{"id":62442,"date":"2025-09-20T12:11:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T17:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=62442"},"modified":"2025-10-01T15:55:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T20:55:19","slug":"riot-fest-20th-anniversary-day-1-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=62442","title":{"rendered":"Riot Fest 20th Anniversary 2025 – Day 1 Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By C. D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riot Fest returned to Douglass Park this weekend, and for the 2025 installment of the now<\/em> legendary music fest, they really brought out some heavy hitters. Despite 2024\u2019s stellar lineup,<\/em> there was an undeniable cloud of controversy and confusion over Riot\u2019s location, the addition<\/em> of \u201cRiot Land,\u201d and the fest\u2019s future as a whole. This year, the focus seems to have returned<\/em> squarely to where it should be on all fronts: the music.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Friday showed the lineup\u2019s muscle from the very start with the return of Shonen Knife, the<\/em> Japanese indie-pop trio that carved out a unique niche for themselves back in the \u201890s and hit<\/em> the stage like they\u2019d never left, a paean to the timeless quality of their work. The Knife kicked<\/em> off the most comical string of sets in Riot history<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mac Sabbath delivering a set of<\/em> crushing Black Sabbath covers as giant inflatable Big Macs flew about the crowd<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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and Puddles<\/em> Pity Party brought Puddles the Clown\u2019s crooning, hilariously deadpan style to a huge mid-day<\/em> crowd, with Celine Dion\u2019s \u201cMy Heart Will Go On,\u201d coda\u2019ed with the outro to Metallica\u2019s \u201cOne\u201d<\/em> as a set-closing highlight.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Two much-lauded and anticipated reunions landed on Day 1 as well, the first being Shudder to<\/em> Think taking the Radical stage for their first Chicago show since their recent reformation. Of all<\/em> the excellent bands establishing their own little piece of the indie and alt-rock world in the<\/em> 1990s, Shudder to Think was arguably the most inventive, crafting songs that squarely landed<\/em> killer hooks through bizarre, angular-sounding arrangements, and their return has been a longtime<\/em> coming. (And good news\u2014a new record is on the way!) \u201cX-French T-Shirt\u201d and \u201cHit<\/em> Liquor\u201d sounded just as stunning as they did back then, and if anything, the band\u2019s set was all<\/em> too short.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Senses Fail and Sparks delivered strong afternoon sets<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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and then it was time for the second<\/em> reunion of the day: Rilo Kiley. Having broken up after releasing their most ambitious album to<\/em> date (2007\u2019s Under the Blacklight), Jenny Lewis and her bandmates sounded like they\u2019d just<\/em> been biding their time for this one. Wearing a pink babydoll dress, Lewis sounds as great as<\/em> ever, and opener \u201cThe Execution of All Things\u201d was a perfect introduction for those who might<\/em> not know the band, and a jubilant \u201cwelcome back\u201d for the faithful. The band\u2019s hour-long set<\/em> drew on all of their records, one again proving just how strong the band\u2019s catalog is\u2014and<\/em> hopefully, this is the harbinger of more to come.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Local boys Alkaline Trio started the evening off with a reliably great set of tunes on the Riot<\/em> stage, and Knocked Loose may have just gotten their wish for the biggest mosh pit Riot has<\/em> ever seen, setting the stage for the main event.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What more can be said, at this point, of Blink-182, who now exist at a level of popularity most<\/em> bands couldn\u2019t even dream of? Since the return of vocalist\/guitarist Tom Delonge in 2022, the<\/em> band has been on a constant high, and their headlining set on Friday was nothing less than<\/em> pop-punk triumph. Digging deep into their catalog and thrashing through gems like \u201cOnline<\/em> Songs\u201d and \u201cJosie,\u201d Blink \u2018family member\u2019 Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio later joined them for a<\/em> killer version of \u201cBored to Death.\u201d Thick with hits from start to finish, Blink proved yet again<\/em> that, if you\u2019re talented enough, you can meld locker-room humor with heartfelt love songs and<\/em> poignant musings on life and death. (I mean, when you have Travis Barker behind you, let\u2019s be<\/em> honest – you can do anything.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the strongest days in Riot Fest history, folks – let\u2019s play two more!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

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

By C. D. Riot Fest returned to Douglass Park this weekend, and for the 2025 installment of the now legendary music fest, they really brought out some heavy hitters. Despite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,38,39,20],"tags":[398,1342,561,285,1719,1715,1718,173,478,1717,1714],"class_list":["post-62442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-festivals","category-music-news","category-reviews","tag-20th-anniversary","tag-alkaline-trio","tag-blink-182","tag-concert-review","tag-knocked-loose","tag-puddles-pity-party","tag-rilo-liley","tag-riot-fest","tag-riotland","tag-senses-fail","tag-shonen-knife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62442","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=62442"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63094,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62442\/revisions\/63094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/62450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}