Chicagoist's Top Stories Of 2012: Riot Fest's Surprising Success
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 20, 2012 7:20PM
Riot Fest threw its hat into the ring of massive outdoor music festivals this year, moving their previous indoor multi-venue affair to a single open-air spot, and we admit we were unsure how the whole thing would pan out. The organizers are an incredibly small team of dedicated people with a lot of heart for their favorite music, but would such a small crew be able to pull off such a large scale affair? Even established events like Lollapalooza and the Pitchfork Music Festival have their stumbles year in and year out. In addition to just the sheer scale of organizing Riot Fest, the event was moving to Humboldt Park, a space that has hosted large community events, but never one of this size.
The whole thing went off without a hitch. There were no arrests. There was no fighting. And for a festival that, while widening its musical genres, was still primarily based in punk rock, the vibe was way more peace and love and good times. Afterwards even neighborhood message boards were filled with folks in the Humboldt Park area extolling the virtues of the fest despite their own misgivings beforehand.
So was it all a fluke? Was it just a huge stroke of luck that things turned out this way? We don't think so. Instead we view this as proof that a truly independent, truly locally based festival can succeed. We appreciate that Chicago has become a destination for music fans from all over the world throughout the summer, but we take particular pride that the one that ended up being the most well run this year was homegrown. And we're even more impressed that Riot Fest seems to have truly operated under the "we book what we personally like" rule, resulting in their most eclectic bill yet.
But most of all we're impressed that local organizers picked an unlikely location for an uncertain festival and turned the whole thing into one huge success. It gives a whole new positive spin on the idea of Chicago being the city that works. And that makes this one of our top stories of the year.