We are close. Less than two weeks away from Riot Fest 2019. I purposely chose to not preview a couple of bands that we either won’t see or don’t need a preview. Like Lucero (we won’t see them) or Blink (do you really need a preview?). If you want a preview for Blink here’s a quickie….Go listen to Enema of The State. It’s their breakout album, though for me probably third best. And let’s face it, they aren’t a great live band. It shouldn’t stop anyone from seeing them as they are still fun. Long on dick jokes and short of musicianship. Except Travis; he is a monster on the drums. I don’t know if Matt Skiba, joining them from Alkaline Trio replacing Tom DeLonge, changes much. It will be a blast and not much preview needed. Enema is a good album to play in its entirety as there aren’t many slow spots. And they’ve been ending their set with one of my favorites, Dammit (“well I guess this is growing up” sings the 52 year old…). In probably the biggest conflict of the weekend, they play opposite of Jawbreaker. There are some emo/pop punk kids apoplectic about not being able to see both, as these two bands really set the table for the blowup of emo and pop punk in the 2000s (love it or hate it). Not me. We skipped Jawbreaker last time. And we’ll make it a tradition, like deep dish pizza and third night aftershow trainwrecks.
Jack White doesn’t need much fanfare, but here’s a little bit about The Raconteurs. They rock. They might be the most accomplished musicians at Riot Fest (I know, I know…that’s like being the tallest of the Seven Dwarfs). I had always thought of them as a side project of Jack White, but he swears it’s a group and no side project. Started as a collaboration with the other guitarist and singer in the band, Brenden Benson. In a seven degrees of Kevin Bacon kinda way, Benson worked way back with Jason Faulkner. Faulkner was in Jellyfish. We saw Jellyfish at the ‘HFS Birthday party at Hammerjack’s. And The Raconteurs’ drummer is now touring with Afghan Whigs. We saw them at a Coachella. So there you have it. It’s meant to be. The Raconteurs play at 725pm opposite The Starting Line and Ween.