Riot Fest Chicago 2015 Day Lineups Available
The day lineup for Riot Fest Chicago 2015 is now available! You can find out which artists are playing on which day so you can begin to tentatively prepare your schedules. In addition, Riot Fest will be releasing single day passes, VIP passes, and 2-day passes on Thursday, July 23rd at 10am CT here. In addition, Groupon is currently running a special pre-sale on single day passes for $69.98 here.
Check out the day lineups below!
FRIDAY
No Doubt, Faith No More, Motörhead, Ice Cube & Special Guests (performing Straight Outta Compton Remix), Alkaline Trio, Coheed and Cambria, Flogging Molly, Slightly Stoopid, Thrice, Dirty Heads, Anthrax, Eagles of Death Metal, Against Me!, Bayside, MEST, Atreyu, Lee Scratch Perry, The Expendables, Living Colour, Fishbone, Death, Mariachi El Bronx, Civ, Every Time I Die, Real Friends, 88 Fingers Louie, Mustard Plug, Into It. Over It., Post Malone with FKI, Chef’Special, Marmozets, Barb Wire Dolls, The Coathangers, Prayers, Speedy Ortiz, White Mystery, Main Attrakionz, Ground Up, Skinny Lister, Alex Wiley, Heems, Psalm One, Dreamers, Faulkner
SATURDAY
System of a Down, Iggy Pop, Rancid (performing …And Out Come The Wolves), Billy Idol, Taking Back Sunday, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Drive Like Jehu, Merle Haggard, Alexisonfire, The Academy Is… (performing Almost Here), The Lawrence Arms, Echo & the Bunnymen, Bootsy Collins’ Rubber Band, The Damned, Pennywise, The Devil Wears Prada, Mayday Parade, Babes in Toyland, Desaparecidos, The Joy Formidable, The Dead Milkmen, FIDLAR, Millencolin, American Nightmare, Swervedriver, GWAR, Lifetime, Joyce Manor, The Movielife, Steve Ignorant and Paranoid Visions, The Dear Hunter, The Ataris, Modern Life Is War (performing Witness), Fit For Rivals, Flatfoot 56, Teenage Bottlerocket, Chon, Counterpunch, Direct Hit!, Dirty Fences, Sleep On It, The Brokedowns, Meat Wave, Elway, Indian Handcrafts, PEARS, Gateway Drugs, Clowns
SUNDAY
Modest Mouse, The Prodigy, Snoop Dogg (performing Doggystyle), Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, Tenacious D, L7, Stephen “Ragga” Marley, Kongos, Cypress Hill, Yelawolf, The Airborne Toxic Event, Manchester Orchestra, De La Soul, Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness, New Politics, Jimmy Cliff, Andrew W.K., Less Than Jake, The Thurston Moore Band, Morgan Heritage, Doomtree, Hum, Tarrus Riley, The Dwarves, Tommy Stinson, Kevin Devine, Jo Mersa, Alvvays, The White Buffalo, Black-Am-I, Skip Marley, Knuckle Puck, Jazz Cartier, Have Mercy, Superheaven, Foxing, Beach Slang, Cayetana, Blis, Northern Faces, Souvenirs, Skating Polly, Signals Midwest, Modern Chemistry, Tasha The Amazon, Foxtrott, Twin River, Indian School
Midwest Ska Fest 2015 Returning to Double Door on August 8th
Get your three-piece suits ready - ska's coming back to Chicago, and in a very big way. Midwest Ska Fest is returning to the Double Door on August 8th for its third annual flagship show. The day-long event will feature eleven amazing ska bands from the Midwest alongside a special headliner coming in from Tennessee to prove that ska isn't dead, but very much alive and skanking in Chicago.
Midwest Ska Fest has previously revealed Bumsy and the Moochers, Evil Empire, Beat the Smart Kids, Ska's the Limit, The Circle City Deacons, Run and Punch, Fairhaven, Bootsmoke Rhythm, On Your Marx, Tone Zone Skam, and Something to Do for the lineup, but we are glad to announce that the Soul Radics will be making their way up from Tennessee to grace the stage. The festival will also be presented in conjunction with Jump Up Records and Dark Matter Coffee to commemorate their specially-made new brew, the Pressure Drip!
There will also be 21+ only after party immediately following the end of Midwest Ska Fest 2015 held in Double Door's Door No. 3 in conjunction with Simmer Down Sound featuring Akasha.
As an official sponsor of Midwest Ska Fest 2015, Ruby Hornet will be your source for all things Midwest Ska Fest. Trust me, we have a ton of surprises to reveal over the upcoming weeks. Whether your leanings are towards reggae, 2-Tone, trad, or ska/punk, Midwest Ska Fest 2015 will have you covered. Tickets are now on sale for $12!
Take a listen to all of this year's bands below!
Bumsy and the Moochers
[youtube id="1BdyhyhH93I"]
Evil Empire
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Beat the Smart Kids
Ska's the Limit
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The Circle City Deacons
Run and Punch
Fairhaven
[youtube id="2knJh8fe-Kk"]
Bootsmoke Rhythm
On Your Marx
Tone Zone Skam
Something To Do
Soul Radics
[youtube id="xP4gZc33D7A"]
Riot Fest 2015 Lineups Revealed
It's been a busy month for Riot Fest organizers as they went from facing problems with Humboldt Park to being named USA Today's top summer music festival to eventually relocating to Douglas Park for their flagship Chicago festival. Finally, after incessant badgering on Twitter, the first wave of the Riot Fest 2015 lineup has been revealed. Some of the announced headliners are a bit surprising, considering the festival's typical M.O. However, it just further illustrates how large and popular the festival has grown over the past few years.
Riot Fest Chicago highlights include a few bands performing full albums like Rancid playing ...And Out Come the Wolves, Snoop Dogg playing Doggystyle, Ice Cube (and guests) performing NWA's Straight Outta Compton, The Academy Is... performing Almost Here, and The Dwarves performing Blood Guts and Pussy. Other musical highlights include No Doubt, Tenacious D, Modest Mouse, Motorhead, Less Than Jake, Modern Life is War, Lifetime, Cypress Hill, and local acts like Alex Wiley, Into It. Over it., and Psalm One.
Riot Fest Toronto highlights include Alexisonfire, Wu-Tang Clan, Tyler, the Creator, and Coheed and Cambria.
Riot Fest Denver highlights include Modest Mouse, Iggy Pop, Flogging Molly, Alkaline Trio, and Pixies.
Pre-sale tickets are already sold out, but you can still find 3-day passes for Chicago, Denver, and Toronto.
Riot Fest Chicago is Moving to Douglas Park
The dust has settled and the official verdict is in: Riot Fest is saying goodbye to Humboldt Park and hello to Douglas Park.
Mike Petryshyn, co-founder of the recently named Best Music Festival in the US, released a statement about the festival's move to North Lawndale:
In my very first meeting with Alderman Cardenas, I was happy that we were discussing logistical details and how we could enrich the community. Quite frankly, I was silently ecstatic. He gets it and it was genuine. Our goal has always been to leave a positive impact in the community we call home by helping local independent businesses, hiring ward residents and making an impact year-round. We did that in our previous home and plan to do the same — if not more — in the community surrounding Douglas Park and the 12th Ward.
As soon as we started discussing community, it was refreshing to see George get up from his desk and start pointing on the ward map to the local businesses we need to meet and have a formal introduction. He was excited and so was I. To have an an elected official see clearly how we can bring good things is humbling. To be appreciated for who we are—as people running an indie company and a festival—by the him and all of the supporters has been inspiring.
The strife between Riot Fest organizers and Alderman Maldonado of the 26th Ward (where Humboldt Park is located) has been well-noted since last year's festival that left the park with thousands of dollars in damages. And while the festival is committed to repairing the park, Maldonado and other Humboldt Park residents were vocal with their opposition to the festival's return despite overwhelming support that resulted in over 8,000 signatures (ours included) to keep the festival in Humboldt.
Riot Fest also announced the lineup for this year's festival will be released next week, ensuring a busy Riot Fest-related news month ends on a high note.
You can read the festival's official announcement here.
USA Today and 10Best Name Riot Fest Best Music Festival
This post was originally published by our affiliate site, Chicago Music.
Riot Fest has consistently been Chicago's best music festival for the past few years, and finally, the festival has been recognized for doing so. USA Today and 10Best have named Riot Fest the country's Best Music Festival as voted by fans, beating out other festivals like Electric Forest Festival and Bonnaroo. Notable music festivals like Chicago's Lollapalooza and Pitchfork Music Festival, Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest, Austin City Limits, and SXSW, and California's Coachella didn't make the Top 10.
The accolades come at an uncomfortable time for Riot Fest organizers as they are currently facing some backlash from some Humboldt Park residents and Ald. Roberto Maldonado over the damage caused to the park from last year's festival. A change.org petition was recently started to keep the festival at Humboldt Park, but it appears that it's been taken down. Nevertheless, despite any opposition, Riot Fest has plenty of support. Being named the country's best music festival goes to show just how much the festival and its organization have grown over the past 10 years. Here's to 10 more!
[via 10Best]
[RH Photos] Midwest Ska Festival 2014 at Double Door (8/23/2014)
Photos by Geoff Henao. This post was originally published by our affiliates at Chicago Music.
Chicago music isn't just hip hop. For years, ska used to play a huge role in the city's independent scene, especially during the early '00s, coinciding with my high school tenure. Every month, my friends and I would either throw shows at our friend's Mom's gallery in Pilsen (props to Miss Tirabassi and the Humility Gallery) or attend a show somewhere in the city. National bands like Big D and the Kids Table, Mustard Plug, and Streetlight Manifesto would be big draws, but we were also very active in the local scene, thanks to Chicago ska bands like Random Outburst, Not Too Good, Deal's Gone Bad, and more. As I grew older, ska didn't captivate me the way it used to, but it stuck with a handful of my friends in Random Outburst.
Since that band's breakup, two pivotal ska bands arose from its ashes: The Judgementals and Run and Punch. For the past three years, Run and Punch has been making a name for itself across the Midwest ska scene, culminating in the biggest step for the band's relatively short existence to date: curating and running a day-long festival dedicated to ska: Midwest Ska Festival 2014. While the majority of the bands come from the Chicagoland area, other bands from the Midwest also played the festival, including Omaha's The Bishops, Milwaukee's Something To Do, and Indiana's Green Room Rockers.
From the Latin reggae of Los Vicios de Papa to The Crombies' 2-tone influenced jams, there was something for everybody in attendance Saturday night, with attendees skanking, moshing, dancing, and even crowdsurfing to the music. Check out some of my photos from the night below; for more photos, take a trip to my personal Flickr page.
Midwest Ska Fest 2014 Information + Sampler
You know what I love? Well thought-out DIY musical ventures, and that is exactly what Midwest Ska Fest 2014 is. Operating in its second year (though formerly known as Summer Ska Fest last year), the festival is an appreciation of independent ska, reggae, 2-tone, and dub bands and artists throughout the Midwest and will be taking place at the Double Door on Saturday, August 23rd. Tickets are on sale here.
This year's lineup features Chicago bands The Crombies, On Your Marx, Los Vicios de Papa, and Malafacha alongside Ohama's The Bishops, Milwaukee's Something to Do, and Northwest Indiana's Green Room Rockers with special guest Matt Wixson and a DJ set by legendary ska DJ, Chuck Wren. To help commemorate the festival, a Midwest Ska Fest 2014 Sampler has been created to help familiarize potential attendees with the bands' music. You can find the sampler below.
We'll be attending Midwest Ska Fest 2014, so you can expect more from these bands full of "hep" cats, hephephephep. Ska puns!