end. I don't blame them if they opt to not take that approach, all things considered, but I do kinda hope they do. It feels like the right thing to do.

Given how slow the "last chance" tickets are moving, though, I don't quite see that happening.

 

There absolutely could, there could be a class action lawsuit brought against them for misrepresentation. I won't even go into the specifics about the legal agreement both parties enter into when making the initial ticket sale....to flip flop on covid restrictions like that, even with offering ticket refunds, could be leaving the ticket buyer with a booked hotel and non refundable flight.

 

But please let's not even entertain this idea, I NEED this festival so badly right now! Been hyping myself up like crazy for this lol

 

Subject change: We suspect more announcements will come next week? I’m getting impatient haha

 

At this point I have just stopped trying to guess when we will get more announcements. Because I definitely thought we would have gotten album plays by now.

 

TBH, at this point, I think the album plays this year are gonna be a bit of a flop. This is partially because of how long the announcement has been delayed and a glance at what they might be based on the bands on the line-up.

But gimme the next wave of aftershows and more info about Thursday!

I really do think they are waiting for Lolla to pass before rolling more things out.

 

You are probably right. I think if they had any surprising/rare ones they would have announced them to try to sell off more “last chance” tickets.

 

For album plays, I've been looking at (a) bands with an album anniversary and a tour planned around it, or (b) bands that aren't doing much beyond Riot Fest. That's usually what the album plays are. But album plays are usually announced before that tour.

Looking at the line-up I'm feeling like we'll get something from the Pixies, Motion City Soundtrack (Commit This To Memory), Thursday (Full Collapse), maybe NOFX, the Circle Jerks (Group Sex), and Circa Survive (Blue Sky). Definitely not a list to sneeze at, but not the usual wallop of whoa!

I could also see 3OH!3, Gogol Bordello, Hepcat, the Bollweevils, and Body Count potentially doing albums but it feels way less likely than what I've included above.

Oh! And while I don't think they'll do the full album, I suspect a very DCTL-heavy set from Fucked Up.

 

I was REALLY hoping it’d be this week since it’s my birthday tomorrow (haha), but the whole thing about Lolla makes total sense. And at at that point we’ll be about a month and a half out (crazy!)

As funny as this sounds, I’m actually debating whether or not bands that are already touring an album would end up doing that album-play at Riot. I was 100% convinced Circa Survive would do Blue Sky Noise until I realized that there’s a Chicago date for their BSN. It seems odd to me that not only would they play Chicago twice in the span of months (even though it’s forgiven because of the pandemic) and virtually have the same setlist

I WOULD like to be wrong though, I’m so, so hoping we get a Commit This To Memory album play, but at the same time, I could also see them just doing a normal set, and then adding a Chicago date to their 17th anniversary tour

But we’ll have to see!

 

Thinking about the aftershows too, I would imagine the second wave of them are going to be in smaller venues. So those are probably going to sell quicker (he said, hoping for the Lawrence Arms to have one announced).

That's a fair point, but it kinda depends on the individual bands and what level of practice they've had. I'm not sure how Circa operates as a band, but if they're the kind of act who can pull songs out at random the way others can? Then maybe they'll just do a 'standard' set. But if they've been practicing that album for a long while now and it's what they're planning to play live for the foreseeable future? Then maybe we get it at Riot Fest too. Despite how weird it is. Haha.

 

For all of the tickets sold in 2021 they have been saying that COVID restrictions might be put into place as part of the terms of sale. So it would only impact tickets sold in 2020 (and for those people, BTW, there has already been a drastic change that may have led them to request a refund and be out the money for a hotel/flight in MCR cancelling).

I would imagine the risk of a class action suit being filed would be incredibly slim, and really not worth anybody's time to pursue, given the cost to pursue it, the actual $$$ amount in claims, and the way those things tend to pan out as far as the settlements go.

 

On the flip-side, I think bands that are touring/coming to Chicago in the fall/winter for a regular have a greater chance of doing an album play, sort of as a “Riot Exclusive.” Like, there’s no particular anniversary of anything this year (not that I know of, at least) but I could see Riot possibly getting Thrice to do an album-play

Also, I do want a Doolittle album play. That’s one of my favorite albums!

 

Doolittle would be sick! That's a really great point about the bands touring/not doing an album. I just don't know that bands who are on tour around the festival will be doing that unless they know/play most of the songs anyway.

It feels like that would disrupt the flow of things in terms of set lists.

But who knows...

 

I am still thinking NFG could be doing their self-titled album. They didn’t get to do it for the 20th anniversary last year, they are still having their normal tour stop for Chicago (although it is technically an after show), and it isn’t like they don’t know how to play every song from it already.

 

There’s no anniversary for it this year, but Thrice doing Artist In The Ambulance would make my whole year. I mean, Riot usually does get a few bands to do some non-anniversary album plays, but also this is a pipe dream. I should stop rambling because I’m setting my hopes too high lol

 

I think that’s a safe bet

 

Oh, that's a good one that I hadn't even considered! Yeah. That would make a ton of sense and would build some hype.

Honestly, if Riot could convince NFG, MCS, and Thursday to all do albums that would definitely drive sales from a very specific type of fan. Haha. And it would look great on paper too.

 

I know they’ve done it a million times now, but I could see Thursday doing Full Collapse, which I wouldn’t be mad about

 

I hope NFG does self titled. I already have tickets to see them 2 weeks after Riot, so would be cool to get different sets!

 

Yeah NFG doing S/T would be a win for me even though I've seen it a few times

I kind of hope NOFX doesn't do an album play, I would like a mixed bag set

 

Could see a Bayside Killing Time set as well.

 

I'm just looking forward to Fat Mike's MGK material.

 

This is also a good one and I really hope it happens

 

I didn’t realize how badly I needed to see this

 

Usually Riot goes for albums that are iconic, though. Would Killing Time fall into that category?

I would argue that Bayside has two of those albums in their discography: S/T and Walking Wounded. Both of which they've played at Riot in the past, though the former was more of an unofficial album play.