Slayer, Blink-182, and Bikini Kill to headline Riot Fest’s massive 15th-anniversary show

Hold onto your mohawks guys, because Riot Fest’s 15th-anniversary show is going to be one for the books. On Wednesday (May 29), festival organizers unveiled the massive lineup for this year’s weekend-long event. Blink-182, the newly reunited Bikini Kill, The Raconteurs, Rise Against, The Flaming Lips, Jawbreaker, and Bloc Party are just some of the bands headlining the show.

Also getting a spot on the large print portion of the festival poster is Slayer. Their appearance at Riot Fest will be the iconic metal band’s final performance in Chicago (and Milwaukee).

Joining the already stacked lineup are Taking Back Sunday, Rancid, Descendents, Manchester Orchestra, Dashboard Confessionals, the B-52s, the Starting Line, Streetlight Manifesto, The Get Up Kids, Senses Fail, Less than Jake, Anti-Flag, Cursive, Save Ferris, Frank Iero and the Future Violents, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me, and a slew more.

As per Riot Fest tradition, many of the bands on the roster will perform some of their albums in full. Those acts include the Flaming Lips (Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots), WEEN (The Mollusk), Bloc Party (Silent Alarm), Taking Back Sunday (Tell All Your Friends and Louder Now), Dashboard Confessional (The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most), Against Me! (Reinventing Axl Rose and Transgender Dysphoria Blues), Glassjaw (Worship & Tribute), Senses Fail (Let it Enfold You and From the Depths of Dreams), and AVAIL will reunite to perform Over the James.

Tickets for Riot Fest 2019 are currently available for purchase on the festival’s website. Considering the colossal lineup, it may be wise to get your tickets as soon as possible instead of risking the event selling out.

Riot Fest returns to its home of Douglas Park in Chicago during the weekend of Sept. 13- 15. For more information about the lineup, tickets, or general inquiries, head on over to Riot Fest’s website.

Riot Fest Chicago and Denver lineups announced

The Riot Fest Twitter account is probably one of the funniest to read with the way they troll people who are always complaining about the lineup of the three incarnations. On Wednesday (May 18), festival organizers shut up the hater when they unveiled the first wave of bands for both the Chicago and Denver shows. Earlier this month, news broke that the original lineup of The Misfits would reunite, and perform, at Riot Fest Chicago. Now, it’s been confirmed that they will not only perform at both Chicago and Denver dates, but that they will be in good company.

Riot Fest Chicago will feature a slew of artists including: Morrissey; Ween; Social Distortion, who will be performing 1996’s White Light, White Heat, White Trash in full; Rob Zombie, who will be performing White Zombie’s final album, Astro-Creep: 2000; Death Cab For Cutie; Brand New; NAS; Deftones; Refused; Death Grips; the Descendents; The Specials; Chevy Metal aka Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins’ side-project; and Girls Against Boys.

But those are not all the groups making their way to Chi-town in mid-September. Acts like NOFX, Bad Religion, The Hives, Leftover Crack, Smoking Popes, Pepper, Big D & The Kids Table will also play Riot Fest Chicago. While Riot Fest has been boosting the Misfits reunion, the 2016 incarnation will feature other groups reuniting. Thursday will continue their handful of reunion shows, while Underoath announced earlier this year that they had reunited and would be releasing new music soon. The Daryl Palumbo-fronted Glassjaw reunited earlier this year to head out on tour with Coheed & Cambria and will now be heading to Chicago to continue. Set Your Goals and the Anniversary are also set to reunited during the weekend-long event. While some bands are making their grand return at Riot Fest, this marks the end of Motion City Soundtrack who revealed that they will head on one final tour before calling it a day later this year.

Like Chicago, Denver will feature a lot of the same bands like The Misfits, Ween, and Death Cab For Cutie. Unlike the original Riot Fest location, Denver will feature exclusive  performances from Sleater-Kinney, Jane’s Addiction who will perform Ritual De Lo Habitual, Wolf Parade, and Tyler the Creator.

As of now, festival organizers have confirmed that this is the first wave of acts, with many more to be announced soon. The complete list of performers for Both Riot Fest Chicago and Denver can be seen below.

Riot Fest Denver (aka Riot Fest & Rodeo) will invade the National Western Complex during the weekend of Sept. 2-4. Riot Fest Chicago will take place tow weeks late during the weekend of Sept. 16-18 at Douglas Park. Early bird tickets are currently available on the festival’s website.

Riot Fest Chicago Daily Schedule Posted

Riot Fest Chicago will not only be calling a new location home this September, but it will also be the same place that The Academy Is… will reunite after breaking up years ago. With less than a month until the original incarnation of the festival makes its debut at Douglas Park, festival organizers have unveiled the daily schedule for the weekend long show.

Check out the complete list below (our personal favorite day is Friday, but Saturday is a very close second).

FRIDAY:

SATURDAY:

SUNDAY:

Riot Fest Chicago (Riot Fest and Carnival) will make its debut at Douglas Park in Chicago during the weekend of Sept. 11-13.

Riot Fest Chicago 2015 Line-Up Unveiled

After revealing the line-up for the two other “spin-off” festivals the original made way for, how exactly do you follow that up?

By revealing the completely awesome line-up the original festival is going to have.

After giving fans the list of artists slated to make their way to Denver and/or Toronto (while also keeping some names secret), Riot Fest have released the names of those who will be taking a trip to the birthplace of the festival at their new stomping ground, Douglas Park, Chicago during the weekend of Sept. 11-13.

Much like the others, Riot Fest Chicago will feature performances from Tenacious D, Iggy Pop, Motörhead, Alexisonfire, Alkaline Trio, and many more.

What makes this line-up so different (at least for now) are the artists that will be performing their full albums during their sets(kind of like last year).

Snoop Dogg will perform Doggystyle, Ice Cube & Guests will perform Straight Outta Compton, Rancid will perform … And Out Come The Wolves, The Dwarves will perform Blood Guts and Pussy, while hometown boys The Academy is…will reunite after four years to perform Almost Here.

Check out the line-up below.

Riot Fest Chicago to Move Locations, Announce Line-Up

Sayonora Humboldt Park and hello Douglas Park!

Weeks after Alderman Roberto Maldonado opposed the return of Riot Fest Chicago to their home of a few years, Humboldt Park, the multi-day festival has formally announced that it has moved to a new location this year.

But don’t think festival organizers who are one heck of a vocal bunch are holding back over their distaste of the situation.

Instead of letting the Alderman have the final say, Michael Petryshyn and Sean McKeough decided it would be better to move the festival to another location instead of being used as a “pawn.”

“Recently, as evidenced in the media, there were those who attempted to divide the Humboldt Park community with unfair and unjust tactics that in no way represent the overwhelming majority of the 26th Ward residents and businesses. And while Riot Fest supporters stressed that without question, Riot Fest has done nothing short of showing their unparalleled devotion to the city and the neighborhood they called home, Riot Fest partners, Michael Petryshyn and Sean McKeough made the ethical decision not to allow the festival to be used as a pawn and removed Riot Fest from the conversation regarding the ever-changing face of Humboldt Park.”

In their statement, they even revealed that they thought about moving the festival out Chicago all together. Quite a blow to the city when you realize over 160,000 people attended the 2014 edition of the festival.

After surveying all the options, the partners decided to move Riot Fest ten minutes from Humboldt Park to Douglas Park.

“After looking into a nearly dozen options on the table, which included leaving the city limits altogether, Mike and Sean chose Douglas Park as Riot Fest’s new home because of the beauty of the park, it’s proximity to public transportation, the accessibility for fans, the diversity of the neighborhood and the overwhelming feeling that they were welcomed and wanted.”

Apparently, the welcoming feeling was mutual.

Unlike the 26th Ward Alderman, 12th Ward Alderman George Cardenas seemed to be pleased to welcome the festival to his neighborhood with open arms.

“From Woodstock to Riot Fest it’s about unity and creating a positive community,” said Ald. Cardenas.

“It’s as American pie as you can get.  We are excited that Riot Fest has honored us by selecting Douglas Park as its new home.  More importantly, the community is thrilled to say ‘welcome’ to the over 150,000 fans, artists and staff that make Riot Fest possible.  We look forward to working with Riot Fest, Mike and Sean, and we welcome the economic impact Riot Fest brings to the community.”

But the new location isn’t the only piece of information Petryshyn and McKeough have given fans of the festival. Turns out, the line-ups for all three Riot Fests (Chicago, Denver, and Toronto) will be revealed next week.

No official date have been given for the reveals, so we’re just going to suggest that you keep an eye on their Twitter account all next week.

Riot Fest Chicago will take place during the weekend of Sept. 11-13.

Riot Fest Fire Back at Alderman Opposed to Humboldt Park Return

Drama is a-brewin’ in Riot Fest’s hometown of Chicago.

Earlier this week, and alderman spoke to the Chicago Tribune and told the publication that he opposed the return of Riot Fest to Humboldt Park due to “the mess they left at the park last year.”

“I am exceptionally disappointed at the Riot Fest organizers for the mess they left at the park last year and their shallow and hollow promises to restore the park,” Ald. Roberto Maldonado said.

“I don’t support them coming back.”

He followed that up by claiming that three-day festival had cut off public access to baseball diamonds and the Humboldt Park field house both before and after the event.

But for anyone who is familiar with Riot Fest and their Twitter account, it should not come as a surprise that founder Michael Petryshyn has come to defense of his festival by releasing a statement of his own about Maldonado’s opposition considering the alderman was supportive of the festival in the past.

“Due to the economic benefits Riot Fest brings to many 26th Ward businesses, the hundreds of thousands of dollars Riot Fest has donated to ward charities, our support in his reelection, and more importantly, job creation in a ward that has sorely lacked new job development, the Alderman and Riot Fest have been on the same page in shining a positive light on our culturally rich and magnetic neighborhood,” Petryshyn said.

Petryshyn also points out that some of the blame for the damage to the park rests on Maldonado’s shoulders since it was he who decided to add the low-lying parts of the park to the festival’s footprints.

“We must all be reminded that it was Ald. Maldonado’s direction and his final decision to change the footprint in 2014 to encompass low-lying parts of the park that we neither wanted, planned or needed during a July, 2014 meeting” Petryshyn added.

Following a torrential downpour that occurred on opening night last year, Humboldt Park became a mushy mess resulting in a lot of damage. At the end, the damage was originally estimated to be about $182,000, though recent reports claim it came in at $150,000; about triple what the festival paid in 2013.

The repairs that needed to be done to the ground included: grading, reseeding, adding topsoil, and soil aeration.

But unlike Maldonado and his opposition, Chicago Park District spokesperson Jessica Maxey-Faulkner said that the follow-up repairs to Humboldt Park are no different from what happens every year after Lollapalooza in Grant Park. To no one’s surprise, no one is trying to kick Lollapalooza out of their home.

Even thought the Park District has reportedly not issued a permit for this year’s Riot Fest, the festival’s official website has Humboldt Park.

Pre-sale tickets for the Chicago edition of the festival, which is scheduled to take place during the weekend of Sept. 11-13, are currently available.

Riot Fest Announce 2015 Dates for All Three Locations

It feels like just yesterday, we were reading (and writing) about all the money the city of Chicago was going to need to spend to clean up all the damage that Riot Fest Chicago caused at Humboldt Park because of Mother Nature and her bad timing.

Whether or not the festival owed Chicago almost $200,000 in damages is now in the past because festival organizers have revealed the official dates for each of the three festivals, though as of now, there has been no official venue reveal for any of the three cities.

Riot Fest Denver will be the first to happen during the weekend of Aug. 28-30. After that, the original Riot Fest location, Chicago, will have its turn during the weekend of Sept. 11-13. Riot Fest Denver rounds out the almost month-long celebration of all things good music during the weekend of Sept. 19-20.

Tickets for all three festivals are currently available on Riot Fest’s website. Back in November, they allowed fans the change to get “Holiday pre-sales” with prices starting at $89.95.

As of now, like we mentioned before, no official venues have been given and as for the artists, we’re sure they aren’t going to start announcing those for several months. In defense of the festival organizers, last year’s line-ups were INSANE.

Riot Fest to Sell Holiday Pre-Sale Passes for 2015

Not sure what to get a loved one for Christmas this year?

Are they a fan of good music and going to concerts/festivals? Well, look no further than tickets for next year’s Riot Fest in Chicago!

The annual festival has announced plans to give fans the chance to purchase tickets way ahead of time with a “Holiday pre-sale.”

Yes, we know what you’re all thinking, “didn’t Riot Fest just happen like three months ago?”

The answer to that question is yes, but like with all festivals that will most likely having a great line-up, tickets prices will go up and/or ticket will be sold out in no time.

In order to prevent that from happening, Riot Fest will sell pre-sale three-day passes for the concert which is slated to take place during the weekend of Sept. 11-13, 2015.

Pre-sales will begin tomorrow at 10 a.m. CST on their website, RiotFest.org. More information can be seen over there or on their cool vintage old school magazine flyer below.

Riot Fest and Lollapalooza Charged with Chicago Parks’ Damage

We all love going to music festivals and u get upset when the price of tickets are so much that we’re literally “working for the weekend.”

Turns out, things aren’t that great either for those who actually throw the concert, especially when the rainy season decides to hit during a show.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Riot Fest now owes an estimated $182,000 for repairs needed to be done to Humboldt Park  after Riot Fest Chicago and the torrential downpour that occurred on opening night. In a shock that the festival probably did not expect, the price of the repairs for 2014 are nearly triple what they paid for 2013; $54,300.

Check out an excerpt from the Tribune’s story.

Rain also moved in just in time for Riot Fest in September, leaving Humboldt Park a mushy mess. Repairs there are in progress, park district spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faulkner said.

As a result, some stretches where grass seed was put down remain fenced off but should be ready for the public in the spring, according to the park district.

Park officials estimated landscape repairs to Humboldt Park would cost Riot Fest organizers $182,000, more than triple the estimated $54,300 spent on grounds repairs last year.

But Riot Fest aren’t the only ones getting this treatment from those who run Humboldt Park. The Tribune are also claiming that $260,544 worth of damage was done to Grant Park during 2014′s Lollapalooza. In total, the amount of money owed for both parks ended up at a whopping $442,544.

Guess Lollapalooza and Riot Fest are going to hope that the weather gods are little more friendly for 2015.

Senses Fail Announce Big News at Riot Fest Chicago

Senses Fail will be returning with a new album, an announcement the band made during their set at this past weekend’s Riot Fest.

Also announced? The new that the band have now joined the Pure Noise Records’ family for their new album.

According to a representative for the New Jersey-based band, they will be entering the studio this November to record their sixth studio record; the follow-up to 2013’s Renancer.

As of now, the upcoming album is slated for a Summer 2015 release, but there’s always a chance that the tentative release date might change in the near future.

Senses Fail are currently on tour with No Bragging Rights and Knuckle Puck for the 10th anniversary of their debut and breakout record, Let it Enfold You. The tour will begin tomorrow (Sept. 16) in Boston at the Paradise Rock Club and travel to selected town across North America before wrapping up on Oct. 3 at The Glass House in Pomona, CA.

Upcoming tour dates for the Let it Enfold You 10th Anniversary tour can be seen below.

LET IT ENFOLD YOU 10th ANNIVERSARY TOUR DATES:

9/16 – Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA
9/17 – Marlin Room in Webster Hall – New York, NY
9/18 – Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY
9/19 – The Trocadero – Philadelphia, PA
9/20 – Starland Ballroom – Sayreville, NJ
9/21 – Ottobar – Baltimore, MD
9/23 – Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC
9/24 – Underbelly – Jacksonville, FL
9/25 – The Social – Orlando, FL
9/27 – Walter’s – Houston, TX
9/28 – Index Fest – Dallas, TX
9/29 – Red 7 – Austin, TX
10/1 – Launchpad – Albuquerque, NM
10/2 – Club Red – Tempe, AZ
10/3 – The Glass House – Pomona, CA