Just saw Courtney Barnett at the Warm Love Cool Dreams festival at the Salt Shed (great show btw) and at the end of her set she said “I can’t wait to come back and do it all again soon.” Could just be talking about general next time, but I did take note of it since she’ll be in the states in September/at Ohana a week after Riot and also I feel like saying “soon” implies she has another show in Chicago on the books already.
That statement feels pretty neutral. But... Manifesting it! Courtney rules and I know you'd really like to see her on the bill. Haha.
I would like for there to be less repeats on the lineup. Like...Alkaline Trio, Morrissey, and even MCR on the lineup again just feels a bit lazy. Twenty One Pilots, Deftones, Tool, while all not really bands that excite me personally, would at least be new/different acts for the festival. When Gogol Bordello released their tour dates the other day, there was a discussion on Reddit about how this will be their fifth time playing Riot Fest, and questioning whether the festival should prioritize booking new acts instead of repeat booking certain acts numerous times. As someone who watched Gogol Bordello's set last time at the fest and enjoyed it, I can understand the criticism. That being said...the discussion then went into "new" rock bands out there and how there aren't THAT many "new" rock bands out there to book, at least in the upper undercard, which I am sure makes it difficult to not go back to some of the same acts that have been booked multiple times before (even Lolla and Pitchfork (when it was active) had their fair share of repeat acts in a short-ish time frame). So...I don't really know if there is a fix for this? Especially when you have to factor in who is on an album cycle or going to be when booking the lineup, who is touring in the fall, etc. I'm sure it limits the possibilities each year.
No idea what their hit rate is or reliability but wolverinekills on FB says the 4 bands they heard from ‘a source’ is rise against, social distortion, gojira, and Deftones as one of the headliners
WolverineKills is usually pretty good. Mostly because they don't rush to be "first" and really seem to hedge their bets. My understanding is that they just make educated guesses based on what the Internet is saying. And I'm sure they have some connections who do leak information. That said, these are mostly low-hanging fruit/safe guesses and the way it's framed (with the exception of Deftones where he says there's a specific "source") it could just be things he's read on the Internet... Rise Against and Social D feel like locks based on tour dates so this isn't necessarily new. Gojira isn't hotly discussed but they play LTL on Sunday and would pair nicely on the same stage as Deftones. So this all could happen. But I don't think it's because he necessarily knows a ton more than the rest of us.
Deftones aren’t playing LTL pretty sure your confusing them with tool. They play the same day as Gojira only us fest/us show deftones are on/have the rest of the year currently is sick new world in Texas in October
You're right. I'm tired and mixed them up. Which makes it even more likely it could be Deftones. Hah. Edited my post.
They did say it was their only US Crisis show, but I'm still feeling good about them playing the fest again potentially
Really hoping we get some sort of fun teaser/puzzle video tomorrow like they're wont to do. In the meantime... 30% off last year's merch before the inevitable 2026 drop:
Cute Is What We Aim For is "reuniting" (probably Shaant and some hired guns) for a fest in August. 20 Year set for Same Old Blood Rush is officially on the table for Riot
God that is a name I haven’t heard in a hot minute. My sister was super into that band when she/we were in high school
This is the first year that the speculation and locks have left me feeling lukewarm at best and cringing at worst. LOL We'll see what happens, but I'm feeling less hopeful than usual that it'll be for me. But I think it might wind up like 2024 where the line-up is actually pretty cool on-paper and will do really well but will just be nothing I'd travel for... Fingers crossed for a teaser tomorrow so we can start to really piece this together ahead of time! Haha.