Riot Fest 2021 (September 17-19, Chicago IL) Tour • Page 286

What’s the latest you guys have ever showed up for a headlining band and still gotten in the pit for them? I really wanna see all of The Ghost Inside but I also really want to pit to Slipknot.

 

Not saying this is typical, but I showed up for Jawbreaker in 2017 when their set started and I ended up in the pit.

 

I think Thrice is much better live 1) playing fests they actually like, and 2) in front of enthusiastic fans that actually chose to see them. I'm assuming they were going through the motions on Uproar, and even when I saw them at the last Warped in Cali, you could tell they felt obligated.

 

Counterpoint to the Jawbreaker comment, when I left The Academy Is many years ago thinking a half hour was enough time to get me into System of a Down, I couldn't get anywhere near that stage.

Im in the same boat btw, I gotta see if my buddy wants to dip TGI a little early.

 

Slipknot is one of my bucket list bands, and NFG is one of my favorites. But I'm thinking I might skip all of NFG to get a good spot for Slipknot.

 

The Slipknot stage is really a wildcard, considering all the variables (Last band on the last day, # of people who refunded Sunday, # of Slipknot fans who bought tickets vs. Waiting till the Tinley Park show, etc.) All I can say is it'll be smaller than Misfits in 16 and bigger than Jawbreaker in 17, lol. My plan is to get a decent spot on the Roots side for the Lips to watch both from.

 

Hell yes they were on that tour! Them and mindless self indulgence were the side stage highlights!

 

First time going to Riot...quick question...

- How far is the walk from the Roots stage to the Radical stage? I want to split Faith No More and Rancid but if its a long walk and I miss a good portion of the sets I'll just pick between the two.

 

It's really short, a few minutes at most if you're not deep in the pit. Almost short enough that you can stand halfway in between and hear both sets at the same time.

 

Generally speaking, I think it's fair to say that until it gets to be like 7 o'clock onward... It's a pretty easy 5 minute walk to most places in the festival if you position yourself correctly (e.g., the side of the stage closest to where you want to go next).

Obviously, if you're in the thick of the pit it's going to take much longer. But if you hang out toward the fringes it's still possible to see bands from relatively close and maneuver between stages. In my experience, anyway.

 

Also...Faith No More vs Rancid? That's a mean joke for me. Who would you guys recommend live? I haven't seen Rancid since Warped 2002 and I saw FNM at Coachella back in 2010. Honestly, I don't remember much about either set. Does FNM usually stick to the "hits" live?

 

Man, they really kind of did throw the similar bands per stage out the window for Sunday, didn't they?!

 

If you're really that torn, I would just split the set. Faith No More plays the "hits" and a swath of other stuff (last RF setlist). Rancid's set is usually 75% AOCTW with a few cuts from Let's Go and then 1-2 tracks form the other records including the obvious singles (e.g., "Fall Back Down," "Last One To Die"). Their recent tour includes two tracks from Life Won't Wait that they haven't played in years and years so... If that sways you... (recent Rancid setlist)

I think both bands still absolutely kill it live, but for me Rancid will win based purely on the fact that I just love/listen to them more.

It feels like some of them got shuffled around a bit. Specifically, Simple Plan and the Ghost Inside. Wonder if any of it has to do with travel schedules or some sort of other conflict.

Weirdly, Riot on Sunday would look significantly less "off" if you swapped NIN back in. The whole Body Count/Devo/NIN thing reaks of "let's book something that feels like Lolla in the 90s."

 

This would be my biggest conflict if I hadn’t just seen rancid a few weeks ago because I have not seen FNM before so gotta check that off the bucket list. But I will say rancid absolutely crushed it, one giant rowdy sing along after another, nonstop.

 

I generally weigh these things based on emotional weight. And I will get more out of singing "Roots Radicals" live for like, the 35th time in my life than I could ever get of "Gentle Arto f Making Enemies."

After sitting with this schedule for a bit, despite a few minor annoyances... I'm pretty excited about it. There's plenty of open space for food, several spots in each day where I'll be able to check out some new artists that I might not ever see otherwise.

And a few slots with multiple bands I'm hoping to catch but will probably wind up bopping around between stages to see what really grabs me (that Coheed/Circle Jerks/Dirty Heads/Beach Bunny cluster being what I'm staring directly at as I say that haha).

It's exactly what I want out of a festival: No heartbreaker conflicts, something to keep me busy all day, and some low-key acts for breaks/food. And at least 3-4 full sets each day that I'm incredibly stoked on.

 

Wow, someone gave my buddy two free Saturday passes. So it looks like I'm going all four days now!
Still think we're gonna take it easy Saturday and get to the festival late and only catch Rancid and Run the Jewels.

 

I've been busy all day and OH MY GOD THE CONFLICTS adlfjasdl;kma;sd

 

NofX AND Smashing Pumpkins the exact same time is the most egregious.

Everything else is manageable

 

This is my plan right now. I’m sure it will change when I’m at the afest because it always does.


Friday
Meet Me @ The Altar, Envy on the Coast, Amigo The Devil, Radkey, some Fishbone, Anti-Flag, maybe some Thrice, Larry Arms, some MCS, Circle Jerks, Smashing Pumpkins (and maybe some NoFX)

Saturday
Devon Kay & The Solutions, Spider - Action/Adventure - and Just Friends (not sure what I’ll do here yet), The Bronx, Big Freedia (maybe the beginning of Gwar), Four Year Strong, Hepcat, The Bollweevils, Bosstones, Fucked Up, Rancid, Some combination of Faith No More/Andrew WK/ Taking Back Sunday/Dropkick Murphys

Sunday
Pet Symmetry, Airstream Futures, Gymshorts, maybe Kennyhoopla, Body Count, Thursday, maybe some Simple Plan, Devo, New Found Glory, then will probably catch a song or two fromSlipknot and Machine Gun Kelly before heading out early.

 

After looking at the schedule again, I’m guessing Devo probably had a stipulation in their contract that they couldn’t play earlier than 6pm.

and they probably didn’t want The Flaming Lips to play before Devo because of their elaborate stage setup.

that’s the only thing I can figure for why we didn’t get a Lips/Devo stage and a Slipknot/TGI/Bungle stage

 

Could be! It feels more like they just didn't change anything after NIN and the Pixies dropped, though. If you slot those two acts back in those stages and the artists they are paired with look perfect. It was probably easier to just slot those two acts into the existing times rather than do a bunch of re-shuffling. Especially since you'd then be telling Ice-T or K.Flay that they need to go to another stage that isn't the "main" stage or pushing them down in the line-up.

When I look at Radicals/Rise stages it looks more like they just weren't sure what to do. Some of it feels like travel schedules or bands saying they didn't want to play up against other artists, etc. For example: I bet it would be a hard sell to have NFG "open" for MGK for multiple reasons (e.g., they've headlined a stage basically every year they've played Riot in the past; the whole "dude is kinda biting their genre off for $$$" thing). It's also really weird to me that Knuckle Puck is playing after Thursday and 3OH!3 is on so early with only a 30 minute set.

 

I’m
Not going to riot fest but I gotta stick up for thrice a bit here. They are playing their first show in 2 years on the day of their album release. I’m sure they are going bring it energy wise.

-sincerely, a biased thrice fan.

 

I was at Pitchfork yesterday so I finally was able to see the schedule calmly.
Friday and Saturday are fine with me, some minor conflicts like Bayside vs The Mighty Mighty Bostoness or Citizen vs The Bronx

But Sunday, oh boy! Im struggling with Alex G vs 3OH!3, Mr. Bungle vs Thursday, The Flaming Lips vs The Ghost Inside

I feel pain becaue of Devo vs Knuckle Puck vs Ratboys, but Im going Devo. And also because the 10 minutes overlap of Beach Bunny and the Smashing Pumpkins, so I hope the Pumpkins don't start with any of my favorite songs

 

FRI: MM@tA, seratones, the sounds (partial), amigo the devil (partial), Radkey, unsure about circa/ fishbone, anti flag, thrice (partial), sublime, circle jerks, pumpkins…*Meg, living colour, TLA, & nofx are still in play*


SAT: man on man, spiders, joy wave, big freedia, les savy fav, hepcat, Gogol (partial), faith no more, RTJ… *bollweevils, gwar, rancid, fucked up are still in play*


SUN: gories, 3oh3, blackstar kids, health, k flay (partial), the bled, Fever 333, Thursday, devo, ghost inside, slipknot…*flaming lips and mr bungle are still in play*