Riot Fest 2012 Proves Bigger Can Also Actually Mean Better

By Staff in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 17, 2012 9:15PM

Riot Fest 2012 was an ambitious affair. In previous years the festival largely existed as a multi-venue affair, dotting clubs around town with a bevy of punk rock performances. Over the years we’ve seen festival organizers cast an ever wider musical net as they grew the festivals depth of reach. This year they broke down the walls and plopped their festival in the south end of Humboldt Park, mixing musical styles and adding a carnival atmosphere including amusement park rides and a large number of roving jugglers, hula-hoopers and other mobile entertainment. Keeping in mind that Riot Fest is still largely handled by the two-man team of Mike Petryshyn and Sean McKeough, we honestly had some worries about them actually being able to pull this whole thing off at this large a level. We discovered those worries were completely unnecessary as the event came off incredibly smoothly. - Jim Kopeny / Tankboy

The Festival

Entering the park one was treated by a visually overwhelming atmosphere. But once you got your bearings the grounds were pretty easy to navigate. While the carnival rides were a fun addition the vast majority of the crowd seemed only interested in moving from stage to stage to see the bands. Again, we were pleasantly surprised by the organization of the site. Bathrooms were plentiful and we rarely saw any lines at all in those areas. While beer was a bit pricey at $7, much of the food was reasonably priced and, again, there was extremely short wait periods in those areas. While the crowd grew larger throughout both days to eventually reach about 30,000 attendees, we never had a problem getting a decent sight line to the stages. And the sound was about as good as you can expect for an outdoor festival these days, surprisingly, we didn’t experience any sound bleed either. This was actually pretty impressive since the Rock stage had sets occurring simultaneously with both the Riot and Roots stages across the grounds, but by setting it up so far across the park they were able to relatively soundproof any bleed from the rest of the fest.

The crowd was a healthy mixture of of folks but it did seem to skew towards an older demographic. That doesn’t mean there was any shortage of young punk rockers sporting multicolored locks, but there was a really large contingent of folks with thinning lock revisiting past gory days. The organizers told Consequence Of Sound that one reason the music genres are broadening year by year has more to do with just wanting to books good bands that they personally like over hewing to some supposed blueprint of what makes an acceptable “Riot Fest band.” Seeing a really large crowd shift from nodding their heads to Built To Spill then run across the field to pump their fists and jump up and down to NOFX proves that this formula is working.

Another obvious sign that Riot Fest is growing older was the inclusion of a VIP ticket package one could buy their way into. This included a tree covered section of the park where attendees could buy beer and food apart from the rest of the fest, and each stage had a dedicated VIP area cordoned off near the front. Our younger self might have scoffed at the inclusion of these kinds of amenities but, again, the fest and its attendees are growing older and not everyone wants to mosh their day away. Also, once we did the math, we realized that between access to a number of complimentary drink tickets, the VIP contingent probably ended up spending less money to attend the fest. - Jim Kopeny / Tankboy

THE MUSIC: SATURDAY

Frank Turner's set was a fun and energetic way to open things up for me, and walking into the expansive fest to “The Road” and “The Queen Is Dead” had me grinning from ear to ear. Closing out with “Photosynthesize,” with the chorus "I won't sit down, I won't shut up, but most of all I will not grow up" set the theme for the rest of the fest. From the amount of children running around Humboldt Park during both days, it's obvious that many punks have gotten older and though some of us might have bones too brittle for the pit, we still have the spirit of the music in our hearts. The highlight of the day came right after when GWAR took the stage. It took all of five minutes before the first few rows of people smashed against the barricade were completely covered in all types of fluid, and by the end of their set, finding someone without their skin stained red was a challenge. Punk and metal have always had strong connections, and I can't think of any band that's a better bridge of loud, fast, hard and comically offensive music. - Aaron Cynic

Andrew WK’s set was preceded by an every quickening chant of “party party party party,” and by the time WK took the stage everyone did exactly as instructed; they partied hard. We first saw WK on the I Get Wet tour when he played Double Door years ago and, honestly, not much has changed since then. Thank god. His band--consisting of four guitarists, one bass, one drummer, one back-up singe / hype-woman and one WK on vocals and keys--churned out anthem after anthem of huge dumb rock, prompting one of the largest circle pits we saw each weekend. It was also the giddiest circle pit we saw all weekend and participants has huge smiles plastered on their faces as they went round and round. WK is a songwriter in the Jim Steinman vein, and he makes Meat Loaf seems like a quietly subdued singer / songwriter, but what makes all of this not only palatable but delicious is his unabashed positivity. WK is no goody two-shoes, he writes songs extolling the virtues of partying until you puke, but he emanates such a positive energy it’s impossibly not to get drawn into his universe where every moment should be cherished and the party never has to end. - Jim Kopeny / Tankboy

Still, the fest was very young, and I spent the remainder of Saturday running back and forth between stages at lightning speed. Hot Water Music, Gaslight Anthem and Minus the Bear all pulled heavily from their new albums, but thankfully, those records are some of the best work they've done recently. All three bands have plenty of old anthems to choose from, but it's evident that their latest releases have birthed brand new ones. I've been waiting well more than a decade to see Slapstick again. While its members have gone onto bigger and better things like Alkaline Trio and the Lawrence Arms, the reunification of the Chicago ska/punk legends brought back so many memories of nights spent at the Fireside Bowl, as well as people who hadn't seen each other in more than 10 years. Even though it's been that long since most people have even heard songs like “The Park” and “What I Learned,” everyone pogoing and circle moshing managed to shout along with every word.

Closing out the night were the Dropkick Murphy's, the Descendents and hometown heroes Rise Against. Dropkick breezed through a pretty standard set, and while the crowd loved the barroom heroes, I found myself too ancy with anticipation for the Descendents. The cover of "Which Side Are You On" stuck out for me however, particularly because of a shout out to the Chicago Teachers Union. The Descendents delivered this year just like they did last, and I'm always amazed at how the late middle aged punkers keep up the energy. They stuck to the classics like “Hope” and “Bikeage,” which delighted seasoned fans who've been following the band forever, and new ones who were seeing them live for the first time. By the time Rise Against went on, I was nearly drained from the day, but Chicago's own managed to keep me going. In all, Saturday was long and grueling, leaving me horribly exhausted, but all in a good way. Aaron Cynic

THE MUSIC: SUNDAY

Sunday’s line-up displayed even more diversity than Saturday’s, and we appeciated it even if that meant sacrificing some of the noise and energy. Promise Ring played to a swiftly growing crowd and kicked out many of their classic songs from earlier in their career. Frontman Davey von Bohlen has lost none of his acidic wit, taking a few opportunities to bait the crowd for the less than inventive responses of “whoo!” to his stage banter and the incongruity of a large green inflatable ball that was tossed around halfway through their set. For a band that’s been largely inactive for nearly a decade they slipped back into easy an easy musical familiarity that belied their years spent away from the stage. While the crowd was dotted with a few younger people who obviously knew of the band’s history despite their dissolution, but the majority of folks were the arms-folded, head nodding variety; glasses slowly sliding down their noses as they showed their subdued excitement.

Much of that same crowd ambled across the field together to catch Built To Spill’s set of slowly unfolding, increasingly powerful jams. Doug Martsch basically IS Built To Spill, supported by a rotating cast of backing musicians, so the bands set was built entirely around his guitar virtuosity. Martsch, once he got over his earlier experiments in angular noodling, has a unique talent for injecting unexpected musical flourishes into something that is basically indie rock laced with a healthy dose of ‘70s classic rock. While we love his hypnotically slow unspooling musical theatrics, we really love when he allowed his penchant for pop to come to the fore, as he did yesterday on a particularly hard-hitting rendition of “You Were Wrong.” Despite that songs intentional lyrical cliches it provided some of the most nakedly emotional music of the day. - Jim Kopeny / Tankboy

Sunday's beginning lineup was much tamer than Saturday's, so by the time NOFX walked onstage mid afternoon, the crowd was ripe and ready to head into a frenzy. While generally, it's more fun to see Fat Mike and company in a small club, their fast paced California brand punk was perfect for a beautiful sunny mid-afternoon outdoors. They kicked off with some of the faster paced quicker hits like Murder The Government, and blended them perfectly with funnier tracks like Kill All The White Men. By the time they were finished, we definitely spotted more than one mohawk fail for our bingo card. - Aaron Cynic

NOFX also win for best quote of the weekend, “There are a lot of really great bands playing here this weekend … but we’re the best!”

Iggy Pop may have been one of the oldest on the bill, but The Jesus & Mary Chain took the award for acting the oldest. Luckily their songs don’t depend on energy. Rather their music is basically born out of a lackadaisical abandon made powerful by the sheer layers of sonics they pile onto their songs. Mixing shoegaze with surf with straight-ahead rock and/or roll sounds obvious but in the hands of brothers Jim and William Reid those simple elements grew into revolutionary music. The band broke up years ago but have regrouped for a victory lap of sorts, so their set depended largely on older chestnuts and familiar “hits” which didn’t lead to anything groundbreaking but did allow for an enjoyable listen. The band lulled us into such a dream state at one point that we didn’t even get annoyed when the kid next to us asked a friend if that was a Pixies song they just covered as the band wrapped up “Head On.” - Jim Kopeny / Tankboy

To many, Elvis Costello might have been the biggest surprise in the line-up, but it made total sense to us; he was one of rock’s original angry young men. While he’s noticeably mellowed as far as his musical output over the years, and traded the sneers and snarls for smiles, he’s still a showman to be reckoned with. He took careful view of the crowd’s temperature and while he did indulge in a few extra--one might say overly long--guitar solos he knew to stick with the louder and more furtive songs in his back catalog including a particularly rocking version of “Radio Radio” leading into an exuberant version of “(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea.” By the end of his set as the crowd ate up “(What's So Funny Bout) Peace Love And Understanding,” we believe that more than a few who thought of him as only a kindly old songwriter were set straight and embraced Costello’s more exuberant contributions to the canon of rock and/or roll. - Jim Kopeny / Tankboy

I'm still reeling and my ears are still bleeding from seeing Iggy and The Stooges. Words can't really convey correctly how incredible it was to hear and see the inspiration for so many bands belt out some of my favorite songs of all time like “Search and Destroy” and “I Wanna Be Your Dog”. Punk rock's grandfathers never stopped moving, and midway through the set, it was evident Iggy Pop was doing everything he could to turn Riot Fest into a legitimate riot. It seemed the entire crowd of thousands were climbing on top of each other to reach the stage, and I even think he might’ve been a little disappointed it didn’t turn into a real riot. I always heard stories about how incredibly intense Iggy is live, and he lived up to the legend he is.

The night still wasn't over, and a worn out but still lively crowd ready to party packed the Cobra Lounge for Fishbone. I was happy to cap the night off dancing with strangers, since I missed them in the afternoon. In all, the upbeat dance party on the floor was the perfect way to cool down from getting musically punched in the face by Iggy pop just hours before. - Aaron Cynic

THE WRAP-UP
So there you have it. Riot Fest 2012 is in the books and if this year is any indication of where organizers are headed we foresee an ever brighter future for the little fest that could. In a city that isn’t exactly lacking in music festivals, Riot Fest has done what many others haven’t and delivered a refreshingly adventurous bill and a well run but relaxed atmosphere.

We do want to offer a few cautionary notes though. While this correspondent is used to making it from one end of Grant Park to the other in under ten minutes, most other folks don’t want to (and we can’t blame them)! While we found Riot Fest to be the perfect size this year, allowing attendees to actually catch almost every band that played, if the festival adopts and larger a footprint it could begin to tip into territory bordering on the unwieldy. But then again, organizers proved this year they’re up to the challenge of increasing scale without sacrificing the fans’ experience, so perhaps there’s a new innovation waiting around the corner to surprise us yet again.

We’re already excited to see what Riot Fest 2013 has in store for us! - Jim Kopeny / Tankboy