Riot Fest 2021 (September 17-19, Chicago IL) Tour • Page 120

Jawbreaker could've broken up on stage again so I thought that was an easy can't miss.

(This was me trying to be sarcastic and failing)

 

Nah, at that point they were in a great spot as friends and a band. They said so much at the Q&A the night before.

But yeah, it was an easy decision. Jawbreaker over everything for me that weekend. Doesn't mean I wasn't wishing the schedule was slightly different so I could have caught Paramore or been a bit closer for Prophets of Rage.

 

I didn't get into Jawbreaker until well after the reunion show so I watched all of Paramore. However, I did go Jawbreaker over Blink 182 in 2019 and don't regret it one bit (partially because I saw the Enema show in Michigan a few days prior).

 

Also I decided that if I do Riot Fest, I'm not going to run myself ragged this year. I'm literally going to watch five bands a day and relax. I feel like I had a WAY better time on the first day of 2019 just camping out for Descendants and Jawbreaker.

 

heres a few of mine:

2015, sunday night - i chose Modest Mouse over The Prodigy, and i regret every god damn second of it

2016, sunday evening - i chose Me First over Deftones, and its a wash as i only saw about 5 minutes of them before my dumdum ex wife got too high, needed help so i had to help her navigate the crowds

2017, sunday night - i chose MIA over both Paramore & Prophets of Rage. Still never seen the other 2, and really want to, but i think i'd still just barely pick MIA

2018, Friday afternoon - i chose Matt & Kim over Digable planets. while M&K are legit a top 5 all time live band for me, ive seen them enough times now that i probably should have seen some hip hop legends :(

2019 - streetlight vs against me - tried to spilt the sets but now neither are very memorable as all I remember feeling was anxious the whole time

 

See, "running myself ragged" is part of the fun for me! I completely get people who just want to chill and catch a few bands regardless of what it is (or really prioritizing and catching full sets). I kind of envy that mentality. Haha.

But for me, I like to catch as much as possible across the board. Especially with artists I'm only sort of interested in, or want to see specific songs from. I'm sure I'll hit a point in the next few years where I hit the point where doing that is too much. But for now? I'm all in on running my body into the ground by the end of the weekend between hustling from stage to stage and the after shows.

 

My buddy and I popped over for a Modest Mouse song, immediately cringed, and went right back to the Prodigy. I like Modest Mouse on record but have never been impressed with their live show.

2016 was a year I didn't go but had an impressive amount of sets that would have overlapped for me (including Me First and Deftones!) so part of me was kinda glad I didn't go. Bummer that you missed out on both bands for that!

 

Forgot about Streetlight and AM! I watched all of Axl Rose and then ran over to Streetlight and definitely regret it since they played the most basic setlist they possibly could have. I thought I was seeing AM do TDB at Fest so I was fine but then I had a conflict there as well lol

Also saw the AM aftershow at Metro which was great. So basically I saw them do Axl, Cowboy, Searching, New Wave and White Crosses over the 2 months but missed TBD

I kind of regret watching Ice Cube over No Doubt as well. Ice Cubes set was cool and I was hype to see it after Straight Outta Compton came out but it was definitely kind of phoned in and when they showed the movie trailer in the middle of the set I was pretty much tapped out lol hopefully get to see No Doubt at some point

 

Modest Mouse appears to be teasing a new album announcement tomorrow. Maybe they’ll do a tour this fall. I’d put them in as a possibility for Riot

 

For whatever reason, I'm feeling like an act of their ilk is either going to remain dormant until next year or do a very short run of shows on their own rather than any festival dates...

But if they were to hop on Riot, think they'd still be a headliner?

 

Welp, it seems all quiet this week. Looks like 5/12 is probably the day we get the (hopefully) good news!

 

Don't they usually tease or announce the reveal a few days beforehand?

 

Y'know, I was just thinking that the silence on social media this morning was boding well for an announcement for an announcement - or some sort of other tease - coming today. Along with the fact that no other festivals seemingly have major announcements on deck.

But you're probably right. I'm guessing we would have heard something yesterday or Monday.

It depends. Some years they do a teaser video before the announcement (~2 days before). Other years it's just social media posts saying "the line-up is coming!" the day before. And then there's 2017 where they just dropped it without any warning. There was one year where they did a weird announcement of a few bands every hour too, which was kind of stressful. Haha.

I'm feeling like it will depend on the artists they were able to get, how rare/exclusive they are, etc.

Like, it made sense to do a teaser video in 2016 with the Misfits logo. People are instantly familiar with it. In 2017 it made sense to just drop the line-up with Jawbreaker on it; they don't have any big "hits" or a vague/well-known enough logo to pull from for a teaser. Dropping the announcement at the same time as a bunch of news articles hyping that reunion made sense.

In 2018, they didn't have a big reunion for a headliner but they had a bunch of artists with fairly well-known "hits" they could draw from for the video. Not sure what happened in 2019 because I was paying less attention. But last year they couldn't do a teaser, really, because MCR was holding all the cards as far as their tour announcement goes.

This year? I'm kind of expecting something similar to 2018. Just to have a bit of fun with who the headliners are, etc. But again, I think that depends on who they have in this final wave.

 

Update: According to the description of their new album on Target’s website (as shared by someone on Reddit) looks like they’re playing Lolla. So they’re out

 

Honestly a bit relieved that they're in for Lolla instead, hah. Had no idea that Shaky Knees was moved out to October either!

 

oh so quiet, Bjork confirmed

 

I’m bummed! MM is one of my all-time favorite bands! Haha. But I get it. Their live shows can be hit-or-miss. I’ve seen them three times and I’ve gotten a variety

 

I’ve never listened to them much outside of Float On but maybe I should start if they are at Lolla. I currently live like pretty close to Grant Park so Lolla is a festival I’m always interested in.

 

Lollapalooza is usually the end of July into the beginning of August

 

yes I know but

no date is set, could be later in August

 

Lolla has to be announcing soon as well, and probably before Riot. So maybe Lolla next week and Riot the following week

doubt they’ll plan to overlap announcement weeks

 

Yeah, I'm a fan too. Definitely not my favorite band or anything like that, but fan enough to own and enjoy most of their output. But after seeing them three times and having all three sets feel completely phoned in? I'm done getting excited about seeing them live. Haha.

Hopefully you get to catch them sometime soon, though, and it's a stellar performance!

Yeah, I doubt they'd announce during the same week. But I think Riot's announcement will come before Lolla's this year. Especially since they were so confident in saying that they would have something to announce during the "first half of May." That gives Riot about a week and a half now for an announcement in that timeframe. Granted, things change... It wouldn't be the best look.

Normally, I'd be thinking the same thing you are. But Lolla hasn't even announced dates yet. I'm sure they have them locked in but aren't ready to announce for whatever reason... The norms kinda fly out the window this year, I think. Hah.

 

Riot press release said lineup would be out first half of May....

 

Ahhhh good point didn’t remember if they just said May or first half lol excited for next week then!

 

I mean, in your defense, they've said shit like that before and it didn't happen. Haha. What you said is entirely plausible! Riot Fest would just need to eat a lot of crow if that were the case.

I just hope my take is accurate and the reason for the hold-up is more logistics around refunds, maybe an act or two that needs to announce something else before Riot announces, or something... Rather than anything having to do with artists finalizing contracts or whatever (a la Bauhaus in 2018). That's much easier for them to control and stick to a timeline.