Riot Fest

[RH Photos] Riot Fest Day 1 Recap

Since the first wave of artists were revealed for this year’s Riot Fest, I knew it was going to be a special affair. With a list of bands consisting of teenage influences to early adult infatuations, Riot Fest 2013 was going to mark my first visit to the Humboldt Park festival in seven years. Many changes to the festival have changed since 2006, such as the inclusion of non-punk rock acts and the move from the Congress Theater to the Humboldt Park grounds. One thing hasn’t changed, though: the promoters’ commitment to bringing together both legendary and up-and-coming bands that appeal to everybody from suburban mall punks to former, middle-aged crust punks.

My weekend began with Dessa of Minneapolis’ Doomtree fame. As the lone hip hop act on my personal lineup, Dessa's set kind of represented a transition from the shows I've been covering for the past year into the types of shows I spent my teenage and early adult years attending. Dessa's set featured a mix of her both rapping and singing, bringing some extra variety and musicianship to her set. At one point, Dessa made the five-foot drop from the stage to the photo pit to get just that much closer to her fans lining the metal barricade.

Next up was Mr. Party himself, Andrew W.K. Like I mentioned in our Riot Fest Preview, I’m not all that familiar with AWK outside of his positive promotion of partying. Sure enough, his set consisted of mostly songs focused on partying. Clad in his now standard all white-ensemble, AWK came out with high energy with a full band and a female backup singer who was just as energetic and fierce as AWK himself. Andrew W.K.’s music isn’t necessarily my cup of tea, but his stage presence made up for the repetitive song themes as he alternated between front stage power stances to mid-stage keys playing.

Speaking of power stances, Screeching Weasel was my third act of the night. Led by long-time front man Ben Weasel, the formerly suburban Chicago band ran the gamut of their near-thirty year backlog of songs. Their set comes with an asterisk, however, as Ben Weasel is the only original member still in the band, falling in line with the ethos of another Chicagoland band, Smashing Pumpkins, where the name and legacy runs through the singer/front man as opposed to the band as a whole. Nevertheless, it was a bucket list check-off to sing along to songs like “Dingbat” and “Hey Suburbia” while Weasel posed in Henry Rollins-esque power stances. No girls were punched during their set, either.

Immediately following was the satirical heavy metal band, GWAR. I went into their set with a clean slate outside of a passing knowledge of their music and live stage antics. Sure enough, fellow photographers lining up to enter the photo pit came prepared with ponchos and camera sleeves for protection from the band’s iconic blood gushing and outlandish science-fiction/horror costumes (highlighted mostly by lead singer Oderus Urungus' codpiece). GWAR's set was a mix of songs and theatrics as they had male slaves roaming the stage, priests' heads split apart, and shit-encrusted assholes penetrated and gushing blood over the front row of revelers.

Finally, I ended my Day 1 with a last-minute decision to check out Sublime with Rome. Running counter to the aforementioned Screeching Weasel, Sublime with Rome features original Sublime bassist, Eric Wilson, and drummer Josh Freese (who replaced original Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh in 2011) with vocalist Rome Ramirez filling in the role of departed singer/guitarist, Bradley Nowell. My relationship with Sublime is conflicting, as their music represented an amalgamation of hip hop and third-wave ska, but also a watered down representation of actual ska filtered through to frat bros and suburban mall punks that would talk down formal ska bands, but praise Sublime. Nevertheless, I can't deny my younger self's love of Sublime. To watch Sublime with Rome, however, left me with mixed emotions. On one hand, it's great to see and hear classic Sublime songs live; at the same time, Rome brought little different to the equation other than the minimally different guitar lick or vocal intonation. Simply put, watching Sublime with Rome was like watching a Sublime karaoke set, albeit with capable musicians.

My photos of the aforementioned bands can be seen below. A full set of photos from Riot Fest Day 1 can be found on my Flickr, as well.

by Geoff Henao