Consider Riot Fest as the punk/goth/overall culturally different cousin that may or may not be adopted to the family of festivals that exists on the concert family tree.  It’s been quite a few years since I last attended a Riot Fest on home turf, but it felt overdue from chaos of southern festivals.  Douglas Park was the fitting host to the surrounding North Lawndale community after being pushed out of Humboldt Park.  Noticeably different from all the other festivals of the summer is the echo of metal and the sea of people dressed up mostly in black.  The weather was mild, but any hint of heat would not have put a damper on the fashion fishnets and hair glue for someones neon mohawk.

This three day festival certainly brought a fierce lineup with headliners Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, and Jawbreaker.  On 218 acres were 5 stages, Riot Fest’s signature carnival, and Hellzapoppin Circus Side Show Revue.   Retail vendors were as dynamic as the crowd from some cheeky merchandise on pussy pride and some dope Wu-Tang gear for some minis.  Yes, minis as in wee little ones and there was definitely plenty of littles hanging out that were equally as hardcore as their parents, and hung out until the final performances.  The food tents felt like they stretched the entire length of the park and that was where you found most people, since this was the shadiest areas from some of the hotter temps.  But good luck finding a water station, much less getting through the line to reach it since it was tucked away somewhere behind the carnival rides and tucked near the corner where the Your Name Here stage resides.

The stages were pretty tight together and for any artists that overlapped another set, you were bound to suffer a pocket of noise unless your face was on the stage.  Still, what made it easy was not having to walk miles upon miles to the next stage.

Day 1 Performances Included:

Nine Inch Nails, New Order, A Day To Remember, Dirty Heads, Vic Mensa, Ministry, Death From Above, Action Bronson, X, Mayday Parade (Performing A Lesson In Romantics), The Cribs, LIARS Buzzcocks, The Story So Far, State Champs, Four Year Strong, INVSN, Chon, The Hotelier, Saul Williams, Nothing More, Radar State, Tobacco, Seaway, Like Pacific, Sleep On It, Grayscale, Skating Polly, Warm Brew, HDBeenDope, and featuring Hellzapoppin’ Circus Sideshow Revue.

New Order solidified themselves as legends and made no stop to all of their hits and it was amazing to see the diversity in the audience.  Chicago’s own Vic Mensa tore up the Rise stage with some poetic and relevant lyrics and addressed the injustices occurring in Chicago and abroad.  Earlier in the summer I was able to catch NIN at FYF fest in LA.  They’re set was epic and full of vintage tunes as well as new ones from Add Violence and a David Bowie cover of “I Can’t Give Everything Away,” off of his final album Blackstar.  Friday night they did an identical set without Trent sporting his moto jacket for a portion of it.  The crowd was large and committed and a great way to kick of the remainder of the weekend.

Day 2 Performances Included:

Queens of the Stone Age, Wu-Tang Clan (Performing Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)), Mike D (DJ Set), At The Drive In, Danzig (Performing Danzig III), Gogol Bordello, Taking Back Sunday, New Found Glory, Fidlar, Bad Brains, Peaches, The Lawrence Arms (Performing Oh, Calcutta!), Bayside (Performing The Walking Wounded), Dead Cross, Streetlight Manifesto, GBH, Shabazz Palaces, Fishbone, (Performing Truth & Soul), Knuckle Puck, Black Pistol Fire, Slaves (UK), RVIVR, Lucky Chops, The Smith Street Band, Potty Mouth, The Regrettes, Cold Beat, Gin Rummy, La Armada, Turnspit and featuring Hellzapoppin’ Circus Sideshow Revue

Mike D played a hip hop timeline almost in a geographical ode to its origins, hitting every notable point of the map that was relevant to hip hop history.  Speaking of history, after his set, WuTang Clan represented with every member present and also shared their hip hop history often giving respects to ODB.

Day 3 Performances Included:

Jawbreaker, Paramore, Prophets of Rage, M.I.A., TV on the Radio, Dinosaur Jr. (Performing You’re Living All Over Me), Pennywise, Built to Spill (Performing Keep It Like A Secret), The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (Performing Let’s Face It), The Orwells, Best Coast, Cap’n Jazz, Minus The Bear, Say Anything, The Menzingers, GWAR, Real Friends, Hot Water Music, Andrew W.K., Beach Slang, that dog. (Performing Retreat From the Sun), Mad Caddies, The Flatliners, Dessa, The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, Engine 88, Versus, Downtown Boys, Culture Abuse, Kitten Forever, Upset,
and featuring Hellzapoppin’ Circus Sideshow Revue

It isn’t a true punk/metal/goth show without some GWAR and their bloody theatrics.  Prophets of Rage just recently released an LP after a few years of touring together as a blended band.  They still performed hits as individual performers; Cypress Hill, Public Enemy and Rage Against the Machine.  A glory of rage against the system with political overtones and a fight against injustices.  For as free and without restraint this crowd may appear to be, its deceiving.  This was a family friendly atmosphere and people were refreshingly respectful to each other.  If you’re looking for a true alternative to the cliches of festival life …Riot Fest brings a lot of flavor and some hard music for your inner grunge lover.

Here are some photos from Ryan Siu and his bomb photog skills: