Musings…observations from the fourth line on the festival lineup poster

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Riot Fest 2019 Countdown 4 – Dave Hause

Dave Hause is a punk rocker that rocks acoustic these days.  Sounds like one of my favorites from the UK.  He’s played with a members of a bunch of the bands at Riot Fest this year including Hot Water Music and Avail.  And he’s opening for Bad Religion on their upcoming tour.  Disappointed I didn’t know about him (the same feeling seeing Frank Turner the first time).  He could be a nice antidote especially is we have a lot of yesterday’s bands.  He’s on a small line…is there a chance he could be added to the Teenage Bottlerocket aftershow bill?

He plays on Sunday.

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Riot Fest 2019 Countdown 4 – Glassjaw and Senses Fail

I put these bands together as they’re similar.  Guess what, they’re not emo or pop punk.  It seems like we’ve had a lot of them lately.  They’re hardcore meets metal.  One was even called “screamo”.  Could be a nice side trip.  But they aren’t an easy listen, which isn’t bad. It just may take the right time and place.  Both are from the NYC area, too.

Glassjaw is from Long Island and another of the Friday conflicts.  Probably won’t make my cut but see for yourself.

They play Friday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPKolZv0W1E&t=1799s

Senses Fail are from Jersey.  They lose points doing a Limp Bizkit cover (see the Warped Tour video at 20:00) but recover with a Rage cover.

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Riot Fest 2019 Countdown 4 – The Get Up Kids

An emo (they don’t like that term) or pop punk band from Kansas City, The Get Up Kids formed in the wake of Dookie and Smash blowing up in the mid-nineties.  I’m seeing a pretty common theme about how many of these bands started in 1994/5/6.  Another potential conflict band amidst the heavyweights on Friday.  Give them a spin and see if they’re worthy.

They play Friday.

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Riot Fest 2019 Countdown 4 – Jawbreaker

Jawbreaker was one of the bands that helped advance the pop punk/melodic punk sound in the early nineties.  They’re referenced here. Though the broke up pretty quickly (something about a fist fight on the side of the road) and didn’t get to enjoy it.  They are the big reunion act at Riot Fest in 2017, though following Rage probably didn’t do them so good.  Jawbreaker has been touring since then.  They’ll probably play right before Blink this year.  We’ll find out soon.  I’d rate them an “Okay” on a day full of conflicts.  Odd fact, the drummer’s sister is the singer for the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black (remember them from RF17?).

They play Friday.

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Aftershows at the Cobra

We’ve got aftershows. An important tradition of any Chicago Festival. Take that Coachella! And we’re targeting the Cobra Lounge. Because they have a couple of great bands. And it’s just a cool, small, loud place. Lolla has Lincoln Hall. Riot Fest has the Cobra. And Hot Snakes are one of my top ten bands to see, so even though they’re up against a couple of my top five bands to see (Descendents and Cock Sparrer), the Cobra takes it for Saturday’s show. And why not go back the next night for some Fort Collins punk rock with Teenage Bottlerocket. I hear if you walk in backwards you don’t need a ticket. Anyway, here’s a playlist of both Cobra Lounge aftershow acts. Using the actual setlists they’ve been playing recently.

Late Edit: Violent Femmes and two Cobra Openers (Des Demonas and Clowns) have been added