Riot Fest has always been the festival I hear praised but I had never been able to attend. After seeing the massive lineup earlier in 2023, I was impressed with the number of bands and range in style that Riot Fest boasted for 2023. It’s not a typical rock and metal festival or the overblown Coachella or Lollapalooza. Riot Fest 2023 felt different with a varied lineup. September in Chicago seemed like a good goal for a festival experience.
After working with the great marketing team at Riot Fest, I was able to help advertise the festival in a unique format: Anti-PSAs. These are all based on real events I’ve seen before in past festivals and I wanted to illustrate what behavior should and should not be allowed at Riot Fest. To my huge shock, they showed these Anti-PSAs on the main stage big screens. It was crazy to see my giant head on the big screens telling people to not make out in port-a-potties or mosh while pregnant.
Below you will find a brief breakdown of each band I was able to see each of the three days, along with a video short of footage. It’s my first Riot Fest and I wanted to document the experience.
Day One | September 15th, 2023
Foo Fighters headlined Day One on the Riot Stage. Every song was extended by at least one minute to turn hits like “The Pretender” and “Learn To Fly” into jam sessions. The massive group in Chicago made it almost impossible to get through as all attention was on Dave Grohl and company. It adds to that peaceful feeling that while conflicting with the word “Riot”, still seems to fit as a proper closing to Day One.
Turnstile has become a big deal. The effects of Glow On and what the band is doing for hardcore has refreshed heavy music in a brighter way, and that brightness was seen in Chicago. It’s wild to see how much has come from the East Coast group in just a few years. It’s an infectious sound that sticks with you and everyone on stage provided something fun for Friday night. The Taco Bell commercial success is still doing wonders.
My first time shooting The Interrupters live. I had been to several festivals in the past that featured the group but was never able to be up close. In the same realm of brightness as Turnstile but with a different sound, The Interrupters reminded me that ska and upbeat music still has their place in 2023. There is music that you can dance to and still can feature riffs and drum fills. The afternoon turned into a dance party.
After more than six years since seeing Code Orange live for the first time (also in Chicago), I was able to see the group up close and get better photos than my previous work. The band highlighted new songs including material from the past few years off of Underneath as well as songs from the upcoming album The Above. I was also able to speak with Jami about the new self-produced album and the central theme of their work aligns with what Code Orange has tried to do for years, make something different than boring, standard-format rock.
Riot Fest featured many emo band revivals and Hawthorne Heights was celebrating 20 years of being a name in emo music. JT Woodruff spoke about how this was something for parents with a bit of grey now being able to relive a time when emo music was a big deal. When MySpace Top 5’s and downloading music off of Limewire was the lifestyle. Friday afternoon was the perfect moment to relive nostalgia from the 2000s.
My Day One experience started with The Bobby Lees. We had played a couple of songs from the newer group on our New Music Nights and when I went to check out the group, it started with the drummer stripping to his undies and rolling around on the stage. The music had punch to it and with no flash or stage production, The Bobby Lees left an impression.
Day Two | September 16th, 2023
I feel that PUP represented the spirit of Riot Fest 2023 well. A punk band that sings about personal life through cynicism but is joyful through the process. The fans watching PUP sang along to the self-loathing. The Canadian export has a wholesomeness to their presentation no matter how bleak the content matter gets and I love it. So did the crowd that afternoon.
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Pennywise closed out the Rise Stage and they were the perfect band to wave the more traditional punk banner at the close of Saturday. Early in the set, Jim Lindberg complimented the good-looking photographers in the crowd and asked for a camera to take photos from the stage. After receiving one from a photographer, the entire photo pit agreed that Pennywise was the best band of the entire weekend.
Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls was a great addition to an overcast afternoon. It has been seven years since I last saw Frank Turner live and as I’ve kept up with Turner over the years, it seems like the man has a reinvigorated sense of expression in his performance. Chicago got some good singalongs with Turner as well as crowd surfers as his energy is truly contagious.
This was my first experience with Enter Shikari. After speaking with them briefly backstage and seeing their performance, I appreciated just how much effort Enter Shikari has put in for more than 20 years. Hearing songs from Nothing Is True… and A Kiss For The Whole World helped me acknowledge how the band continues to evolve and experiment with writing. The crowd at the barricade was losing their minds for ES.
As a recommendation, I was told to check out 100 Gecs who are currently promoting their latest work 10,000 Gecs. The duo came out in purple and yellow outfits but took them off after one song. It was a no-production performance that a massive crowd of teenage ladies were losing their minds to at the Radical Stage. There was a simplicity to this show and it’s no-frills performance while still having a lot of energy.
My Saturday opened with Corey Feldman. That’s a statement I never thought I would say. The crowd was truly huge with thousands waiting for Feldman to perform on the Rebel Stage. Whether it was a forced chant from the backing band of “Here he comes, the Comeback King”, Feldman demanding everyone start over on the same beat, or Feldman saying that cool stuff was being shown on the inflatable screen on stage but couldn’t be seen due to it being broad daylight, it was clear this was a hypnotic show. I truly could not turn away from this. Regardless of technical difficulties, Feldman is still the Comeback King.
My Saturday started with Corey Feldman and ended with Insane Clow Posse. I was familiar enough with ICP to know what to expect: a Faygo shower and rabid Juggalos. I stood in front of a speaker cab and protected my camera from the soda bombs while the group of foul-mouthed clowns sang songs about why the Rebel Flag is awful. The message, though physically messy, was a good one.
Day Three | September 17th, 2023
Seeing and shooting The Cure at the end of Day Three was an honor. The stage setup was fantastic and Robert Smith seemed to truly be captured by the large audience and appreciate how many were there in Chicago. After watching from the crowd I turned around and even saw the skaters from the half-pipe had stopped to watch and listen to The Cure. “Lovesong” still has that effect on everyone decades after release. This was probably my favorite set from the entire festival weekend.
Over 20 years of AFI and Davey Havok seems to have a renewed sense of presence. His appearance on Sunday was something new that I was unfamiliar with and the crowd at the Roots Stage ate it up. This great set featured a lot of the material over AFI’s long career. Riot Fest 2023 featured many emo bands from the past few decades and I think having AFI on one of the main stages was a smart choice. They definitely made a performance worthy of it.
It’s been one year since L.S. Dunes formed, featuring members of My Chemical Romance, Circa Survive, Coheed & Cambria, and Thursday. As the band has new music still coming out, Anthony Greene told the crowd that it’s hard to tell people how they are a REAL band and not just a side project. The music is solid and I think L.S. Dunes has more than enough potential through music alone, even outside of being a supergroup formed from other successful bands.
Overall Thoughts:
Riot Fest 2023 may have been the most well-organized festival I have ever been to. Stages and set times were held to the best of every stage’s ability. The grounds were taken care of even after the heavy rain on Sunday morning. There were trash and recycling bins that were checked to make sure nothing was overflowing into the crowd. The stages were all placed to reduce performance sound from carrying over from one stage to another.
There are some issues seen at Riot Fest that are common with other festivals such as food vendor price-gouging and the stalled ride-share situation after the event. The vendor prices and Chicago traffic are not factors that Riot Fest management has control over and can’t be held accountable for that as most festivals in the US deal with these issues.
Even with the rain delay and mud for Day Three, Riot Fest 2023 was great. From beginning to end, this was a festival made for people to enjoy and it did not feel like a raucous metal fest. This was something young families as well as the metal-loving crowd could enjoy. As far as riots go, this was the most pleasant riot ever.
If it isn’t obvious, I would return to Riot Fest in a heartbeat.
