I mean, what Riot Mike thinks is cool and important is very different than what other people might think is cool and important. Definitely not MoBo. But could see it being Operation Ivy, Sugar, or even the Sex Pistols thing. It’s also something that could have fallen apart and won’t ever get mentioned again. That said, he did say a few years back they had somebody once who wanted to do it who “booked years in advance” that I’m now convinced was Weird Al so who knows.
We'll know in about a month, I guess. If it's Sugar or another notable reunion he's bound to talk about how long they've been working on it in the press surrounding the line-up. Especially if it's something like Sugar (rather than OpIvy) they usually do some legwork to tell the younger folks "hey, you should care about this band!" If it's something that fell apart I'm sure he just won't ever mention it again. Haha.
I have a hunch that the (or at least a) big reunion was Twisted Sister, but it fell through due to Dee’s health issues. Or the reunion is a big legacy act no one thought would happen.
The tour will actually be back on. Sebastian Bach is taking Dee Snider’s place Sebastian Bach to Front Twisted Sister on Fall 2026 Tour
Agreed. But apparently Dee gave Sebastian and the band his blessing. So if he’s cool with it, then that’s alright
I highly doubt Riot Mike was like "fuck yes, Twisted Sister is gonna be so cool at Riot Fest two years from now!" That would be a novelty booking at best.
The Bob Mould 2016 thing is interesting. Thinking about this more, and reading hard into Mike's words I do wonder if it is Sugar. They have "cool guy" energy for people of a certain age and it's mostly driven by a single person that you'd need to do it. Whereas with Operation Ivy "he" wouldn't need to agree to it. "They" would need to agree to it. I know we're parsing words to a pathetic degree here but that's what Internet forums are for and you'd need both Tim and Jesse to agree to the OpIvy thing. So Tim saying he wants to do it honestly would mean nothing.
I kind of bought the theory that it was White Zombie, but if there was any traction on it happening this year, it seems to have fallen apart.
Mould’s also played Riot multiple times now, so I’d assume his relationship with them is good enough to warrant him saying “if it happens, we’ll do it with you guys”
Courtney love clarifying the Hole reunion rumor by saying that it’s just her and Melisa doing a tour together. So no longer headline material, but still possibly in play
Speaking of SNW, what about Korn? Would they be kind of a left-field booking, or would they fit in with Riot?
Probably best not to book Hole this year so the Sex Pistols don’t get Nancy flashbacks before their set. I know The Smiths are basically not an option, but there’s been a stupid amount of useless press over the past few months about The Smiths, Morrissey and/or Johnny Marr. I see no reason for the press at all and this is disregarding any press around Morrissey’s new release.
Hole performing Live Through This in full for their first performance back since...the 90s? (with all members) would be big enough to headline, IMHO.
They played Chicago two nights in a row last year. Doesn't rule them out but just based on how little they tour... Feels unlikely. Their main focus seems to be super scarce and blow it out when they show up somewhere. And FWIW, they did SNW in 2023 and 2024. In both cases they didn't do much else that year (nothing in 2023; 1 CA show in 2024). Definitely a left-field booking and kinda feels like they'd be more of a "replacement" act a la Slipknot than a bona fide headliner. I guess I could see it, though, especially with the right crop of support acts or if it were an album play. Korn with a hip-hop act or two plus some newer/younger hardcore or metal could work super well for the festival. I'd still say it's pretty unlikely but not impossible and wouldn't be all that weird compared to, say, Limp Bizkit. EDIT: Some artists that could work IMHO. Some are out because they played last year but you get the idea. Ice Cube, Cypress Hill, Knocked Loose, the Prodigy, Coheed & Cambria, Denzel Curry, AFI, Circa Survive, Atreyu, Poison the Well, Madball, Gridiron, Sunami, Drug Church, Underoath, Helmet, Story of the Year, Codefendants, End It. Any of these could work. I'll take it a step further and say that a Hole reunion in general is big enough. Hard to gauge what the demand for that would be if it were a full theater tour or something but if a Bikini Kill reunion and a regular ol' Smashing Pumpkins set is big enough to headline... Hole is 100% big enough to headline.
Didn’t Hole reunite in like 2010? I remember them doing 2 nights at a 3k venue here in NYC EDIT: Oh but maybe that wasn’t the full original lineup. Courtney and Melissa are the only ones I know
Rise against were added to warped tour. Playing dc and Mexico. Mexico is the weekend before riot so they will be active around riot. Also have an appearance at louder than life the Thursday of riot weekend
To the Chicago locals - does New Buffalo, MI count as a Chicago date? Not that far away, but is technically 2 states away, haha
No not to my knowledge. I think the farthest anything counts is Gary/portage. It is within the 90 miles tho so idk