Riot Fest 2021 (September 17-19, Chicago IL) Tour • Page 311

Finally back home and (beginning) to recover from the extended weekend. Hot damn, what a trip! Getting there each day via Uber/Lyft was a breeze. Getting home was rough on Friday so we didn't even try public transit on Saturday given the time we were leaving but... We left one song into Slipknot on Sunday and that was a breeze. I think having three relatively big headliners going at once was a help.

Overall, it was exactly the weekend that I was hoping for! Only hiccup we had was the storm on Friday night leaving us wanting to sit and watch Coheed under the Deluxe VIP tent rather than our planned split of the Circle Jerks and Dirty Heads. But that was such a unique experience I wasn't even bothered by it. It was incredible getting to see so many of my favorite bands after so long... And my partner was very into the whole experience so I think there's a chance we go back again!

Although, the one thing this weekend really drove home for me is the fact that I'm 37. And standing on my feet, drinking all day, and barely eating just is not the way to do it. Probably should have taken some cues from those of you who showed up late on Saturday or Sunday.

The new stage set-ups made it super easy to move between most of the stages but I did find myself getting a bit annoyed having to walk all the way around that one bar and then the Riot Fest merch to get to Rise from the Roots or Riot stages. I also noticed that it was significantly hotter at the Radicals stage in the afternoon thanks to the direction the sun was shining down and the stage's seemingly perfect positioning to stop the cool breeze you got literally everywhere else in the park, hah.

But beyond that? It was an A+ layout, per usual and a great weekend all-around! The vibes were largely positive and the people kicking and screaming about the handful of bands who dropped and got replaced... I dunno. It felt like a small but very vocal minority. Everybody seemed super into everything all weekend!

PS: I'm kinda weirdly shy so I didn't point out what I was wearing every day, but if anybody ever saw a tall dude in a Grumpster, Tony Hawk/"Superman", or Blink-155 podcast t-shirt? That was me. Hah!

 

I'm so glad everyone seemed to have an awesome time this year. Thursday was the best day of my life because getting married and all, and even though I didn't formally meet anybody in here that day, it was good to be in the same place as you then and the rest of the weekend. Here's to 2022!

 

Metallica at the Metro was so good! Never thought I would see them in such a small venue

 

Doing all four days was REALLY tough, but I survived. Wasn't the BEST Riot Fest I've been to, but it was certainly great. I'll echo everyone on here that the new layout was a net positive and generally had no sound bleed or trouble getting around the grounds - aside from my old aching feet. As someone who didn't do the ultimate/deluxe, having the "exclusive" areas near the Radial and Rise stage was clutch because the barriers gave my old ass another place to lean while still having a great view so two emphatic thumbs up for that.

Highlight sets: Joyce Manor (Helena was awesome) Morrissey (I know, I know, but his setlist was solid and he sounded really good), Kississippi, Sublime, Rancid, Thursday, Devo and Slipknot.

I'll be ready for 2022 in 2022.

 

i was worried about my back and feet but between the icy hot patches, shoe insoles, and constantly stretching, crouching, or sitting for a song or 2 for each band i pulled through and didnt have much post-pain.

top 3: pumpkins, RTJ, fever 333 (and shout out to the thursday aftershow. they blew the roof off cobra lounge)

insanely good: radkey, seratones, ALK3, hepcat, thursday, slipknot, the gories, health, devo, ghost inside, joywave, amigo the devil

most enjoyed with the least anticipation: FACS, The sounds, WDRL

still very good, literally no complaints: patti smith, the bled, thrice, sublime, fishbone, big freedia, night movies, gogol, blackstar kids, MM@TA, circle jerks

 

MGK and Corey from Slipknot are still jawing about their dislike online hahahha

 

For anyone who went to MGK, what was the crowd size like? It seemed like a small stage for someone who's gearing up for an arena tour.

 

Lol. They went from “Riot Fest is a shit show” to “here’s how much fun we had at Riot Fest this year!”

Punks, pounding rain, and Patti: The highs and the lows from Riot Fest 2021

 

THE SAME AUTHOR WROTE BOTH ARTICLES LMAOOOOOOO

 

Good catch! That’s even better haha

 

had a great time but i'm getting too old for these multi-day fests.
we ubered on thursday and then had our uber back cancel on me when prices rocketed up to $70 for a ride so we had to make the nightmarish ordeal of finding our way through the tram system. drove there the other 2 days we went and just parked on the street like a block away with no problems.
friday was a nightmare and hellishly hot until motion city and coheed. the rain was such a lifesaver.
saturday was much better. basically stayed at rise all day except during mayday when i wandered around a bit. thankfully made the decision to skip sunday to avoid that slipknot crowd.
also am dying to see how that crowd panned out between slipknot and pedo gun kelly. i see some drama is brewing between them which is just hilarious.
all in all a pretty good first riot fest. probably won't go back tho.

 

also think it's absolutely ridiculous that i couldn't get a cocktail as simple as a jim beam and coke there without paying for a vip upgrade but i'm just nitpicking at that point.

 

I'm always fascinated with "beef" like this. I'm just not really sure what MGK's endgame was here. Cheap audience applause? An attempt at press? Assuage his fragile, clearly bruised ego? If he wanted to "win," he could have just talked about how he actually cared about the genre of music he had switched to instead of making some weird stab about somebody else's on-stage persona...

But the way things went? Corey definitely has him in a checkmate with those e-mails. Nobody will ever hear those verses. And the e-mails were nothing but class so... Maybe some teenagers who don't like Slipknot anyway might care but overall...

What does Slipknot have to be bitter about? They literally headlined over him at the same festival and have been playing larger venues for 10+ years now. And doing different side-projects over the years to satisfy other creative wants/needs. Corey is a lot of things, but "bitter" has never been an adjective I'd use to describe him. Haha.

I just hope it keeps on going because it's pure entertainment.

That's so embarrassing. Haha.

 

For fucks sake.

 

I’m cringing hard at them not even sending a real photographer.

 

Unrelated; I think my favorite shirt I saw was "Fireworks Deserved Better".

 

After processing the weekend a bit more:

Favorite sets: Alkaline Trio, the Lawrence Arms, Rancid, Joyce Manor, Run the Jewels, Hepcat, Coheed & Cambria, New Found Glory, Just Friends, K.Flay, Smashing Pumpkins
Really great sets: Devo, Thursday, NOFX, the first 15-20 minutes of Gogol Bordello that I saw, Airstream Futures, Anti-Flag
Biggest surprises: Les Save Fav, 3OH!3, that rainstorm on Friday night
Biggest disappointment: The heat during Fishbone that led me to leave their set about 10-15 minutes in because I couldn't take it, how "whatever" I felt watching Rise Against
Biggest regret: Not hanging out for another 20-30 minutes to watch a bit more Slipknot

It really was a fantastic weekend. I kinda wish I had shown up to each day about an hour later than I did, but getting there early and chilling in deluxe VIP was a good way to start the day and pace out my drinking while feeling like I got to take full advantage of the open bar without overdoing it...

Having Friday be a very loaded day with Saturday being pretty heavy from late afternoon on... And Sunday being full but relatively stress-free (a lot of "yeah, I'll watch that I guess") was a pretty ideal way for the weekend to go.

 

I don't know if anyone watched KennyHoopla but his set was ass. Had a wack DJ the first ten minutes and he came out either drunk or just wasn't ready to perform live.

 

Yeah he sounded really bad (vocals wise as well) but I thought he put on a good performance. Definitely needs a band at least

 

That KennyHoopla set was embarrassing. To be honest, that set and MGK were probably the two worst I saw at the festival.

Why does Travis continue to work with artists who are just trying to jump on a trend?

Also, for next year, it’d be cool if they didn’t have all the food in one area. Walking across the entire festival just to find food was a bummer. Also, would it kill them to put a water station near the food as well?

 

Riot Fest Is Over, But Douglass Park Neighbors Say They Won't Be Able To Use The Park For Weeks Due To Cleanup

 

I don’t disagree with the complaints. Telling people to go 3 or 4 miles to a different field for practice when they may not own a car is outrageous.

I wish there was a better option.

 

I saw some live videos before their set at Riot and he is not a good singer at all, but the energy was really fun.

Also, there are some livestream performances where he had a drummer and a guitarrist, then some from his UK shows where is only the drummer and the DJ, and now its only the DJ. Who knows what happens to the band

 

He just looked really nervous IMO - especially when he came out at the beginning of his set. I think he'll get better at it with time.

Huge

I went for a few songs before walking over to Slipknot. I had an easier time getting close for Slipknot than MGK but the stage Slipknot played at was a lot bigger so probably factored into that.

 

I watched some MGK before going to Slipknot and it was very easy for me to walk right up to the sound booth with plenty of space and I probably could have even got closer. They both didn't have that big of crowds honestly