Woah! Didn't see that coming, TBH, but good on the festival for pulling that off. Gotta be honest too. The more I think about it... Is this maybe the strongest trio of headliners they've ever had? Foo Fighters and the Cure might give it a run for their money but the third day that year felt like they had to cobble together three different acts to get a headliner.
That was my thought too! And there's enough of a distinct fanbase set where like... There's people who like all three. There's Green Day/Blink fans, Green Day/Weezer fans, Blink/Weezer fans. And the undercard pairs real nicely with it all in a way that crosses those same bases too. It's pretty well curated, IMHO. (Albeit with some obvious/annoying flaws and gaps in diversity across the board.)
I think this is my final schedule: FRIDAY: Touche Amore, Camper Van Beethoven, Harms Way, Rico Nasty, Sparks, Rilo Kiley, a little Weird Al, Knocked Loose, Blink 182 SATURDAY: Militarie Gun, GWAR, Citizen, The Front Bottoms, Dropkick Murphys, Jack White, Weezer SUNDAY: Smoking Popes, The Ataris, The Linda Lindas, Dance Hall Crashers, Hanson, The Wonder Years, Cobra Starship, IDLES, Jawbreaker, Green Day
I think Green Day and Foo Fighters are tied for the “biggest” headliners Riot’s gotten. But I think this year’s is the strongest trio of headliners for sure in terms of curation. There’s bound to be a lot of crossover fandom from Green Day/Blink/Weezer so that pairing makes perfect sense to me. JW is much different, but he’s still a big pull rn When Foos headlined, FF/The Cure/Death Cab/PS were great gets, but I don’t think those have a lot of crossover appeal, if that makes sense
Past Headliners: 2025: Blink 182 / Weezer & Jack White / Green Day 2024: Fall Out Boy / Beck & Pavement / Slayer 2023: Foo Fighters / Death Cab & Postal Service / The Cure 2022: My Chemical Romance / The Misfits / Nine Inch Nails 2021: The Smashing Pumpkins / Run the Jewels / Slipknot 2019: Blink 182 / Slayer / Bikini Kill 2018: Weezer / Beck / Run the Jewels 2017: Nine Inch Nails / Queens of the Stone Age / Jawbreaker 2016: The Flaming Lips / Morrissey / The Misfits 2015: No Doubt / System of a Down / Modest Mouse
Well my “wait until right before the fest to get resale tickets for less than face value because they always are and we’re annoyed that we paid more” strategy just got more interesting lmao
The biggest difference for me is that the line-ups they curated around these artists this year just feel so cohesive. The 2023 line-up was strong as a whole but the way it all lined up by day felt a little odd to me with the exception of Sunday. But this year it all just clicks and ties together nicely across different spectrums and fanbases. It's dope as hell. This is definitely the strongest one across the board. 2015 is close but Modest Mouse drags it down a bit. I'd also say 2018 is probably the weakest overall just looking at it objectively.
Goofy question but I feel like someone knows are the VIP “clean bathrooms” really much cleaner than the porta potty’s?
VIP should have porta-potty's and a set of air-conditioned "real" bathroom units. So yeah, there's a cleaner option in that area.
Scribbled out my plan of attack tonight after letting it all settle in. And I think this is the plan. We'll probably dip out of some of these partial sets early, watch from a long distance away, etc. to get food. And I think it's a coin-toss as to whether we just say "fuck it," and skip all of Weezer in favor of the Damned but... This feels mostly about right. Sleeper artists I didn't know about before the fest that I'm really stoked about seeing: Harrison Gordon, Rico Nasty, and Zero Boys. Also a little surprised at how non-enthralled I am about the Hold Steady doing Separation Sunday. That album is stolid enough but it's far from my favorite.
I was going to go see Ethel Cain on Saturday but I’m kind of tempted to go to Riot that day and see Weezer since I missed out on the Blue tour when they were here last year.
OFFICIALLY ONE WEEK AWAY! The email this morning says they'll be dropping more "20th anniversary surprises" next week starting with the RiotLand reveal on Monday. Guessing the map will be the same as it was last year but very curious to see if they change up some of the installations/features. I'm guessing they swap out the Quik Stop for something else but other than that... I dunno. But I'm guessing the stuff happening on the festival grounds is all they meant by "surprises."
my parked car got sideswiped in a hit & run yesterday... another hurdle in the ongoing "will he make it to riotfest" race, haha
So excited for Harrison Gordon. Kids from my hometown! I'm kind of feeling the same way about the Hold Steady. I'll be watching them anyway because I need to get a great spot for Rilo Kiley, but there are three albums I'd rather see live than Separation Sunday.
Those Q101 Lounge sets are really fun. I went to the Winona Fighter one earlier this year. Green Day there would be crazy.
In the NBC building downtown. They usually have a contest on the radio and/or on the website to get in.