Riot Fest brings the noise

As the summer’s final major outdoor festival it could be assumed that Riot Fest 2013 was just another hoedown in the park.

This year’s festival offered more, much more, and then some. As expected, there was plenty of old-school punk (Bad Religion, X, Guided by Voices), new-school punk (Kitten, AFI), chart-topping hard rockers (Fallout Boy, Blink 182), alt-rock favorites (The Pixies, The Replacements, The Violent Femmes) and local favorites (Smoking Popes, White Mystery). However, there were also hard rap (Public Enemy), melodic rap (Dessa), ska-punk (The Selector), goofy gore metal (GWAR), aerobic hard rock (Andrew W.K.) and plain old rock ‘n’ roll (Rocket from the Crypt).

Did I forget to mention the LGBT flavor threaded throughout this year’s edition? On Sept. 13, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts tore through a set filled with genre-forming classics (“Bad Reputation,” “Do You Want to Touch Me?,” “Cherry Bomb”) while Blondie’s set was packed with mirth and wit (Debbie Harry had a high old time lampooning herself in what looked like an inverted Ku Klux Klan grand wizard robe. The costume and Harry’s vintage glamour were the hits of the festival.). But there was just as much queer rage on the menu as well. Poet/spoken word artist/rapper Saul Williams ranted about not only the crime of racial and economic discrimination but gender and sexual discrimination as well (the crowd ate it up). Sundays rain-soaked line-up included the one-two punch of out rocker Bob Mould (hard, fast and vicious) as well as Laura Jane Grace and her band, Against Me! (scathing, brutal and furious).

After the very successful foray into Humboldt Park last year it’s clear that Riot Fest is fast becoming THE only summer festival that matters. It only seems fitting that it should close out Chicago’s summer season. Despite the injuries that occurred Sept. 14 in the mosh pit, this event was a definite success.