2014 Riot Fest Compilation

Unfortunately, I am unable to make it to Riot Fest this year.  The reality is that I lost interest when it became a circus and 25,000 people started showing up and crowding my space.  I like to see my bands in an intimate venue.  I don't like being a block away from the stage.

Anyway, while those 25k are in the rain watching the bands tonight, I am sitting at home drinking a beer and listening to some tunes by some of the bands that are playing there this weekend.  Here are two discs to entertain you too.

Disc One:
01 Victory - Built to Last
02 Descendents - Myage
03 Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device
04 Bouncing Souls - The Gold Song
05 Rise Against - Heaven Knows
06 All - Million Bucks
07 Offspring - Bad Habit
08 Anti-Flag - Drink Drank Punk
09 Cure - Grinding Halt
10 Face to Face - AOK
11 NOFX - The Brews
12 Social Distortion - Far Behind
13 Naked Raygun - New Dreams
14 Only Crime - Take Me
15 7 Seconds - Young Til I Die
16 Buzzcocks - Oh Shit!
17 Dropkick Murphys - Dirty Water
18 Cock Sparrer - England Belongs To Me
19 Bad Religion - Give You Nothing
20 Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Mr. Moran

Disc Two:
01 New Found Glory - Better Off Dead
02 Jane's Addiction - Stop!
03 Motion City Soundtrack - When You're Around
04 Slayer - Reign in Blood
05 Senses Fail - Calling All Cars
06 Lucero - I Don't Wanna Be the One
07 Cerebral Ballzy - Don't Tell Me What To Do
08 Ex Friends - Model Minority
09 Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me
10 Samhain - He Who Can Not Be Named
11 Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - I've Done Everything for You
12 Menzingers - The Talk
13 Silverstein - Born Dead
14 Weezer - Hash Pipe
15 Murder City Devils - Murder City Riot
16 Patti Smith - Rock n Roll 
17 I Am the Avalanche - Holy Shit!
18 Streetlight Manifesto - What a Wicked Gang Are We Below
19 Andrew WK - It's Time to Party
20 Primus - Jerry Was a Race Car Driver
21 Mudhoney - Into the Drink
22 Lawrence Arms - The Old Timers 2x4
23 Billy Bragg - To Have and To Have Not
24 GWAR - U Ain't Shit

http://gofile.me/27gNj/0dUYifby

Riot Fest's 10th Anniversary in Chicago

Looks like there are some great bands to see at the 10th Anniversary of Riot Fest in Chicago.  Also, a bunch of crap bands too.  Maybe I can tell them which bands to play at which stage to make it worthwhile to go.  I hate it when they have all of the good bands I like playing at the same time.

2012 Riot Fest

2012 Riot Fest, a set on Flickr.

For the 7th year in a row, I purchased an every day pass to attend Riot Fest. This pass is supposed to provide access to all events including after shows. IMO, in a complete bullshit move, they sold tickets to the after shows this year. Then, they granted these ticket holders access to the after show events with priority over every day pass holders. More on this later.

I arrived at the Inn of Chicago at about 3pm. This may be the least attractive hotel room that I have got by bidding on Priceline. I will be skipping the 2.5 star hotels from now on if someone else is sharing the room with me. After a brief nap, I decided to hit Reckless Records on Madison in the Loop. It was about a one mile walk which was fine as I like looking at the buildings in downtown Chicago from different angles and at different times of the day. I managed to walk away empty handed from there. The punk selection was very limited.

I stopped at the Elephant and Castle for a pint of Harp and some nachos and then took a taxi to the Congress Theater. I picked up my 3 day pass wristband and headed in. I arrived in time to miss Dead Sara as planned. I was able to grab a beer and up on stage came Pegboy. They played an energetic 30 minute set to a surprisingly already large crowd. Larry spent most of the time hanging on the barrier or on his knee on stage out of breath. The guy gives it more than his body can handle. I was dissapointed in the sound for them. Bass and drums too loud and guitar and vocals too low. I enjoyed the show but have seen them sound better. They skipped any song that Larry plays guitar on because they had a short set. They only played about 8-9 songs. Here is what I remember them playing.

Dangermare

Slipped Through My Fingers
Strong Reaction
Revolver (Mission of Burma cover)
Hardlight

I had a few more beers and a slice of Congress pizza in an effort to avoid Neon Trees. They were not my cup of tea. I can't believe they did a cover of "Mommy's Little Monster".

I was pretty excited to see The Offspring for the first time. The venue was pretty full by the time they hit the stage. They had a 3 guitar attack for most of their set. I enjoyed them, but had the same complaint about the sound as I did for the Pegboy set. I left at 10pm to head to the Subterranean for the Naked Raygun show. The Offspring were scheduled to play until 10:15pm. Here are some songs I remember them playing.

Come Out And Play

Days Go By
All I Want
Bad Habit
No Brakes

When I arrived at the Sub, the line was around the corner. I didn't think this was a good sign. Long story short, I was next in line to get into the venue when they quit letting more people in unless you purchased a ticket or were on the guest list as they had more than 400 people upstairs already. All I will say is this may be the last Riot Fest I attend due to the shenanigans of selling tickets for after shows after promoting admission to after shows to entice people to buy 3 day passes early to provide cash flow to fund the festival. Ever get the feeling you've been cheated!

2012 Riot Fest Compilation

Next weekend, Riot Fest makes its return to Chicago.  I think this is the 8th year in a row that I will be attending.  In honor of the event, I made a compilation CD with some tracks from some of the bands that are playing that I will most likely be watching.  Leave a comment to contact me if you want a copy.

01 Offspring - All I Want
02 Descendents - Blast Off
03 Teenage Bottlerocket - Bottlerocket
04 Dropkick Murphys - Citizen CIA
05 Dan Vapid and the Cheats - Die Trying
06 Teenage Bottlerocket - Freak Out!
07 Dickies - Gigantor
08 Off With Their Heads - Hard to Admit
09 Less Than Jake - How's My Driving, Doug Hastings?
10 Naked Raygun - I Don't Know
11 Less Than Jake - Jen Doesn't Like Me Anymore
12 A Wilhelm Scream - Killing It
13 Descendents - Marriage
14 Descendents - Mass Nerder
15 Naked Raygun - New Dreams
16 Offspring - One Fine Day
17 Hot Water Music - Our Own Way
18 Elvis Costello - Radio Radio
19 Iggy & the Stooges - Search and Destroy
20 NOFX - Seeing Double at the Triple Rock
21 Offspring - Session
22 Rise Against - State of the Union
23 Rise Against - The Art of Losing
24 Pegboy - Through My Fingers
25 Pegboy - Time Again
26 Dropkick Murphys - Time To Go
27 Adicts - Too Young
28 Off With Their Heads - Trying to Breathe
29 Rise Against - Voice of Dissent
30 Casualties - We Are All We Have
31 NOFX - We Got Two Jealous Agains
32 Alkaline Trio - We've Had Enough
33 Teenage Bottlerocket - Welcome to the Nuthouse

2012 Riot Fest Single Day Tickets

Find out when your favorite band is playing at Riot Fest and get tickets here: http://www.riotfest.org/chicago-tickets/.  Additional bands have been named including The Adicts, Hot Water Music, and Pegboy.

RIOT FEST & CARNIVAL 2012 Lineup Announced!!