Riot Fest: The Descendents Deliver

By aaroncynic in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 14, 2011 2:30PM

Descendents

Suicide Machines

Leftover Crack

Leftover Crack

Leftover Crack

Leftover Crack

Leftover Crack

Suicide Machines

Suicide Machines

Descendents

Descendents

Descendents

Any festival with a massive amount of amazing bands gives every attendee tough choices to make. Riot Fest on Saturday was no exception to that rule. The main action was at the Congress again and though we would’ve loved to have seen the free Cro-Mags shows at either Reggie's or Cobra Lounge or wound our weekend down with the Smoking Popes, our aging punk rock bodies could really only keep focused on one thing - The Descendents.

The Congress had something for everyone that night, from the poppy, upbeat hooks of the Copyrights, amazing anthem’s from Chicago’s Shot Baker and Flatfoot 56, to speedy anarcho-singalongs from Strike Anywhere. Rounding out the night before Milo and company took the stage were Leftover Crack and the Suicide Machines. They all had great energy and we could see that in the faces of the folks who flipped over the barricades, the ones circle moshing through the middle and the ones hanging over the balcony railings, spilling drinks while singing along. Still, something about the entire day seemed a little more style than substance. It was almost as if at times people wanted and did their best to have a good time, but weren’t exactly swept away by any one performance.

That hardly dampened our spirits for The Descendents and we finally felt carried away as we heard the first chords of "Hope." There’s no real point in running through the entire list of songs they played, because we heard possibly everything we wanted and more. It’s been more than a decade since they passed through town and they haven’t lost an inch of steam. In addition to the full set, we were fortunate enough to be treated to two encores, the first which featured our favorite song of all time, "Bikeage."

Overall, Riot Fest this year had some epic headliners and other solid acts, but last year’s felt like it had a little more flavor. No matter which way one slices it though, it’s still one of our favorite festivals of the year.