{"id":57069,"date":"2024-09-25T16:19:30","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T21:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=57069"},"modified":"2024-09-25T16:19:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-25T21:19:32","slug":"final-day-of-riot-fest-2024-brought-the-rain-the-mud-and-the-metal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=57069","title":{"rendered":"Final Day Of Riot Fest 2024 Brought The Rain, The Mud and The Metal."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Christopher David<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting off with some fun novelty acts like Nekrogoblikon and Saxsquatch to help lift the crowd out of the gloomy day, I would be remiss if I didn\u2019t mention one of the best parts of this year\u2019s Riot Fest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biscuits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you know what I\u2019m talking about, then you know how amazing it was.\u00a0 And if you don\u2019t\u2026the Logan Arcade\u2019s tent in Riotland featured animatronic, all-dog band dressed as and covering the Misfits.\u00a0 Trust me, you didn\u2019t know you need a hound-dog looking robot in Glenn Danzig\u2019s skeleton shirt singing stomping it\u2019s foot to \u201cWe Are 138\u201d until you saw it.\u00a0 This better be a yearly thing from now on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Back to the normal schedule, power metal giants Mastodon delivered a killer set that focused on the entirety of their 2004 album Leviathan. The Vandals kept the spirit of old school punk alive on the NOFX stage, and Gwar maintained their rep of impeccably bad taste by hosing the audience down with blood and executing Benjamin Netanyahu over the course of their hour-long set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(The only thing more entertaining than watching Gwar was listening to those who didn\u2019t know about them clutch their pearls and decry how inappropriate they were.\u00a0 No kidding.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been doing this for almost forty years now.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Something Corporate\u2019s set focused heavily on newer material, and while the band sounded great and drew rapturous singalongs from a massive crowd, more material from the earlier days of the band\u2019s catalog would have been a welcome addition.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Screenshot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lamb of God, fronted by the always outspoken Randy Blythe, felt like a shift in the day\u2019s atmosphere, setting the stage for what was to come with an hour of uncompromising, humorless metal.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And Rob Zombie showcased a \u2018new\u2019 band\u2014the original Hellbilly<\/em> lineup with the exception of drummer Ginger Fish\u2014as he tore through a set that offered giant monsters, robots, and more than a few surprises like the thrashing \u201cSatanic Rites of Blacula\u201d and opener \u201cDemon Speeding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Finally, it was time for the main event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unexpected, much anticipated return of thrash metal titans Slayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hype around Slayer\u2019s sudden emergence from their 2019 retirement threatened to overshadow their appearance at times over the last few months since the announcement.\u00a0 Was it a full-on reunion?\u00a0 Was bassist\/vocalist Tom Araya fully on board, having indicated a desire for retirement long before they actually called it quits?\u00a0 What would they play?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no real answer to the first question, but based on the band\u2019s energy, performance, and Araya clearly having a great time (even bringing out his grandkids at the end!), it seems silly to rule it out.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Taking the stage after a documentary-style hype video consisting of old live clips and interviews, Satan\u2019s favorite quartet opened with \u201cSouth of Heaven\u201d and had the pit swirling from the get-go.\u00a0 Deep cuts were plentiful, from Reign in Blood\u2019s \u201cReborn\u201d to \u201cTemptation\u201d from 1990\u2019s Seasons in the Abyss, to \u201c213,\u201d an overlooked gem from 1994\u2019s Divine Intervention, which saw it\u2019s first live play since 1998.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverybody having a good time?\u201d Araya said at one point with a grin.\u00a0 \u201cSinging and dancing to death and destruction?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A good time\u2019 was an understatement.\u00a0 To the faithful metal masses, Slayer\u2019s first show since their retirement was the festival equivalent of a tent revival, and as the band launched into \u201cRaining Blood,\u201d perhaps their most well-known paean to all things evil, the speaker stacks erupted in flame, forming two huge, inverted crosses on either end of the stage as a Sabbatic goat threatened to tear through the stage screen amid red-streaking curtains of simulated rain.\u00a0 It\u2019s on YouTube\u2014but for the full effect on a gloomy, almost-autumn night, you had to be there.\u00a0 It might have been dark and twisted, but it was, unquestionably, a celebratory moment of triumph and catharsis for fans of the band.\u00a0 Here\u2019s hoping Slayer decide to surprise us again\u2014sooner than later, this time.\u00a0 Is Riot Fest 2025 too soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, another stellar year is in the books.\u00a0 See you all next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christopher David Starting off with some fun novelty acts like Nekrogoblikon and Saxsquatch to help lift the crowd out of the gloomy day, I would be remiss if I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57071,"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":[41,39,20],"tags":[658,651,656,662,655,653,657,659,661,173,339,660,482,654,652],"class_list":["post-57069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-music-news","category-reviews","tag-biscuits","tag-final-day","tag-gwar","tag-lamb-of-god","tag-mastodon","tag-metal","tag-misfits","tag-nekrogoblikon","tag-rain-out","tag-riot-fest","tag-rob-zombie","tag-saxsquatch","tag-slayer","tag-something-corporate","tag-sunday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57069","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=57069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}