Riot Fest 2021 (September 17-19, Chicago IL) Tour • Page 59

This is a solid tip! The last few times I've gone, I've always gotten an early flight on Thursday AM and an early evening flight on Monday. This gives me at least a few hours in the early afternoon both days to do something around the city, eat at a restaurant I want to try, etc.

The festival days are typically shot for me as far as doing anything other than waking up, getting breakfast, and heading to the venue because inevitably there's a band I want to see that goes on right at like, 11:40 or whenever the show starts that day.

This year should be interesting because I'll have all day Wednesday, Thursday up through the preview night, and then Monday. Gonna be hitting up a lot of museums, vegan restaurants, and probably the zoo or aquarium.

 

Like, I'd love to be able to wake up, eat some Chicago pizza, (deep dish or not, I've had some great pizzas in the city), go to Riot Fest, then go to GMan and see what happens with my night, but even when I was a 22 year old I couldn't handle it! I'm gonna be 27 by the next one and I know if I don't follow my own rules I could be passing out or too exhausted while PUP is ripping DVP to a crowd of millions.

This jumped from an 'outsiders perspective on visiting Chicago for riot fest' to a 'guy who thinks he knows how to successfully do riot fest' v quickly but I stand by

 

I hear ya! I think we're gonna try to get in on Wednesday too, we might as well add a day of fun since we couldn't have any this year!

Chicago rules and if you're coming from out of state you'd be doing a disservice to yourself to not at least do some basic tourist things (even those rule and are worth it imo!) Like...some Chicago folks might hate me for it but I've always had fun going and walking around Navy Pier lol. Go to the deep dish places, go to the museums, just walk around the loop, it's a blast!

And then once you've done that, you get to find 'your' Chicago spots. There's some places that I'm pretty confident locals would be like 'yeah, that place is fine' but for my friends, every time we go to Chicago it's a destination. And that'll be a reason we try to go to the fest every year for as long as we can. The fun of going to a city that's semi-familiar at this point, but always offers something new, exciting, and fun. I love Chicago and I love Riot Fest, sue me baby.

 

I saw hotel prices and almost talked myself out of it, but then I remembered that I’m turning 30 a month before the festival, so fuck it. Happy birthday to me!

thanks for the recs, also!

 

Love the planning 15 months in advance in here. It feels great to have something to look forward to again.

 

I’ve always wanted to visit Chicago so I’m really looking forward to this.

 

I stayed at the Congress Plaza my first year and all I remember is that it’s apparently haunted and they made you pay for wifi in your room. I like the Airbnb route but last year we stayed in the W Hotel by Navy Pier and it was super nice as well.

 

First of all, I love seeing other people talk up the GMan Tavern. That is my favorite bar. Def where the homies hang kind of place.

I would say people have a few options in terms of their general plan for lodging. The first is to find a hotel, which is mostly near or in downtown. As mentioned, this gives you easy come and go access to Douglas Park for the festival. It’s less ideal if you plan on doing after shows bc most of them are going to be in the neighborhoods.

The second option is the worst and that is to find a hotel in the nearby suburbs/towns along the train path from O’Hare. This can make sense for people flying, but is generally inconvenient and time consuming in every sense.

The last option is the best imo if you are planning to hit bars or after shows. And that is to grab an air bnb or one of the Lincoln Park hotels and stay there. You’re going to have better food options each day and shorter commute (most likely) from the after shows or bars. You will also likely save a few bucks compared to a downtown hotel. The biggest downside in this method is the rideshare cost from Douglas to wherever you are going post festival. If you have a group to split it, it’s really not that bad. When doing this strategy, I find trying to be close to a multi-lane through street, like Ashland makes this a lot easier. Traffic depending (always) you are looking at 20-30 from Lakeview/Roscoe. But being north like that puts you around really good nightlife and short striking distance to most of the after show venues.

 

I would like The Wonder Years, The Menzingers, The Front Bottoms and Macseal.

Me and my friends are flying from the UK and going to get an Airbnb. Flying in for the Tuesday midday and flying out the following Wednesday morning. Super excited by the lineup and to see the city!

 

Last year by chance my Airbnb had a Dollar General right next door & it came in clutch every day... Friday I was an idiot & got super sunburnt, so Saturday I bought a $5 ninja halloween costume that was entirely too small to cover up my neck & most of my arms, best $5 I've ever spent

 

Really wondering how many of these bands were on this line-up for 2020 versus newly booked for 2021.

Also starting to wonder when we'll get the second and final waves. I'm guessing we'll have to wait until winter 2021 for wave 2 with the final wave coming around this same time next year.

 

I saw a tweet by Bayside saying they were on the 2020 line-up, and I bet some of the predictions in here like All American-Rejects, Smashing Pumpkins, Mayday Parade and Beach Bunny were on the 2020 line-up too

 

I'm sure the other waves will correspond more with what other bands decide to do next summer ya know. Other festivals, tours, whatever they have in mind.

I'd assume most of these bands were primed for 2020

 

The thing I found interesting was how NFG AND Simple Plan were both announced. Kinda curious if that means the Chicago dates of their co-headliner are gonna be cancelled as opposed to postponed

 

Just booked an Airbnb in the Ukrainian Village for 6 guests for just under $600 from Thursday-Monday, thank you

 

Yeah, good point. They're probably booking up those bands between now and end of year. Which could also be why this line-up feels so "2020." The key exception that stands out is that NFG/Simple Plan tour which I suspect wasn't part of the original line-up.

I suspect/hope that the next two band announcements include fill things out with smaller bands that might not necessarily be planning out a touring schedule 1 year-plus in advance. Fingers-crossed that they incorporate a bit more punk/pop-punk and third-wave ska type acts. Those are the kind of bands who probably wouldn't be planning out so far ahead at this point...

Or maybe I'm just being too optimistic and since last year had quite a few of those bands it won't lean so heavily on them this year?

 

I think there are still plenty of bands that fit that mold that by the time 2021 rolls around will not have played for a couple of years. Heck even the bands that played last year could come back and by then it has actually been two years since they played.

 

I hope they add Knuckle Puck too, maybe they are just waiting after their November show to announce it (if it doesn't get postponed for a 3rd time)

 

Actually, I just had a thought.

Were the Chicago dates of the NFG/SP tour a “Riot Fest Presents” show? Because if so then I bet that those shows are cancelled now and that’ll be the “Chicago date” when the tour gets rescheduled. Which could also mean KP gets added later on

Or maybe there'll be an NFG/SP aftershow?

 

If I recall correctly, it was indeed a Riot Fest Presents show

 

This is a good spot to be. Great area and access to Damen and Ashland that can get you to Douglas easily. If you guys have time before or after Riot and are into tattoos, you are staying near the best Chicago shop called, Great Lakes Tattoo. Highly recommended if that’s your thing.

 

I hope they do an aftershow the one they did with Bayside a few years ago was excellent.

 

There were 73 bands last year. Thus far, they've announced 49. So we probably have approximately 24 bands that we're waiting on.

Not bad at all.

 

So since we can’t really predict who will be announced next wave because of tour cancellations are whatnot, what are some bands that we’re HOPING get announced?

A few I’d like (that either haven’t played Riot in a long time or have never played it):

Archers Of Loaf
Rx Bandits
Murder City Devils
ALL
Hum
Failure
Modest Mouse
Lifetime
Girls Against Boys
Dinosaur Jr. (the last time they played was 2017, but still...)

 

I'm hoping for Strike Anywhere and Broadway Calls.