Quiet Douglas Park on the south side of Chicago was transformed into a loud, muddy pit for the 2015 Riot Fest. Friday was jammed packed full of exciting bands such as Motörhead, Ice Cube, No Doubt, Coheed and Cambria and Anthrax.
The highlight of the night was watching the legendary Lemmy Kilmister with his Band Motörhead! The set included “Damage Case”, “Stay Clean” , ”Metropolis”, “Over the Top”, “The Chase Is Better Than the Catch”, “Rock It”, “Lost Woman Blues”, “Doctor Rock” (With Drum Solo), “Just ‘Cos You Got the Power”, “Ace of Spades”, Encore: “Overkill”.
Lemmy, who has had some health problems lately, looked strong and healthy on the stage while his trademark voice blasted from the speakers to the attentive crowd!
Leading up to Motörhead was Anthrax. Joey Belladonna put on an impressive performance along with the rest of the band. The set list included “Madhouse”, “Caught in a Mosh”, “Got the Time” (Joe Jackson cover), “Antisocial” (Trust cover), “Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t”, “In the End”, and “Indians”.
Coheed and Cambria’s set list for Friday night included “Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3”, “Devil in Jersey City”, “You Got Spirit, Kid”, “Here to Mars”, “Here We Are Juggernaut”, “A Favor House Atlantic”, “The Camper Velourium III: Al the Killer”, “Blood Red Summer”, “Delirium Trigger”, “Ten Speed” (Of God’s Blood and Burial), and “Welcome Home”.
Atreyu returned after beginning a long hiatus in 2011, and they are back better than ever! The California based rockers came right out and opened the set with their 2007 smash hit “Becoming the Bull”. Singer Alex Varkatzas locked eyes with the crowd, who were screaming back the lyrics to every song. The crowd formed a huge, wild pit – the biggest I saw at Riot Fest – during “Bleeding Mascara”. Atreyu sounded as if they hadn’t even been on a four year break.
Every Time I Die The Metalcore band from Buffalo, New York slammed out some of their best songs including: “We’rewolf”, “Thirst”, “Decayin’ With the Boys”, “Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space”, “Bored Stiff”, “El Dorado”, “Tourette’s” (Nirvana cover), “Roman Holiday”, “The Marvelous Slut”, “The New Black”, and “Moor”.
Against Me Singer/guitarist Laura Jane Grace led the punk band Against Me into a solid 45 min set including these songs: “True Trans Soul Rebel”, “Pints of Guiness Make You Strong”, “Unconditional Love”, “Walking Is Still Honest”, “Dead Friend”, “Cliche Guevara”, “FuckMyLife666”, “White People for Peace”, “Transgender Dysphoria Blues”, “White Crosses / Spanish Moss”, “Black Me Out”, “Thrash Unreal”, and “I Was a Teenage Anarchist”.
Living Colour The New York City Rock band formed in 1984 proved that longevity is not dead! Their 45 mins on stage included a brief guest performance from Anthrax member Frank Bello. “Middle Man”, “Desperate People”, “Ignorance Is Bliss”, “This Little Pig”, “Go Away”, “Time’s Up”, “Cult of Personality”, and “Should I Stay or Should I Go” (The Clash cover).
Flogging Molly The Celtic punk group impressed me with “The Likes of You Again”, “Swagger”, “Screaming at the Wailing Wall”, “Revolution”, “Guns of Jericho”, “Drunken Lullabies”, “Saints & Sinners”, “Requiem for a Dying Song”, “Float”, “Tobacco Island”, “Devil’s Dance Floor”, “If I Ever Leave This World Alive”, “What’s Left of the Flag”, and “Seven Deadly Sins”.
Faith No More When Singer Mike Patton wasn’t deep throating the microphone, he was hiding behind ugly fake flowers. The set list contained: “Motherfucker”, “Be Aggressive”, “Caffeine”, “Evidence”, “Epic”, “Black Friday”, “Midlife Crisis”, “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, “Easy” (Commodores cover), “Separation Anxiety”, “Ashes to Ashes”, “Superhero”, and “Introduce Yourself”.
Saturday came with a deluge of morning rain, turning the park grounds into deep mud. Chicago stores reported a spike in sales for rubber boots. The crowd was thick and nobody seemed to mind the treacherous conditions. The day was jam packed full of awesome bands. I was faced with the dilemma of choosing between two solid bands several times due to the set times.
Gwar was a hilarious spectacle shooting fake red and blue blood into the crowd and the photographer pit. They played “Madness at the Core of Time”, “Vlad the Impaler”, “Saddam a Go-Go”, “Babyraper”, “Meat Sandwich”, “Bloodbath”, “Jesus Christ Superstar” (Andrew Lloyd Webber cover) (instrumental version), “A Short History of the End of the World”, and “Sick of You”.
Echo and the Bunnymen started things off with a bang by opening with their timeless hit song “Lips Like Sugar”! The rest of the set was: “Do It Clean”, “Rescue”, “Villiers Terrace / Roadhouse Blues”, “Over the Wall”, “Nothing Lasts Forever / Walk on the Wild Side”, “Bring On the Dancing Horses”, “The Killing Moon”, and “The Cutter”
Pennywise– The veteran punk band was so good! The set list included “Fight Till You Die”, “Rules”, “You’ll Never Make It”,“My Own Country”, “Do What You Want” (Bad Religion cover), “Pennywise”, “Perfect People”, “Society”, “Fuck Authority”, and “Bro Hymn”
The Damned– Captain Sensible and his sailor outfit were very amusing to see. The band hasn’t missed a beat. They were highly entertaining. Their set list was: “Love Song / Machine Gun Etiquette”, “Disco Man”, “Wait for the Blackout”, “I Just Can’t Be Happy Today”, “Ignite”, “Eloise” (Paul Ryan cover), “Alone Again Or” (Love cover), “Neat Neat Neat”, “New Rose”, and “Smash It Up”.
Alexisonfire truly blew me away! It was the first time I saw them in person and it definitely won’t be the last! The slamming set list included: “Accidents”, “Boiled Frogs”, “Old Crows”, “The Northern”, “We Are the Sound” , “.44 Caliber Love Letter”, “Dog’s Blood”, “Drunks, Lovers, Sinners and Saints”, “This Could Be Anywhere in the World”, “Young Cardinals”, and “Happiness by the Kilowatt”.
Merle Haggard The 78-year-old legend drew a huge crowd at Riot Fest. The crowd was singing and dancing along to “Big City”, “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink”, “Silver Wings”, “Mama Tried”, “Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down”, “Fighting Side of Me”, “Workin’ Man’s Blues”, “Fiddle Breakdown” (Instrumental), “The Fugitive”, “Okie From Muskogee”.
Billy Idol was a power house of energy! I admit it. It was my first time seeing him in person, and I can’t wait to see him again! His set list was full of his biggest hits and a couple of new songs! “Postcards From the Past”, “Dancing With Myself “ (Generation X song), “Can’t Break Me Down”, “Flesh for Fantasy”, “Eyes Without a Face”, “Ready Steady Go” (Generation X song), “L.A. Woman” (The Doors cover), “Rebel Yell”, “White Wedding “, and “Mony Mony” (Tommy James & the Shondells cover).
The Dead Milkmen The Philadelphia Punk band formed in 1983 still has three of the four original living members which is a feat these days. They played many of their classic songs: “Punk Rock Girl”, ” Tiny Town”, “Veterans of a Fucked Up World”, “Bitchin’ Camaro”, “Beach Party Vietnam”, “Don’t Trust The Happy”, “Nutrition”, and “Some
The Devil Wears Prada The Christian Metalcore band from Dayton, Ohio showed up on the stage ready to throw down. The set list included: “Escape”, “Born to Lose”, “Outnumbered”, “Planet A”, “Supernova”, “Sailor’s Prayer”, “Reptar, King of the Ozone”, “Danger: Wildman”, and “Mammoth”
The Dear Hunter The dynamic Alternative group was late to take the stage, but once they started they proved to be worth the wait. The set list included: “Wait”, “The Thief”, “Mustard Gas”, “A Night On The Town”, “The Church and the Dime”, “Home”, and “Waves”.
Manchester Orchestra The Indie Rock band from Atlanta put on a great show. It was the first time I caught them on tour, but it won’t be the last! The set list includes: “Pride”, “Top Notch”, “Shake It Out”, “Every Stone”, “Pale Black Eye”, “I’ve Got Friends”, “End of the World”, “Everything to Nothing”, and “Cope”
Sunday started off on a great note, the weather improved and the ground was finally starting to soak up all of the previous days’ rain.
Less Than Jake really got the crowd going! They played such a fun set! After the second song the band’s mascot, Evolution Kid, came out and shot toilet paper everywhere! They should have played right after GWAR since that crowd could have used the tissue to clean up all of the fake blood! Their set list included: “Sugar in Your Gas Tank”, “The Ghosts of Me and You”, “Good Enough”, “How’s My Driving, Doug Hastings?”, “Overrated (Everything Is)”, “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts”, “History of a Boring Town”, “Plastic Cup Politics”, “The Science of Selling Yourself Short”, “Look What Happened”, “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads”, and “Gainesville Rock City”
Yelawolf made quite the impression on the crowd by smashing a mic stand and whipping the entire thing, including the mic, into the crowd! The crazy but good set included: “Outer Space”, “Growin’ Up in the Gutter”, “Good to Go”, “’Til It’s Gone”, “Let’s Roll”, “Push ‘Em”, “Box Chevy V”, and “Pop the Trunk”
Cypress Hill– Wow! B Real and Sen Dog were one of the best performances I saw at Riot Fest! They performed “I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That”, “Hand on the Pump“, “When the Shit Goes Down / How I Could Just Kill a Man”, “I Wanna Get High”, “Hits from the Bong”, “Insane in the Brain”, “Dr. Greenthumb”, and “(Rock) Superstar”
Snoop Dogg– Better 27 minutes late than never. Snoop took over the stage late, while smoking a giant blunt, with a smooth performance of “Gin & Juice”, the rest of the set was: “That’s That Shit”, “Nuthin’ but a “G” Thang” (Dr. Dre cover), “Jump Around” (House of Pain cover), “Lodi Dodi”, “Who Am I?” (What’s My Name?), “Drop It Like It’s Hot”, the last song was “Young, Wild & Free” (Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa feat. Bruno Mars cover) Snoop sang just the chorus and the sound and lights were cut off to make time for Modest Mouse.
Tenacious D– The crowd chanted “We want the D, We want the D, We want the D” eagerly awaiting Jack Black and Kyle Gass. The duo came on stage posing for the energetic crowd before launching right into “Tribute”, the rest of the set was strong and impressive with “POD”, “Rize of the Fenix”, “Low Hangin’ Fruit”, “Throw Down”, “Kickapoo”, “Simply Jazz”, “The Metal”, “Dio”, “Roadie”, “Beelzeboss” (The Final Showdown), “Double Team”, and closing with “Fuck Her Gently”.
De La Soul engaged the entire crowd during the set including the photographers who were asked to put their cameras down and hands in the air! The short set list was: “The Grind Date”, “Oooh”, “Oodles of O’s”, and “Me Myself & I”
I can’t wait for Riot Fest 2016!
