Yeah the only time I saw them live was December 2016 when they opened for Helmet on the Dead To The World tour. And that tour was hitting pretty small clubs. I imagine they have a better draw in Chicago since it’s their hometown, but yeah. That’s spot-on
Because you can throw a dart at a map, hit any suburb in the area and catch a Local H show that weekend?
recent reunions+ high school/early college obsessions: Finch, Head Automatica, & Kittie havent played riot at least since ive been going (also known as, fuck it, this could all be its own Roots Stage line up) : joan jett, garbage, The interrupters, amyl & the sniffers, screaming females, tsunami Bomb seen them at riot, or missed them at riot, but i want them back: Me 1st & gimmie gimmies, billy talent, FNM, bouncing souls, FIDLAR, X, INVSN, matt & kim, the sounds, joywave My st. louis squad: The Urge, Ludo, story of the year, fight back mountain, bruiser queen, tidal volume shit that some may not think are riot fits, but i still want: ghostland observatory, justice, maneskin, ratatat
Honestly, the reunions and your "fuck it/Roots stage" line-ups all have potential. Kittie might be an exception there... But if I'm being real? Them as direct support for GWAR on Rebel would be rad. The Urge and the Bouncing Souls are two acts I'd definitely love to see at Riot this year too! Kinda surprised the Urge haven't found their way onto a Riot poster as a token "early in the day 90s act." Oh! And with Billy Talent doing European dates in the summer... I could see a US fall run happening!
I don’t know if they would fit riot fest but I’d love to see electric Callboy on this years lineup depending on what their plans for touring this year are
This is a huge lol / wtf because they were being floated around as likely to play Pitchfork and they literally hit Chicago during Pitchfork weekend. A lot of people are disappointed about that haha.
Another example of a band deciding they could make more money playing to die-hards in a headlining gig than to a festival where they may not make as much and most of the attendees might be a bit too young to care? I think a lot of artists are kinda getting burned out on the whole "festival" scene. Not necessarily a bad thing.
Doesn't help that most US festivals are extremely homogenous. Pitchfork and Riot Fest stand out in that regard.
When thinking about outliers, Shaky Knees comes to mind too. Pretty telling that the three we're referencing here are really the only major ones that focus on guitar-driven music that isn't metal/hard rock. Even when the bigger fests deviate, they do it pretty consistently - and predictably. I hope Knocked Loose is enjoying their year as the token hardcore/punk act on those bills and appreciating the paycheck... Because they won't get booked again and it won't move the needle in terms of their fanbase/draw. But since Pitchfork is what we're talking about here, I'd say that's a pretty "friendly" fest for a band like Le Tigre. So it was probably down to money and whether or not they'd be headlining. I can see Pitchfork wanting them as direct support with another, younger artist headlining...
I thought it was weird at first they were playing Chicago two days after Riot, but I forgot they played in 2021.. at least it seems Riot is looking at some new blood instead of recent repeats
Thrice is doing a short run of dates over seas right before riot fest where they are playing the artist in the ambulance in full said dates
I feel like that might not be enough time for them to get back and prep doing it at Riot Fest, but I could be very wrong.
I imagine they have to do a U.S. run of this, right? It seems almost silly for them to do it in Australia and not here
I agree with that about Shaky Knees. Helps that we’re discussing three festivals that aren’t AMG or Ticketmaster run… The US festival scene is trash. Started out so unique, too, when we started to get these large scale festivals and of course our corporate overlords ruined it.
I mean, one would think… But Thrice kinda hates following the rules. Haha. Remember last year when they were announced to play Illusion of Safety at Furnace Fest and folks were expecting a tour? Your point still stands, though. It would be really silly not at least do some shows stateside. I could see them skipping a tour and just doing a festival or two, TBH. Yeeeeeah. Are there any other bigger fests that are still independent? I can't think of any. Boston Calling was never my favorite festival, but it was local, and there was usually 1-2 days where I wanted to see a solid 3-4 undercard acts and maybe the headliner and a few acts I was curious about. And they were usually 1-3 years ahead of booking the "token punk/hardcore act of the year." Since they sold the festival it's been getting worse each year. Solid headliners but a super bland undercard. And honestly, I think why it's all become so homogenous. Most of them grow too big to increase profits... And hit a point where you literally can't experiment with the undercard (or you're in the Boston Calling position where you wind up having to book undercard artists nobody knows which makes the overall bill look weak).
I think the big difference between Illusion and Artist is that Illusion’s more of a “old-school fan” thing. It’s just a cherished album for long-time Thrice fans. So it makes sense as to why they did a limited run of those shows (FF and then a four-night run at the Anaheim House Of Blues). Whereas Artist is literally the album that got them huge and probably their most popular album. I think the demand is certainly high enough to warrant a full tour. I’m sure they’d sell out tons of shows too (I mean, if they sold out 4 nights at the Anaheim House Of Blues playing Illusion, imagine what the could do if they did Artist). That being said though, I also know Thrice isn’t one for nostalgia, and I think everyone here has discussed before that Thrice is in that weird purgatory where they’re trying not to be a nostalgia band, but the demand is there for them to be a nostalgia band. So who knows. But all I can say is that I hope they do a tour for it, because that’s one of my favorite albums!