Riot Fest 2024 Day 1: Sweltering Heat, Hotter Music
Riot Fest was a ripper of a good time on Friday, September 20, despite being sweatier than Moo Deng the pygmy hippo. The sprawling campus of Douglass Park was primed and ready to rock with its 5 stages doing soundcheck when we arrived.
ALL IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHED BY AMI NICOLE ACRONYM.
We started our day over in RiotLand, a section of the campus that featured an NWA wrestling ring, some bitchin’ tacos, Q101 Chicago’s home base, and a treasure trove of activations. Yes, we’re talking about Butter Stamos, a giant statue “made of butter” depicting actor John Stamos, as well as a replica of the Quick Stop from ‘Clerks’ to highlight ChronicCon, Kevin Smith’s latest endeavor to showcase his multiverse of madness.
The heat got to us — we’re not even going to lie. We laid low and listened to Winona Fighter on the Cabaret Metro Stage from afar while hydrating as much as possible to prepare for our trek across the land.
THE ACES
ALL IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHED BY AMI NICOLE ACRONYM.
Our first band of the day was The Aces at 3:05 on the Cabaret Metro Stage, and it was a great primer for what was to come for the rest of the day. The all femme band consists of guitarist Katie Henderson, bassist McKenna Petty, and sisters Alisa Ramirez (drums) and Cristal Ramirez (lead vocals and guitars). Their set featured 8 tracks, which started with “Always Get This Way,” “New Emotion,” and “I Can Break Your Heart Too,” and ended with “Girls Make Me Want To Die” and Daydream.” It’s also important to note, that while the band has spoken out strongly about wanting to be viewed as a band and not just a female band, 3/4ths of the band are part of the LGBTQIA+ community. We were digging their vibe, and will be diving into their music via streaming services.
STATE CHAMPS
ALL IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHED BY AMI NICOLE ACRONYM.
After walking around the festival to check out some of the shopping from local vendors like The Horror House and Non-Profit Orgs like Punk Rock Saves Lives, we headed over to State Champs and caught their set from the crowd. We recognized fan favorites like “Outta My Head,” “Elevated,” and our fav “Secrets” which we first heard when Ryan Scott Graham performed at one of Michigan’s Emo Nite events. Seeing the energy the band brought on stage, it’s easy to understand why more of their songs sound faster and upbeat.
DRUG CHURCH
ALL IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHED BY AMI NICOLE ACRONYM.
This was our second time catching Drug Church this year, with the first being on tour with Alkaline Trio. We were stoked for the chance to capture them again especially since our last set was indoors, and this time we were working with sunlight at Riot Fest. The band is so ferocious in their performative energy, although this band feels like one of those bands that shouldn’t be behind a barricade. Playing a 14-song setlist, they played their best tracks, including “Weed Pin,” “Grubby,” “World Impact,” and “Myopic,” they were bound to make new fans that had not been exposed to them yet while retaining their loyal, crowd surfing enthusiasts. Their upcoming album titled ‘Prude’ will be out in October 2024, which makes 5 albums in total. Not bad for something that started as a side project for singer Patrick Kindlon!
NEW FOUND GLORY
ALL IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHED BY AMI NICOLE ACRONYM.
New Found Glory is always a great palate cleanser on any lineup. The band hasn’t changed from its early days, still sounding faithful to what we grew up listening to. This time, however, we experienced an added Disney flair. During the set, singer Jordan Pundik donned an Ariel wig to perform their cover of “Part Of Your World” from ‘A Whole New World’ — the newest Pop-Punk compilation that showcases bands like Simple Plan, Magnolia Park, and more. Taking over for LØLØ, Pundik also slipped into an Elsa wig to cover “Let It Go,” because why not? They of course, ended their set with the most iconic of all NFG hits, “My Friends Over You.”
SUM 41
ALL IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHED BY AMI NICOLE ACRONYM.
I personally felt very lucky to experience Sum 41 twice within 7 days. After photographing their last date in Detroit for their ‘Tour of the Setting Sum,’ I got to witness a shortened version, packed with hits. Aside from the quicker set time, the band brought the same energy and showmanship to this performance, and they still used their spectacles of pyro and cryo. The band is so tightly practiced that it sounds like it did the first time we heard it all on a studio recording, and we can’t believe that Sum 41 is on its way out while being this good still after all this time.
THE OFFSPRING
ALL IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHED BY AMI NICOLE ACRONYM.
The Offspring are absolute legends, and when it was first announced they would be performing ‘Smash’ in full on select dates, we were jealous that all the dates seemed to be far away from the Midwest. Luckily, when the band was announced for Riot Fest, our dreams came true: hearing a full play of an album instrumental for their iconic rise. It would shock no one to know that the crowd went insane the minute the band began “Bad Habit,” which has such a perfect setup for crowd participation. During that song, you saw fans throwing horns and moshing about, which was the best song about road rage you could ever hear.
The encore was also a treat. After getting through that entire album, the band played a couple of their hits from other albums including “Self Esteem,” “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid,” and “The Kids Aren’t Alright.” At one point, the photographers were being escorted in to get prepped for Fall Out Boy, and a crowd of us were singing “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy),” because their music is timeless.
FALL OUT BOY
ALL IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHED BY AMI NICOLE ACRONYM.
Fall Out Boy, no matter what, is a Chicago band. Fans had been queuing for hours on the barricade in order to get close for their set, and what better to remind everyone of the band’s geographic lineage than starting with the song “Chicago Is So Two Years Ago.” Fans were screaming every word, pointing to Patrick Stump, who ended the track and shared that he actually got emotional hearing the fans singing it back to him in his home city.
Performing 20+ tracks, the band seems to be prepping for their upcoming stint at When We Were Young in Las Vegas, as their setlist was split up as its own Taylor Swift-esque Era’s Tour. Each album had a few songs of representation, so by the time we got to song 3 of the set, singing “Sugar We’re Goin’ Down,” Tim McIlrath of Rise Against appeared between Stump and Pete Wentz to contribute the “down, down” to the finale of the track. We’re not sure what prompted this uniting moment of FOB with another Chicago band, but our best guess is after Bright Eyes had been reported that they had to drop from the lineup, many fans commented on the Riot Fest page to fill that slot with Rise Against. While they didn’t get a full-time slot, McIlrath seemed to enjoy linking up with Fall Out Boy for that short moment.
The band hit on a double 4-top for albums ‘From Under The Cork Tree’ and ‘Infinity On High’ and then doubled up on the rest, with the exception of ‘MANIA’ in which they only played “The Last of the Real Ones.” Wentz also took to the skies with a stunt involving a bunch of balloons, how very Disney’s ‘UP’ of him.
Putting on a killer show to end Day 1, fans then descended off the property to snag their fast food, some Ghost Hydration samples outside the gates, or catch a rideshare to their Riot Fest after-show of their choice.