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100% the aftershows have been some of the best times at Lolla and RiotFest.  But this year there isn’t anything that jumps out from the official aftershow schedule.  There is one that is a little interesting on Friday and another unofficial aftershow on Saturday.  Read the options and let me know what you think.

Friday

Motion City Soundtrack at the Concord.  Motion City Soundtrack are a pop punk/emo band straight away.  Which means guitars and melodies.  They play earlier on Friday at Riot Fest.  Why should we see them?  They’re good.  They’re at the Concord which is the site of the famous Kyle-sadface-with-key photo at the Violent Femmes.  Why shouldn’t we?  We probably want to stay to the end of Smashing Pumpkins on Friday which may make it tough to get to the Concord, however they probably won’t start until midnight.  BTW, the Concord is about 2 miles directly down Milwaukee Ave from our Airbnb.  Tickets are $34.

Saturday

This one needs some explaining.  Every year for the past 5 or so years there has been a “Pop Punk Pizza Party” on the Saturday of Riot Fest.  A couple of local bands play plus one surprise band shows up.  The surprise is a lower tier Riot Fest band that they can’t market because of conflicts with Riot Fest.  But it’s popular band. What it has going for it?  Saturday with Run The Jewels doesn’t seem to be a night we’d stay late.  Admission is only $24 and includes a free slice of pizza and a bunch of hot sauce samples.  And it’s about a mile from our Airbnb right down Milwaukee Ave.  It seems like we might already be roaming for pizza at that time anyway.

Here’s the website: https://dice.fm/event/qm3mx-pop-punk-pizza-party-with-super-secret-band-18th-sep-chop-shop-chicago-tickets?pid=bb159b4e&_branch_match_id=963526725337063478

And cut and paste from the site:

Welcome to Pop Punk Pizza Party VI - The People's Pizza Party! We're back with a vengeance at Chop Shop for a bigger, better, spicier rager to celebrate all things Soothsayer. Pizza? Check. Pop punk? Check. High fives? Always. Partying for a good cause? You betcha. This year we'll be donating all ticket proceeds to The People's Pizza Party, an incredible direct action group formed by some of the best people Chicago's punk scene has to offer, who provide food and supplies to the houseless community. After we pay the bands and delivery guy, of course. Each ticket will include a full slice of pizza (vegetarian, vegan, and carnivore options) and unlimited hot sauce tasting. Additional slices will be made available for purchase after 10pm, with all proceeds continuing to benefit the amazing work of People's Pizza Party. Come happy, come hungry, and come to party.

• SUPER SECRET BAND
• SECRET BAND
• MAX STERN (FULL BAND)
• THE BURST AND BLOOM

Anyway, what are your thoughts?  Friday or Saturday or both or neither?

An early reveal of this week’s preview

and an archived message from one of our friends

While posting stubs and festival wristbands on Instagram I’ve often written up a little summary. In writing up this amazing festival I got caught by the 2000 character limit and 10 photo limit of Instagram. “The Director’s Cut” is my write up as I intended with expanded photos.

Desert Trip, weekend 2.  Also known as “oldchella” at the Coachella site, the Empire Polo Grounds.  With Dave Peterson and Dunbar.  I saw Neil Young, Paul McCartney, The Who, and Roger Waters on nights 2 and 3.  The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan played night 1.  I’m very fortunate to have amazing friends.  I wasn’t planning on going however Friday evening while at OHSO Brewery I get a text from Dunbar.  He was there, likely between the Dylan and Stones sets.  They had one unused ticket and it was available if I could get there for days 2 and 3.  After making sure it wasn’t a prank I said “hell yeah”, fortunate that Coachella is only a 3.5 hour drive.  Be really fortunate that my wife’s response was “If you don’t go I will”.  Hitting the road in the morning and getting there in plenty of time for Neil Young.  Oh, yeah, and the seats were amazing up front floor.  Amazing wife and friends I have.

First off, it’s an understatement to say the performances were otherworldly.  Neil Young playing “Harvest Moon” as the moon rose behind the stage and of course ending with “Rockin’ in the Free World”.  Sir Paul was as amazing as I remember from Lolla, if not better.  Of course the “Live and Let Die” fireworks are always a highlight, but Neil Young joined him to sing my favorite Beatles song “A Day In The Life”.  That was pretty dang sweet.  On the following day, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey showed they still have it.  The Who’s catalog is probably my favorite for the bands of the weekend and they were on.  And finishing out the weekend was Roger Waters.  Full disclosure I was not a Pink Floyd fan and thought this was just a throw in performance.  Sometimes you “begrudgingly” see a musician you hadn’t planned on and it changes your mind. Rogers Waters was crazy good and left me a big Pink Floyd fan.  His surround sound (you’d hear a train coming from behind you), his flying pig (which had the face of Trump…this was three weeks before the election), his visual show, and he actually built the Battersea Power Station from “Animals” out of the stage with four smoking chimneys rising behind the stage.  I know Pink Floyd fans probably would say “no duh”, but that was my first experience and now I understand completely.  Crazy good.

And for a pop up six day festival (it ran duplicate on two weekends), the infrastructure of Desert Trip was amazing.  Their temporary “bleachers” had skyboxes and elevators.  It was at the same location of Coachella but much different.  Still had the same amazing weather and well manicured lawn.  The crowd couldn’t have been any different, though I’ve tried to fit in to both.  The stage setup was different than Coachella, with only one stage it was between where the Outdoor Stage and the Gobi Tent usually are.  They even had a “museum” of photography of all of the artists from their careers.  It was cool seeing things like a young Mick Jagger hanging out with Keith Moon.  Anyway, an incredible last minute weekend.  Thanks Peterson and Dunbar!  Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World!