{"id":52282,"date":"2023-09-23T17:09:53","date_gmt":"2023-09-23T22:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=52282"},"modified":"2023-09-23T17:16:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-23T22:16:13","slug":"this-years-riot-fest-multi-faceted-bill-topped-by-heavy-hitters-in-hard-rock-indie-alternative-and-post-punk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=52282","title":{"rendered":"This Years Riot Fest Multi-Faceted Bill Topped By Heavy Hitters In Hard Rock, Indie Alternative and Post Punk"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Christopher David<\/p>\n

Day 1:<\/p>\n

2023\u2019s edition of Riot Fest hit the ground running on Friday with a multi-faceted bill topped by one of the heaviest hitters in all of rock music.<\/p>\n

Nashville\u2019s Olivia Jean started things off with one of the best sets of the day, and her effortless mix of rockabilly, garage, and surf went over big with a sizable crowd that early in the day.\u00a0 Tunes like \u201cDitch\u201d and \u201cTrouble\u201d from her most recent LP (this year\u2019s Raving Ghost<\/em>) fit in beautifully with singles like \u201cNight Owl\u201d from 2019\u2019s album of the same name, and her style, while combining classic elements of the aforementioned genres, remains quite unique, and it was a fun way to start the day.<\/p>\n

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Power-punksters Silverstein and metal core outfit Code Orange both delivered strong, by-the-numbers sets, while George Clinton with Parliament Funkadelic brought the energy one would expect, and hardcore stalwarts Quicksand delivered a perfect full-album play of Slip<\/em> with no frills.\u00a0 One of the biggest moments of Friday came in the form of a noisy, experimental set from Kim Gordon that highlighted her successful, post-Sonic Youth career.\u00a0 Still the queen of indie rock chic, Gordon strutted the stage in a silver sequined skirt\u2014a timeless figure whose musical history and influence is one of the reasons a festival like Riot exists in the first place.<\/p>\n

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The Breeders, one of the quirkiest hit-makers of the 1990s, took the stage to late afternoon sunlight, and a breezy, conversational Kim Deal introduced their full-album play of 1993\u2019s Last Splash<\/em> right off, taking the album in sequential order\u2014a rare treat for all in attendance.\u00a0 Having seen the Last Splash<\/em> tour in its day, it was good to see how fresh that album still sounded.\u00a0 The Breeders\u2019 style was always their own, and the brief, almost unfinished feel to tunes like \u201cNew Year\u201d and the stomp-y \u201cI Just Wanna Get Along\u201d still contrasted so nicely with hookier tracks like \u201cInvisible Man\u201d and the infectious chorus of \u201cSaints.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What more can be said of Dave Grohl?\u00a0 The Foo Fighters are surely one of the most storied rock bands of all time, and while there could have been an air of mourning around their performance, given Taylor Hawkins\u2019 death in 2022 and his long-time role in the band, but there was none of that.\u00a0 In true Dave Grohl fashion, he turned Douglas Park into a giant celebration of life, delivering hit after hit\u2014 though curiously, nothing from the new album, the stellar But Here We Are, <\/em>which was released earlier this summer (though \u201cRescued\u201d and \u201cThe Glass\u201d appeared on the printed setlist, but weren\u2019t played.).<\/p>\n

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On to Day 2!<\/p>\n

Day 2 of Riot Fest was stacked with some of the best undercards as well as headliners the fest has seen\u2026well, okay, since last year, but it was epic, regardless.<\/p>\n

Florida foursome Pool Kids brought some early energy to the Riot stage, and their blend of emo-pop made them a perfect kickoff to a day that saw the energy increase exponentially.\u00a0 Drain picked up that baton, and their short but savage set of thrashy hardcore called to mind early Sacred Reich and Pantera, with frontman Sammy Ciaramitaro making a wicked offer to the crowd before \u201cCalifornia Cursed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re used to playing floor shows, we don\u2019t play on stages like this,\u201d he shouted.\u00a0 \u201cSo let\u2019s make this a floor show.\u00a0 There\u2019s 2,000 of you and only eight security guards.\u00a0 Climb over that gate and get on this stage!\u201d\u00a0 The invitation was cashed in by a wave of crowd surfers, and the large crowd so early in the day spoke to the band\u2019s dedicated following.<\/p>\n

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Pop-punkers Bowling For Soup were the anti-thesis to Drain\u2019s presence on the same stage just an hour before, crushing a short set that saw a Saturday morning cartoon style intro before launching into opener \u201cHigh School Never Ends.\u201d\u00a0 Vocalist\/guitarist Jaret Reddick is one of the funniest, most good-natured frontmen out there, and the band\u2019s first Riot Fest shouldn\u2019t be its last, based on the audience reaction.<\/p>\n

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And while Corey Feldman offered one of the most talked about sets of the weekend, the Rebel stage was properly destroyed by High Vis, a U.K. quintet consistently producing some of the best post-punk out there, mixed with a hooky Britpop style and a lyrical focus on working-class frustration.\u00a0 Vocalist Graham Sayle stalked the stage like a man possessed during \u201cThe Bastard Inside\u201d and \u201cWalking Wires,\u201d and \u201cTalk For Hours\u201d from 2022\u2019s Blending<\/em> was another highlight in a tight, crushing set, calling to mind the original punk-rock spirit of Riot Fest and a contender for the best set of the weekend.<\/p>\n

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Death Cab for Cutie led the charge of headliners on Saturday, with a solid, straightforward performance of 2003\u2019s Transatlanticism<\/em> in its entirety, and before the second half of Ben Gibbard\u2019s domination of the Saturday slot with The Postal Service, one of the best rock bands on the planet touched down with a vibrant light show and a take-no-prisoners set: Queens of the Stone Age.<\/p>\n

Queens\u2019 new record, In Times New Roman<\/em>, is surely a contender for best rock album of the year, though their hour-long spot (yeah, about that\u2026what the hell, Riot Fest?) didn\u2019t offer much opportunity for them to dig into those tunes the way they have on other headlining dates this summer.\u00a0 Lead single \u201cEmotion Sickness\u201d (my song of the year, beyond doubt) sounded phenomenal with guitarist Troy Van Leeuwan trading spacey slide-guitar licks with frontman Josh Homme.\u00a0 Jon Theodore has to be the most underrated rock drummer on earth right now, making everything look far too easy on tracks like opener and hit single \u201cNo One Knows\u201d and new tune \u201cCarnovoyeur\u201d before closing things out with \u201cA Song for the Dead.\u201d\u00a0 There are few surer bets in the rock world in terms of delivering a stunning show than Queens – and what an end to a strong second day of Riot 2023.<\/p>\n

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Day 3:<\/p>\n

The final day of this year\u2019s Riot Fest was yet another stacked bill that almost wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 It was a day that started out wet\u2014very wet\u2014and led to the cancellation of numerous acts at the top of the schedule like Microwave and Free Throws, much to the chagrin of the post-punk and indie hardcore contingent; it was also a day that ended with one of the most stunning one-two punches in Riot Fest history.<\/p>\n

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Things finally got going in the mid-afternoon with a blissed out set from shoegaze legends Ride, who opened with \u201cLeave Them All Behind\u201d to set the tone for a tightly-wound set that also saw a quick dip into 2019\u2019s This is Not a Safe Place<\/em> for \u201cFuture Love\u201d before closing out with the timeless \u201cVapour Trail.\u201d\u00a0 Ride\u2019s sets are always standouts, and while they might not be on the radar of the more punk and hardcore-leaning masses at Riot, the faithful were there in solid numbers.\u00a0 AFI followed, with a heavier set on the Roots Stage that drew nicely from the band\u2019s entire discography.<\/p>\n

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Now, let us discuss my headliners.<\/p>\n

Yes, The Cure were the actual<\/em> headliners, and they were\u2026well, The Cure (more on that soon), but Day 3 was spiritually capped for this writer by the triumphant return of Brian Viglione and Amanda Palmer, the delightfully made-up punk cabaret act known as the Dresden Dolls, who reunited earlier this year after far too long out of the game.\u00a0 Taking the stage to a massive crowd on the Riot Stage, Palmer and Viglione tore through a hour\u2019s worth of everything that made them unique, including a few surprises.\u00a0 Did anyone expect bass goddess Melissa Auf Der Maur to show up for a cover of the Beastie Boys\u2019 \u201cFight for Your Right\u201d?\u00a0 With Amanda on drums and Brian on guitar and lead vocals, of all things?\u00a0 In the middle of their set?\u00a0\u00a0 What about a cover of Black Sabbath\u2019s \u201cWar Pigs\u201d reworked to sound like it truly could have come from any of the Dresdens\u2019 albums as an original cut?\u00a0 Both Palmer and Viglione could barely keep the smiles off their faces as Palmer paused to reflect mid-set.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are so happy to be here, and playing before The Cure, no less,\u201d she beamed, then told a story of seeing the Disintegration<\/em> tour as a fifteen-year-old and being so overwhelmed by the power of so many people brought together by the love of a band that she cried.\u00a0 Who among us can\u2019t relate to that?\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cCoin-Operated Boy,\u201d the bouncy \u201cMy Alcoholic Friends,\u201d and the frantic psychobabble of \u201cGirl Anachronism\u201d sounded as fresh as the day they were released, now over fifteen years ago, and with a new album on the horizon, the Dresden Dolls proved their importance to modern music time and again over the course of their slot.\u00a0 No other band sounds like the Dresdens, and that\u2019s saying something in this day and age.<\/p>\n

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And, of course, the final day of Riot would never be complete without a massive headliner, and it doesn\u2019t get more massive than The Cure, one of those rare bands that just about everyone can agree on.\u00a0 It would be impossible to overstate the importance of The Cure to the music world at this point; the number of bands that simply wouldn\u2019t exist without them is impossible to count.\u00a0 Taking the stage to \u201cAlone\u201d from recent album Lost World<\/em>, Robert Smith regarded what was likely the biggest crowd of the weekend, walking from one end of the stage to the other, taking it all in.\u00a0 Their nearly two hour set saw some deep cuts (\u201cPlay for Today,\u201d \u201cCold\u201d) as well as some of the pop confections that have continued to grow their audience for decades (\u201cFriday I\u2019m In Love,\u201d \u201cIn Between Days\u201d), and from the darker slow burns to the danceable tunes, the well-oiled machine that is Smith and Co. showcased just why they\u2019re held in such high regard\u2014much like their spiritual openers the Dresden Dolls earlier that evening, there is simply no one else like them and never will be. Which is a fitting end to a festival that continues to be the best of its kind\u2014in Chicago or anywhere else.<\/p>\n

For more on Riot Fest, click here<\/a><\/p>\n

For photos from Riot Fest 2023, click here<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christopher David Day 1: 2023\u2019s edition of Riot Fest hit the ground running on Friday with a multi-faceted bill topped by one of the heaviest hitters in all of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,41,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-news","category-features","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}