In the absence of information, the human brain loves to fill-in the blanks. We're all assuming it'll be bands A, B, and C but in reality it'll probably be bands A, X, and Y. Hah. I'm mostly joking but you get the idea. Haha. Every year we all fall for the same shit when we're starved for information and start latching onto any ol' scrap. We've got a bunch of "possibly in play" artists and I think the only headliner I feel strongly as being on the bill is Tool. The rest are all coin-tosses.
New album rips, their free that weekend, and they seem to be touring hard this year. Would love to see both them and A Wilhelm Scream in the mix now that their tour is done.
PJ fans are actually pretty chill lol. When I saw PJ at Ohana two years back, everyone was super cool
I mean, that's an Eddie Vedder festival. I'd expect that. Not them coming into another genre's festival.
Seriously, they are crashing out when the lineup wouldn’t even be considered later than normal yet. Is it just filled with people that haven’t paid attention to when they announced their lineups in past years?
I think that's exactly it. Riot is big enough that they get the attention of "generic RaWk FeSt" attendees but they operate like an indie. So that Reddit seems to be a lot of folks who are "loud guitar festival" people who don't really pay much attention to the details of Riot beyond the line-up. On the flipside, there's also the people who still talk about Riot Fest like it's a pure punk rock festival which is equally confusing for different reasons. In reflecting on the Pearl Jam thing further... I'm less inclined to think they're in the cards. It'll be their first show with a new/different drummer and Ohana is a much "safer" spot for them to do that in then some random fest in Chicago they don't have history with. It would also make Ohana feel just a bit less special (even if it were announced later). I really want it to be Deftones, but I think the "heavier" headliner is going to be Tool. Tricky would work with Deftones too, or could be part of a fully different stage designation but... The connection between Tool and Massive Attack is notable. And I'm not sure they'd book two hard rock/metal headliners in a single year. If they do book MCR, I would imagine the crowd will be much more manageable this time around. They played Chicago just last year. I'm sure it would draw well but you wouldn't get the same level of intensity or overcrowding.
Ahh a Danger Days set intrigues may so much more than these Black Parade tours they've been doing. But still I would just anticipate it's a merch and vinyl drop lol
Definitely just a merch drop and vinyl. That album does not have the pull for an album play. EDIT: I enjoy it. But it wasn't the defining record that Black Parade was by any metric.
Tool might be out. The shirts they are selling at Sonic Temple this weekend only have three tour dates on the back which are Sonic Temple, Louder Than Life and Aftershock
The only thing I might counter this with is that those are all DWP festivals and I could see them making exclusive shirts. If Riot was in the mix it would be odd to have a single non-DWP fest in the mix. But still... No Tool makes the Deftones more likely. So LFG!
Be Your Own Pet is out, doing a 20 year tour for their self titled album (Yay!) that will take them to the west coast Riot Fest weekend (Boo!)
Since it seems like we’re not getting the lineup this week I’ll ask a general question to pass time. Does anyone else feel like Riot Fest in recent years has been losing magic of rare/reunion undercard acts? I feel like from 2013-2017ish that was a strength of the festival. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing big headliners and staple bands like The Wonder Years or Bad Religion. But I feel like we’re due for some bands that otherwise would not be playing shows. Some examples that I’d be stoked to see this year are Banner Pilot, The Hated, The Evens, Moss Icon, Man Overboard, the moldy peaches, Battery, You Blew It, Lifetime, Sleigh Bells & Coffee Project. Surely it’s within the budget to get 2 or 3 of those kinds of bands each year, right?
Absolutely, yes. I think there are a couple things that play into it. Dropping down to five stages leaves fewer slots on the schedule for that level of band, particularly in attractive time slots. Everyone you listed (maybe with the exception of Man Overboard who for sure goes on a bigger stage if they reunite) is a perfect late afternoon/evening Rebel Stage band. Some would even close that stage. But without that option, they're probably playing at 2:00 PM, and I can definitely see how that's not an attractive billing when they could headline Cobra Lounge or Beat Kitchen, play a longer set for their fans and probably get paid more. Which gets me to the other thing: Budget. As much as I love those bands, none of them likely move the ticket sales needle on their own. In aggregate, I think/assume they would, but as headliners get more expensive to book (that's the festival bubble and industry in general) Riot needs to spend more at the top and on sure bets rather than a smattering of small passion projects. The side effect of that, then, is that Riot isn't a major goal/destination for smaller/mid-tier bands, which also makes it harder to see a "home grown" band who plays the smaller stages and eventually works their way up to headliner level. This is all speculation from the outside, obviously (would love to hear an insider perspective if they would ever talk about it), but I do feel like they've lost the identity of the fest a little bit, though it's nothing compared to what seems to have happened to Furnace Fest.
I mostly agree with @troyplaysbass on this one. The loss of Rebel Stage puts bands of a certain size in a very odd position. Not necessarily with "reunions" but some "rare gets" in general that would be perfect on that stage. Basically any of the mid- to upper-tier bands Fest books that feel 'special' are ruled out for Riot unless they want to play at 2pm or earlier. The Impossibles, Audio Karate, the Stereo, Nerf Herder, the Gamits, Armchair Martian, and American Steel are all bands off the top of my head that would make sense for Riot aesthetically but are essentially "out" based on when they'd need to play on these bigger stages. And, TBH, I'm not even sure I'd want to take away those early slots from younger bands! That said, I actually think some of the acts @2ndImpact would do just fine in the current setting. Sleigh Bells, You Blew It!, the Evens, the Moldy Peaches, and Lifetime could surely all snag decent enough slots to warrant playing. Then there's the other side of things where you look at the general landscape and have to ask: "Who else is left to reunite?" The 'magic' around that feels lost in general across festivals. But yeah, in general, I think taking Rebel away means the undercard takes a hit. They still scrape together something cool and unique each year but it's definitely lacking a bit in what made it cool/special in the first place. I still remember Riot 2014 when there were two stages over in that area. I remember seeing CIV, Joyce Manor, and Teenage Bottlerocket in that area as the sun was setting. Nowadays, a band like CIV would be on at like 1pm.