I may be selling my two tickets for the JEW aftershow tonight. If so, would anyone be interested? I think I can just transfer via email.
So yesterday was our first Riot Fest, we’ve come from the U.K. where we attend Glastonbury every year but that couldn’t prepare us. We brought our toddler after being assured that Riot Fest was “kid friendly” but while some people were decent and quite cool about it, a lot of people were complete c@@ts. My wife got a ton of abuse when I went to see Jeff Rosenstock and she stayed with the kid. To the point where we’re considering ditching the next two days. is this festival usually so unfriendly? There was a bit of a shitty atmosphere from about 4 onwards.
I want to think they cut some songs from the setlist, as they usually play 20 and yesterday they played 17. Really curious to see the printed copy they had on stage.
This is such a bummer. I have friends that have brought their young kids in past years and had a good time. I genuinely think the Riot Fest crowd is usually pretty nice, especially before like 8:00 PM. Yesterday was just weird.
Everything g about yesterday is crazy to me, doesn’t sound anything like previous years (besides the crowd during System of a Down)
Saw: Pale Waves LS Dunes Some Foxy Shazam Anberlin Jeff Rosenstock Taking Back Sunday Portugal. The Man MCR Highlights for me were LS Dunes, Jeff, and Portugal (probably the most cohesive set of the festival, nonstop music)
Latest models have some bangers coming through Chicago very late tonight (early morning hours of Sunday). This signal has been remarkably consistent from like 10 days out. Pretty cool. It looks like any storm chances will hold off until after 9-10pm tonight. Could be a bit muddy tomorrow morning. Simulated radar below is valid at 2am.
If you guys need some friends today, shoot me a message. We're going to spend a lot of time hanging out by the Rise Stage and close it out with Menzingers -> Story So Far -> Yellowcard. But at things like this, there is strength in numbers and if we can be of any assistance don't hesitate. Yesterday was my first day at Riot and I was completely overwhelmed as well.
Wearing a black Limbeck shirt today. My tentative plan: Mannequin Pussy (partial) No Trigger Charlotte Sands The Get Up Kids Movements The Menzingers Madball (partial) The Front Bottoms (partial) Sunny Day Real Estate Yellowcard (partial)
Wow, I'm very sorry people were being that way. Yesterday was an outlier for us considering we've been going since 2016. The crowd is typically friendly, kind, and considerate for the most part. Especially if you're hanging out in the back with a kid. I don't have any experience bringing a toddler but I see tons of people every year with children so I've always felt like the fest is kid friendly. Hopefully yesterday was an outlier and if you decide to go back the next couple days you have a better time. It felt like the later hours in the day were much more packed and felt chaotic in comparison to other years. Regardless of what you decide, I hope you enjoy Chicago while you're here
Echoing a lot of sentiments from yesterday about MCRs set, I’ve seen thousands of shows & ive never been that uncomfortable for people’s safety. It seems like there isn’t any bad news from it,but fuck that was frightening. To everyone who’s new to the fest, it’s usually not this hectic,I really think it was MCR playing causing a lot of issues. Good luck today everyone ❤️ also, I’m selling a ticket for the academy is/midtown tonight,somebody take it from me plz
This is disappointing to hear and out of the norm I’d say. I’ve gone to riot in some capacity every year up until 2020 and I’ve seen plenty of kids there. I have an almost 2 year old myself and this bums me out so bad, sorry it happened to you!
Also, haven’t seen anyone mention it, Cliffdiver was by far my fav set of the day. I got REALLY overwhelmed emotionally & cried,several people around me did too as well as both singers. If you get a chance to see them, plz don’t hesitate to go
I can’t recall as a casual MCR fan but was Riot the first show they announced or was it with the tour?
Yesterday was a shitshow in so many ways. I would give it another chance today, should be much better considering it won't be as overcrowded
When I was leaving around 8:30 I saw the Western buses pulling up - I assume you took it from the northeast corner of Ogden? i would explore that today as long as they don’t wait until the festival ends to leave
I came home last night wrecked, both knees hurting and back hurting bad and sunburnt like crazy. Got a good night sleep and feeling much better, going to try and take it easy today. I think that more than anything the thing that killed me was the constant trips from the rise stage to the radical stage and food area. I will be in energy saving mode today. The Get Up Kids Alexisonfire Menzingers (depends on how long the food lines are) The Story So Far Yellowcard JEW aftershow Side note: did anyone actually park anywhere or saw any private lots around the neighborhood? I saw one on Ogden and Kedzie but I'm not sure if I could make a quick exit after Yellowcard to get to Metro without getting stuck in traffic if I park there.
Reading these stories about MCR at Riot Fest leads me to believe the When We Were Young festival is going to be an absolute shit-show for crowd control.
Right I remembered that but I didn’t know if it was like promoted as a one off before the tour. Thanks for clarifying.