Riot Fest 2012 – Rise Against – Descendents – Dropkick Murphys – Gaslight Anthem – Hot Water Music – Frank Turner – The Adicts – and Many More – at Humboldt Park – Chicago, IL

Until 201­­­2, Riot Fest was held in a handful of clubs around Chicago, meaning you’d have to pick and choose who you really wanted to see on a given night. This year was a little bit different—the clubs still had after-party shows, but the main event was now contained to Humboldt Park.

Granted, you still had to pick and choose what band you wanted to see, but instead of driving all over Chicago, you just ran from Japanther at the Rebel Stage over to the Rock Stage to get the last part of Chiodos set. 

After finding a sweet parking spot (that didn’t cost $20—Los Angeles, please take note),  and locating the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts, I entered the festival and was immediately face-to-crotch with a stilt-walker. Not only did Riot Fest change venues for 2012, they also added a carnival theme, complete with hula-hoopers, a drumming monkey, carnival rides, and games. For most of Saturday, the crowd ignored the rides and games in favour of going from stage to stage to catch the bands. And really, with the line-up for Riot Fest 2012, can you blame them?

The first stop was at the Rock Stage for Of Mice and Men. The Los Angeles metalcore band started Saturday off on a high note. As soon as Austin started singing the first notes through the final drumbeat of the last, the crowd was non-stop. Mr. Carlile was running around the stage, pointing at the crowd, and whipping the fans into a frenzy. Though their set was only 30 minutes, they packed what little time they had left with aggression and energy. Some songs from their set included “OG Loko”, “The Flood”, and “The Depths”.

The Rock Stage was far removed from the rest of the grounds, so after a quick jog past the rows upon rows of porta-potties (thank you festival organizers, for having a crapload of toilets scattered throughout the grounds), it was over to the Roots Stage for Cursive. After Of Mice and Men, Cursive brought the energy level down a few notches. More rock than punk, the guys from Omaha had a solid set, opening with “A Gentleman Caller” and closing with “Dorothy at Forty”, but I think they were the most restrained band of the day.

 

Back to the Rock Stage for The Adicts! Monkey and the rest of the band would be playing another show later that evening at Congress Theater, but you couldn’t tell if they were trying to conserve their energy. They did not hold back any energy or punches (though there was a lack of confetti). Monkey, in his typical shiny fashion, was attired in full sparkle (since they were facing the sun, he would turn in certain ways and blind the crowd). Opening with “Joker in the Pack”, followed immediately by “Number”, they “Steamroller”ed their way through a powerful set. The crowd was nothing but moving bodies, moshing and pogoing every which way. Viva, boys. VIVA!

The only issue I had with the scheduling for the weekend was that Frank Turner played at almost the same time as The Adicts, so after leaving too soon from The Adicts, I raced over to the Riot Stage to catch the last part of Mr. Turner’s set. A mix of old and new songs, Mr. Turner and his backing band, The Sleeping Souls, had the crowd dancing in the sun and heat. I’ve seen Frank play before (okay, I’ve seen him play A LOT) and every show is full of energy; today was no exception. He brings a joyfulness to the stage, as though every show could be his last. Before closing out his set with “Photosynthesis”, he played a mix of songs from “Peggy Sang the Blues” to “Glory Hallelujah” to “Wessex Boy” and “I Still Believe”. His set was definitely one of the highlights of Saturday.

 

Back over at Roots, the stage was being prepped for GWAR. Monitors, kits, and even the security guards, were getting covered in plastic. Shit. The plastic bag I brought for just this set was still back in the rental car. A couple of the younger people who would be shooting GWAR’s set looked very confused and it turned out they had never seen GWAR, nor did they have any clue what to expect. I kind of giggled and just said, “It’s a spectacle. Three words: spewing fake blood.” And spectacle it was. After some opening banter, the first “casualty” of the show happened (a decapitation) and then “Zombies, March!” started. Never ones to shy away from puerile, and offensive, humour, had them “aborting” Snooki’s baby and fellating some sort of dog-creature. I think the fellatio bit happened during “Saddam a Go-Go”. Before the first song even finished, the crowd was already pink from the stage blood, and for the rest of the day you could tell who was at the front of GWAR.

 

Since my camera wasn’t adequately protected for GWAR, it was back to the Rock Stage for August Burns Red. Off With Their Heads were playing concurrently, but having seen OWTH before, I figured I should try something new. Not a huge fan of metal, I wasn’t sure what to expect from August Burns Red, but the interaction of the band members with each other, and with the audience, won me over. The crowd was a mass of bouncing bodies and the atmosphere by this time was euphoric.

 

Back to the front of the festival found me in front of the stage just in time for Hot Water Music. Not as gnarly as some of the earlier bands, but rock-solid in each song, Chuck Ragan was spot on. (I think this set was a touch more cohesive than what they played earlier this year at Punk Rock Bowling.) With less crowd-surfing and pitting than other performances of the day, but probably one of the better acts musically, Hot Water Music was a welcome respite from the craziness. They played everything from “Remedy” to “Wayfarer”, with even a cover of Pegboy’s “Strong Reaction” (complete with cameo appearance from Tim McIlrath of Rise Against).

As soon as Hot Water Music ended, the opening sounds of “It’s Time To Party” could be heard from the next stage over. Yep, it was time for Andrew W.K. And party time was here. The band warmed up the crowd and then Andrew hit the stage with a huge smile. Throughout the entirety of the set, the band jumped up, down, and all around the stage, and the smile never left his face. Nor the faces in the crowd. There was a massive circle pit, with some smaller groups just bouncing along the sidelines, and others still just standing around and looking bored, but everyone bought what Andrew W.K. was selling—a good time. Included in the set were songs “Take It Off”, “Long Live the Party”, and “I Get Wet”.

 

Let me back up a second—in between HWM and AWK, I hit up the Rebel Stage to catch a favourite of mine: Larry and His Flask. These Oregonians are straight up, balls-to-the-wall, fun. (And incredibly fucking talented.) The drummer plays at the front of the stage, standing up. The stand-up bass player is never in one space for more than 2 seconds, and even with all his running around, he never misses a note. The vocals, strings, and horns? Just amazing. The set was full of high energy, stomp your feet tunes from “No Life” to “Beggars Will Ride”. If you’ve never seen Larry and His Flask perform live, you are missing out. And no words will convey the insane energy their shows bring.

It was a non-stop day of music and mayhem so far, but I didn’t want to take a break and miss Gaslight Anthem. Food would have to wait, and I’m glad I put it off. Opening with “Boomboxes and Dictionaries”, the band played a good amount of new stuff (and a cover of Nirvana’s “Sliver”); thankfully, their new stuff is some of the best music they’ve put out so far. At this point, my blood sugar was in my toes so I had to find some food. I walked toward the food booths with sounds of “45”, “American Slang”, and “The Queen of Lower Chelsea” ringing in my ears.

 

Food, for a festival, was really reasonably priced and there was a huge selection to choose from. (Even my non-meat-eating self had a plethora of options.) Food in my belly and beer in hand, I once again went to the other side of the park to catch Coheed and Cambria. Harmonious metal is what these guys are known for, and they delivered. (Though they delivered it from behind a fog machine—why do bands use those during a daylight, outdoor concert? I just don’t get it.) They opened with “No World for Tomorrow”, heading straight into “Blood Red Summer”. Throughout their set, the crowd was mostly watchful, with only a handful of people crowd surfing. I’m sure the security guards were thankful for the break.

 

Dropkick Murphys took to the stage next, and as soon as the first notes hit, there were bodies everywhere. (The next day I heard one security guard got his arm broken during the set while trying to catch a crowd-surfer. Ouch.) Any reserve the crowd might have had was gone. They opened with “The State of Massachusetts” and finished with a cover of AC/DC’s “TNT”. Right before playing “Worker’s Song” (I think. It might’ve been “Which Side Are You On?”), the band took a moment to state their solidarity with the teachers that were currently on strike in the city of Chicago. Their older songs, such as “Shipping Up to Boston” and “Citizen C.I.A.”, churned the crowd into a frenzy. Newer songs, “The Boys Are Back” and “Rose Tattoo”, didn’t have quite the same effect, but you couldn’t tell from looking at the crowd. The boys from Boston slammed you in the head with their shillelagh of east coast Paddy Punk. When their set was finished, I wasn’t sure how their set was going to be topped. Then I remembered that Descendents were next so … duh.

Punk veterans, the Descendents were playing Riot Fest for the second year in a row. And deservedly so, since they are one of the greatest punk bands of all time. Though they’ve been strumming away for over 30 years, their energy now is on par with their younger selves. Any Descendents show is low on hi-jinks (notwithstanding the shtick with the kids reading the band’s version of the commandments) and high on energy, tight musicianship, and just some fucking great music. Borrowing heavily from their earlier albums, the band opened with “Everything Sucks” and continued playing favourites such as “Silly Girl”, “Suburban Home”, “Pervert”, “All-O-Gistics”, “I Like Food”, and “I’m the One”. The crowd was chanting for one more song, and some could be heard saying, “Fuck Rise Against!” I can’t say that I blame them one bit.

 

The final act of the night at the park were locals, Rise Against. I had seen Rise Against play a few times before, and my reaction to each of those shows was “meh”. Tonight though? Totally changed my mind. (Granted, I won’t be running out to download their albums, but sound-wise, and performance-wise, Rise Against was tight.) There were some Punks in the crowd, but it felt like most of the people who were there for Rise Against’s set was made up of dudebro types. Even though this band isn’t my cup of tea, they put on an entertaining show, complete with huge monitors playing various scenes of the more political type. And the guitarist is like one of those super-duper rubber bouncy balls—he’s up, he’s down! He’s doing leaps in skinny jeans! They opened up with “Help is on the Way” (if you’ve never heard it, go turn on KROQ right now. It’s probably playing. If it’s not, wait for 5 minutes.)  Most of their hour-long set consisted of their radio hits: “Alive and Well”, “Ready to Fall”, and “Prayer of the Refugee”. I left after their third song. Just down the road was another show at the Congress—The Dickies, The Casualties, The Adicts, and NOFX.

Day two of Riot Fest was almost over, and fuckin’ hell, it was a doozy. Though I was exhausted, I couldn’t wait for the next part.

 

                             More photos of the show can be seen HERE

-Anni Thyme-
Big Wheel Staff Journalist

 

 

 

 

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