Observations, Musings, and Lessons Learned mostly in the world of Punk, Ska, Alternative, Metal, and just plain Rock and Roll. Music with guitars…mostly
Grinderman, Frank Turner (!!!), Twenty One Pilots, Wolf Alice, Slaves (aka Soft Play), Drakulas, The Front Bottoms, Motion City Soundtrack, Sincere Engineer. That’s quite a collection of bands. That would be a hell of a lineup for a festival. It’s a list of bands I “discovered” at festivals. Bands I knew very little about going in to the festival but left as a big or bigger or HUGE fan. Is there an act of that nature at Riot Fest 2024?
I’m predicting The Hives. I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t know much about them before the last few weeks. They are a Swedish “garage punk” band that really got popular in the early 2000’s. Trying to figure out how I missed them but I think they got caught up in the other “The” acts of that time. At least in my mind…The Killers, The Strokes, The Hives.
Love their sound. Full on guitar assaults like few are still doing. Two guitars, one bass, drums, and a singer. Basic straight on rock and roll. And their live shows looks to be amazing. Matching suits that put the Bosstones to shame. Amazing energy. Full of personality with attitude. And they’re on at 255pm up against no one. The only knock is they only have 40 minutes.
Saturday at Riot Fest is Alternative Day with Brutus, The Dead Milkmen, The Hives, Manchester Orchestra, Spoon, Waxahatchee, St. Vincent, Pavement, Bright Eyes, and Beck. Of course NOFX World still brings the punk.
And more conflicts:
Buzzcocks or The Dead Milkmen
The Dickies or The Hives
Manchester Orchestra or Sincere Engineer
Spoon or Lagwagon
St. Vincent or Descendents or L.S. Dunes
Pavement or Bright Eyes
Beck or NOFX or Taking Back Sunday
Brutus – 1235am Metro Stage
Belgian alternative, post-hardcore. Three piece. Female singer.
The Dead Milkmen – 140pm NOFX World
No explanation needed. No explanation provided.
Buzzcocks – 145pm Metro Stage
Along with Descendents and The Dickies, one of the early bands that put a melody into punk. Buzzcocks doing it in late 70’s UK and Descendents and The Dickies in 80’s SoCal. Created the blueprint for bands like Blink and Green Day.
Part of the most epic aftershow at the Cobra Lounge with Slaves (now Soft Play). Since then, lead singer Pete Shelley has died leaving guitarist Steve Diggle to carry on as lead singer. He is the only remaining original Buzzcock.
The Dickies – 230pm NOFX World
A huge influence on most punk bands after them. Formed in SoCal in the late 70’s. Johnny Ramone and Brett Gurewitz (Bad Religion/Epitaph) call The Dickies on the greatest punk bands. Like Buzzcocks, put melody into fast punk rock. They have a lot of interesting back stories. Of note, their guitarist, Stan Lee, was friends with Iggy Pop and Kevin Dubrow (Quiet Riot). Also, they replaced the Sex Pistols on A&M Records after the Pistols were sacked. A&M wanted a punk act that was “more manageable”.
The Hives – 255pm Metro Stage
Swedish “garage rock revival” band. Known for their live shows with Spin magazine ranking them #8 on their 2006 Best Live Band list. Formed in 1993 with only their bassist not being an original member.
Sincere Engineer – 410pm Rise Stage
The house band of “Familypalooza”, we saw them open the main stage at Bud Light stage at Lolla last year. Pop punk from Chicago. Really are just Deanna Belos with a band she puts around her. Had a famously creative circle pit at Riot Fest for Corn Dog Sonnet. Deanna designed the “Familypalooza” logo for us.
Manchester Orchestra – 425pm Metro Stage
We’ve seen them at Riot Fest before. Great show. Does the quiet loud quiet Pixies thing very well. The only knock, like Offspring, they are playing an album play. It’s a great album, but not all of it.
Spoon – 530pm AAA Stage
“Art rock” band from Austin. I know them because “The Underdog” was everywhere about 15 years ago. And it should have been as it’s a great song.
Lagwagon – 545pm NOFX World
Skate punk from Santa Barbara. On Fat Wreck Chords. Pretty typical of that sound and pretty good. Interesting that Chris Shifflet, Foo guitarist, once was a touring guitarist for Lagwagon.
St. Vincent – 635pm Metro Stage
Stage name for Annie Clark. She’s an amazing guitarist and puts on a very good “art rock” show. Has a lot of collaborators.
Descendents – 7pm NOFX World
Early SoCal punk band. Was one of the first to do the melodic punk thing. Blink call them out as a big influence. Really interesting story as their singer, Milo, has a PhD in biology and worked for Dupont. Between Milo and Dexter, from Offspring, they may be the smartest guys in all of rock. See All play on Friday to see what Descendents did while Milo was off at school. Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson played with Black Flag and now has a studio in Fort Collins.
LS Dunes – 705pm Rise Stage
Punk supergroup that has been at the last three Riot Fests. They have members from My Chem, Circa Survive, and Coheed. Kinda feel like we need to see them however them being up against Descendents probably leaves them missed again.
Pavement – 740pm AAA Stage
Alternative band that was everywhere in the 90s. Super fun sound.
Bright Eyes – 755pm Radical Stage
“Indie folk” or “emo-folk” from Omaha. Led by Conor Obest who is everywhere in the Indie Rock/Folk scene.
NOFX – 830pm NOFX World
Day 2 of their Chicago finale.
Beck – 845pm Metro Stage
You don’t need an explanation for Beck. I’ve seen him a couple of times and his shows are super cool. Two turntables and a microphone…
Taking Back Sunday – 9pm Rise Stage
Another one of those bands that play Riot Fest almost every year and we still haven’t seen them. Pop punk superstars. Maybe we seen them here. Maybe not.
Friday at Riot Fest. A pretty stout, if not all time great day of music. But that leads to conflicts. Below are videos of acts I’d like to consider in general order by start time. And there are only four acts on Friday that I have seen before.
While they don’t announce it, Riot Fest seems to give their days different themes. And Friday is the Punk day this year. From OG punks of The Exploited and Circle Jerks to the stacked day at the NOFX World stage to the finale of pop punk superstars Fall Out Boy. And some OG rap mixed in. Saturday is the Alt-Nation day. Sunday is Metal.
But there are conflicts. A good sign of a great lineup. By comparison, I had no conflicts at Lollapalooza this year. Here are the conflicts that need to be resolved on Friday.
<Edits> There was some movement of bands and some additions. Most notably, Suicidal Tendencies moved from Sunday to Friday. They will be added below.
Hot Mulligan or Face To Face or Suicidal Tendencies
New Found Glory or The Lawrence Arms
Sum 41 or Cypress Hill
The Offspring or Public Enemy (and I’m not even considering Circle Jerks which is a crime)
Fall Out Boy or NOFX or Marley Brothers
The Exploited – 1pm NOFX World
One of the early UK punk bands of the ilk of other punk bands we have seen, UK Subs and GBH. Lead singer Wattie Buchan is the only remaining original member. He’s an old 67 and had multiple heart attacks. They were scheduled to play last year but had to cancel because of his health.
The Defiant – 2pm NOFX World
This is a tough one for me. The sound is great. But I have issues with them. They were formed by Dickie Barrett from the Bosstones after he blew up The MMB after his anti-vax stance. Additionally, he got the drummer that was kicked out of The Offspring for the same stance, Pete Parada. Add a former member of Smashmouth and this could be considered a supergroup. Considering watching them up close wearing a mask. Or just skipping them in protest…that’s punk right?
ALL – 3pm NOFX World
What happens when your lead singer wants to be a biochemist? You get ALL. When Milo, singer of the Descendents, decided to get a PhD in molecular biology and work for DuPont the rest of the Descendents didn’t want to give up and formed ALL. Three quarters of this band will perform double duty and play both as ALL and Descendents at Riot Fest.
Hot Mulligan – 415pm Metro Stage
Emo from Lansing, Michigan. I didn’t find much more noteworthy, except they are good and have interesting song titles.
Face To Face – 4pm NOFX World
SoCal punk band that came up the same time as Offspring, Guttermouth, and Voodoo Glow Skulls (Charlie Brown you’re a clown). Will be on the NOFX stage as they have been on Fat Mike’s Fat Wreck Chords label.
Suicidal Tendencies – 455pm Rise Stage
S!T! Seen them a few times and they are great live. Included below are a couple of clips from Surf City Blitz. If you look closely you may find us in the crowd. I didn’t, but you may.
They were moved from Sunday to Friday.
New Found Glory – 5pm AAA Stage
Pop punk from Florida; formed in the late 90’s. Seems like they play every Riot Fest. However, I’ve never seen them.
The Lawrence Arms – 530pm NOFX World
Punks from Chicago. Played at other Riot Fests. Been on both Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph, which is a good sign for me.
Sum 41 – 605pm Metro Stage
Punks from Toronto. This is part of their farewell tour. The other “normal” dates have The Interrupters opening for them, so that’s an endorsement for me. Never really listened to them past “Fat Lip”, but “Fat Lip” is a banger.
Cypress Hill – 620pm Rise Stage
Do they really need an introduction? We saw some Cypress Hill at Riot Fest before. B-Real was in Prophets of Rage and they did some Cypress Hill.
The Offspring – 710pm AAA Stage
Another no explanation needed. Except they are playing their album “Smash” in its entirety. Not a fan of album plays as most albums have a slow portion, Smash included. And it’s 45 minutes long leaving only 15 minutes for other songs (Dance Fucker Dance…).
Public Enemy – 725pm Radical Stage
How many Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame members have we seen at Riot Fest? NIN, Patti Smith, Foo Fighters, Cory Feldman. Not many but here’s another. I’ve seen them before…touring with The Cult. And odd pairing for sure. And they are exactly what you expect. Great rhythmic old school rap, Flavor Flav jumping around with his clock, military dressed support on stage, Chuck D owning the stage. Another act we saw a few songs with Prophets of Rage as Chuck D was a member.
Fall Out Boy – 815pm Metro Stage
Chicago emo pop punk. Very successful and popular. Co-headlined Hella Mega tour with Green Day and Weezer a few years ago. Unfortunately couldn’t play a few dates because of COVID. An endorsement by Green Day and Weezer should be good enough.
Marley Brothers – 830pm Rise Stage
Bob Marley’s catalog is beyond reproach. The songs speak for themselves. This is five of his kids performing his songs. Could be a can’t miss show…if it wasn’t up against Fall Out Boy or NOFX.
NOFX – 830pm NOFX World
NOFX are completing their farewell tour this year. Riot Fest are their last shows in Chicago with only their three Long Beach shows left in their career. They have curated their NOFX World stage, selecting all of the acts. And great acts that could have you camping at that stage all day all three days. They are headlining each night as say they will play different songs, though they have never been one to stick by the rules. The key is picking which night(s) to see them.
I’ve had a few friends attend previous U2 at the Sphere shows. Every time I’ve asked for videos and photos. Every time the response was “sure, here you go, but it doesn’t come close to demonstrating.” Every time I’ve asked how it was. Every time the response was “it’s hard to put it into words”. And every time I’ve scoffed at those responses. And they were absolutely correct. The videos don’t even begin to do it justice. And trying to put it into words? Forgettaboutit. But I’ll try.
Was it your best concert ever? Frequently in bar conversations we’ll discuss “your top four musicians”, “desert island albums”, or “top concerts ever”. So it makes sense to ask how U2 at the Sphere would rank in the terms of concerts I’ve been to. And it doesn’t. It isn’t one of my top concerts. Only because it wasn’t a concert. It was so much more. Sure, it had a large component as a concert. But it was a four dimension multi-sensory psychedelic experience wrapped in a community of 17k people that felt like a hundred. No way to compare it to anything else.
Each song had it’s own mini-movie video display. Most were incredibly elaborate but some were mostly just the band. And the videos were totally immersive even up to the Even Better Than the Real Thing video made me feel like the room was moving. That was a tribute to Elvis (of course, we’re in Vegas). The technology of the screen made if feel like it was flat at some points. There were times it looked like the ceiling was falling on you. Sunrise illuminated the entire room. Videos of a desert scene from dawn to dusk, of insects, of the Vegas strip being deconstructed, of the earth flooding. Some were quite psychedelic. For the most part the videos accentuated the band but there were times when the videos dominated the band. I found myself sitting down to just look up and watch the video rather than the band a couple of times.
During Zoo Station. Made to feel like the room was a cube and the ceiling was closing in.
They played Achtung Baby in its entirety, though not in order. They opened with the biggest songs from it, then took a mini acoustic turn and did some Rattle and Hum and the Crowded House cover of “Don’t Dream It’s Over” dedicated to Yulia Novaltny using pre-recorded Neil Finn vocals. They then finished up Achtung Baby left the stage and returned with some “greatest hits” like Streets Have No Name, With or Without You, and Vertigo…. Every show at the Sphere ended with Beautiful Day. Except this one. Talking to U2 fans in advance of this show there was great hope “40” would be the final song. It had been their walk off song for many shows and seemed to be fitting for here. The energy was amazing as the crowd realized “40” was coming. The Edge and Adam Clayton always switch instruments for it and when Beautiful Day ended and they swapped bass and guitar the place went nuts. And as great as the start of the song was, the magic was the end as each member of the band left the stage individually (The Edge last) as the crowd continued to sing “How long to sing this song?”. And it seemed to last five minutes in hope for their return, which didn’t happen but was fitting. Though even after the singing dissipated no one moved until the PA began playing. We were all hoping for just a little “This song is not a rebel song…”.
The Vegas skyline deconstructed. During Atomic City
The knock on it was it had to be so well choreographed to match up with the screen. Bono even referenced this when introduction the Neil Finn audio. He said something akin to “in the U2 at the Sphere show it’s difficult to go off script but we’ll try”. There’s something about a concert to think the artist may just go outside the lines at anytime. Maybe they string out their guitar solo, maybe they add a song, or maybe they just react to something in the crowd. But the chance that could happen wasn’t here. I understand it but that makes all of the shows at the Sphere pretty identical. Except this one. We got “40”.
Photo of Even Better Than the Real Thing by our friends in another section
The sound in the Sphere was great. U2 sounded good, if not a little old, but that’s okay. I never realized how much backup The Edge sang and he did a fine job. Bono stretched it at times. He’s not known as a great voice and it sounded like that. But if anything it was good to hear the warts in his voice rather than audio tune that many singers use today. The replacement drummer, Brad, didn’t miss a beat. If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t know it wasn’t Larry. Regardless, U2 still owns the stage.
Who can do the Sphere next? That was our bar talk that night. It needs to be someone that could sell out a few dates; you couldn’t put the effort into the programming for a single show. And it needs to be someone with a visual component. Pink Floyd would have been perfect. Springsteen could definitely sell out many shows, but when I see him I want it to just be him in a dark smoky room. Bruce doesn’t need a screen. So who could sell out 17k multiple nights and use the screen to enhance. Sir Paul for sure could pull it off. Taylor and Beyonce. Radiohead (I won’t go) would probably work. But there aren’t many. The next two acts announced are Phish and The Dead and Company. That surprises me as jam bands don’t like to follow scripts. Of course the psychedelic nature of the screen contributes but I don’t see them playing to a click track to match the music with the video.
It was such a cool night. U2 was into it and made us feel that they wanted to end their run on a high note. The crowd was collectively engaged; almost like a sporting event where you’re high-fiving strangers I found myself frequently turning to strangers saying “did you just see that shit”? Dave Grohl was there. Jill Biden was there. And I’m sure many other VIPs. What a great experience; not a concert. You just can’t put it into words.
With the schedule release we’ve had some updating….a couple of new bands to consider…a few that won’t be seen as they conflict…and a cancelation.
First, unfortunately The Exploited canceled all of their US dates. Wattie Buchan is facing some serious health issues. Hopes he gets well and we catch him at a future RF.
Not sure how The Exploited will be replaced….Too Much Joy is in town….
For the conflicts on Friday, Braid will be missed as they are opposite The Breeders. The big conflict for me is Fake Names which will conflict with the beginning of the Foos. Same with Tegan and Sara. For Saturday, Head Automatica loses easily to Frank, and so does Crass. Death Grips will lose to PUP and the spectacle that is 100 Gecs will lose to Pennywise. Those are easy choices.
For the adds, below you will see them. Oso Oso will be on the small Marky stage right after the Wrecks and could use a stop by. I’ve added Enter Shikari which conflict with Viagra Boys after White Reaper. They are also immediately before Frank on the same stage making them easy. And last, I’ve added The Mekons. Two of the Mekons are opening for Too Much Joy. They are one of Tim’s favorites so we may want to be familiar if we get there in time.
Oso Oso; a Long Island emo/pop punk “band”. It’s really only Jade Lilitri and rotating musicians around. Might be our only chance to see a small band on the Marky stage.
Enter Shikari; British punk band that’s been around about 25 years. Originally named Hybryd they changed named after a boat named Shikari. Have a little bit of the screaming that I’m not a fan of but may be worth seeing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWcObtIeTUw
The Mekons: Formed in Leeds in the last 70s, alongside Gang of Four. Considered an “art band” but expanded to be one of the first post-punk band and very influential. John Langford, drummer and guitarist, and Sally Timms, singer, are opening for Too Much Joy. TMJ has a song on If I Was A Mekon on their second album. One of the lyrics is “If I was a Mekon Maybe I could sleep with Sally”.
Update Tuesday Sept 5: Rumor is The Exploited have been replaced by TSOL. If true that’s a great substitution of an early UK punk band with an early SoCal punk band. TSOL is mostly known to us by one of its members spawning the (former) guitarist and drummer of FIDLAR. Also, TSOL makes it the fourth Surf City Blitz band on this lineup. Surf City Blitz must’ve been a great time. Not sure if we’ll catch TSOL as right now The Exploited is conflicted with White Reaper but if they juggle the schedule here is a quick preview:
Thanks for reading this far. As a token of appreciation, the first person that texts the group text the opening two lines of Frank’s “Non Serviam” will get their Frank aftershow ticket comped. Text must be received before kickoff of the Thursday Night NFL game prior to RF23.
