Haha we’d take our dog on a long walk before going Friday and Saturday. Ended up with over 20,000 steps both of those days.
Sunburn from this year hasn’t even begun to fade but I just pulled the trigger on my $99 ticket for next year ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What a weekend. I lost my phone in the pit at Gwar so I didn't have it the rest of the weekend. Then Monday morning my car battery was dead. Aside from those two things, it was so much fun. The Front Bottoms, Bleachers, and Father John Misty were all as amazing as I expected. Some random thoughts: Beck was probably my biggest surprise. I thought I'd like him but I thought he was really awesome. It was awesome to see RTJ headline Riot Fest. Father John really blew me away and I hope that a lot of people who didn't get his appeal caught his set and changed their minds. I'm also glad I got there early sunday for the majority of Mom Jeans and Just Friends. Both definitely bands to keep an eye on. @ Whoever said Jack Antonoff seemed disappointed in the crowd, I felt the opposite. @ Whoever said Blondie was terrible... what? I do wish I stuck to my plan a little better. I went with more people than usual this year which led to some more compromising on my end (not as close for some sets as I wanted and missed a few bands), but overall it was fun.
I didn't get a chance to read through most of the recent pages here but what were your favorite RF performances? For me I'd go with Matt and Kim, K. Flay, and The Dangerous Summer. Lots of other greats but enjoyed those the most.
Had no time to check this all weekend but damn what a great time. I'm a skinny dude with dinosaur skeletons tattooed on my right arm, dyed-red poofy-haired fro-hawk, glasses, beard, in either a Descendents, Bouncing Souls, or cat astronaut shirt, in case anyone noticed me haha. Went to the Direct Hit! pre-show. Made friends with 4 people around me (one from here, one from Australia, one from Scotland, one from Mexico) and they cut the line off right before us. Then about halfway through Bombpops some people left so he let us all in, had a fuckin' blasty. Friday I saw Direct Hit! again, The Fever 333, end of Lagwagon, The Aquabats, Sum 41, some Digable Planets, some Matt & Kim, some Flogging Molly, some Bleachers, some Atmosphere, Face To Face, some Dropkick, and Weezer. Saturday I saw the start of Lower Class Brats, Piebald, some Bully, some Reignwolf, start of Wolfmother, Adolescents, some The Voidz, some Killing Joke, some Costello, GWAR, and Andrew WK. First time I stuck around for all of GWAR and WK, shit was rad as hell. Sunday destroyed me. Beach Rats, Calpurnia, half of SWMRS, half of Spitalfield, Bouncing Souls, Suicidal Tendencies a bit from afar, end of Clutch, start of Underoath, end of Blondie, Alkaline Trio, some Incubus, Bad Religion. Went to the Bouncing Souls aftershow, my buddy and I were the ones who got them to play the chorus of "Ole!" into "Jonny X" haha. Good times, I'm still exhausted haha. My instagram is chickenmcbringinits if anyone wants to see pics I took
Sunday was awesome! Loved pretty much every set I saw. Mom Jeans., The Wonder Years, SWMRS, Suicidal Tendencies and Bad Religion were probs my favorite sets. Really surprised by SWMRS, loved the energy they had.
I gotta say the RF App was pretty solid. Easy to navigate the schedule and I enjoyed the wake up messages and even the joke one they did yesterday for day 4.
Despite the issues that drove us all bananas this year, I think Riot Fest has my money for as long as I can feasibly go. I have such a blast every year and feel I get my monies worth just being around folks that love the same music I do.
I didn't see one single sign at the fest that the staff hadn't been working tirelessly to put on the best festival possible. There was plenty of people there, everything was set up great. I didn't notice any big technical hitches other than stuff that happens at every festival. They had two headliners drop on them and did everything they could do still provide the best experience they could. As far as I'm concerned, they succeeded.
Does anyone know what the attendance figures were? It seemed pretty packed from about 5pm on but how many people were there ?
Random thought I've had since Sunday that I found amusing: I love how Skiba was the Tom Delonge of Trio long before he was the Tom Delonge of Blink.
LoL, I don't think the immediate locals will ever allow Riot Fest to come back to Humboldt: Riot Fest leaving Humboldt Park, will be held at Douglas Park Maldonado would have a conniption if there was even an effort to have it there.