Riot Fest returned to Douglass (Anna & Frederick) Park once again—and this time it commemorated its 20th anniversary.
Riot Fest originally started with multiple locations, beginning indoors when it was officially established in 2005. In 2012, the event moved outdoors to Humboldt Park and landed at 1401 S. Sacramento Dr. in Douglass Park, in 2015. This came with challenges from Illinois’ unpredictable weather, but unlike the heavy downpour from the year before, only light rain appeared on Sept. 20 in 2025.
Powerful music reigned down on five stages for three days at one of the largest independently owned festivals in the United States. The festivities kicked off at noon on Sept. 19, with Japanese band Shonen Knife on the “Weird Al” Yankovic’s Weird World Stage, formerly titled the Rise Stage.
This particular performance space was temporarily renamed to honor Yankovich’s closing set, highlighted by witty quips sprinkled throughout the day from host Emo Philips on the microphone.
Canadian singer Loviet rocked on the Radical Stage and talked to Windy City Times backstage after her afternoon time slot. She commented, “It’s great to be back in Chicago after playing Lollapalooza in 2023. Riot Fest feels more like my brand than Lolla. I only had 30 minutes today, so I slipped in my new single “Stiffy,” which was released today. I produced it myself and it’s an angry song that I wanted to get out of my system.”
The Barbarians of California fans had only five minutes after Loviet to migrate over to the Roots Stage. Eric Stenman from the hardcore band talked backstage about the new single “Modern Fashion” and said, “Zach Irons, our guitar player, is naked in the video and to this day, he’s upset that we blurred out his privates. He wanted to let it hang, but I think it’s funnier blurred and leaves the length as a mystery.”
More members of the LGBTQ+ community performed on Friday, such as Devin Papadol from Honey Revenge, accompanied by non-binary guitarist Donovan Lloyd, and then came more representation with Camper Van Beethoven’s openly gay guitarist Victor Krummenacher, interviewed by WCT in 2019 .
After Camper, more camp played out on the same stage, with the unusual duo Sparks and Yankovich’s frenetic, video-laden set packing the park at dusk with longtime fans of his quirky work. The night closed with headliners Blink-182 reuniting with Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba on the Riot Stage and The Pogues on the Rebel Stage with an Irish album play of Rum Sodomy & the Lash from 1985.
Saturday, Sept. 20, began with Cliffdiver on the Rise Stage at 12:00 p.m. Vocalist Joey Duffy described himself as a “chaotic bisexual” and talked about the namesake of the band. He expressed an important message with, “We are trying to stop other people from going off the cliff and making the same mistakes that we did. The only thing that worked against trauma was therapy and sobriety. We want to tell our listeners that self-hatred leads to nothing and self-love is the most radical thing you can do right now. If you are blessed to be special and anywhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, then live your life as loud and proud as you can!”
Girl in a Coma, complete with two openly queer members, followed that philosophy on the Roots Stage at 1:10 p.m.
At 3:15 p.m., intergalactic alien group Gwar lived up to the Rebel Stage name by presenting a mannequin of Elon Musk and a costumed version of President Trump onstage, then ending them both in a fake blood bath. When lead screamer Blöthar the Berserker was asked after the show if any of the current members of Gwar are gay and he said, “No one identifies explicitly as gay, but our characters certainly are omnisexual.” Blöthar revealed more behind the band’s legacy for the record, stating, “Our past lead singer Oderus Urungus had a brother named Andrew Brockie, who passed away from AIDS and was a huge influence on our band. When no one was talking about AIDS in the mid-80s, Gwar was talking about it, and we threw it in people’s faces to demand attention. We have a song called “Have You Seen Me?” and Oderus would get the crowd chanting the lyrics, “I’m gay and I’m proud.” The LGBT community was always huge for us. Many people don’t understand that gay culture and punk culture have always been hand in hand, especially in the ‘80s.”
Manchester band James echoed that emotion with a long-time connection to the queer community over their 45 years as a group. Bassist Jim Glennie and multi-instrumentalist Saul Davies discussed this with Windy City Times in the media area only minutes before their set time. Glennie confirmed that two members identify as queer. He said, “When Debbie Knox-Hewson left the group for film work in LA, she asked her partner, Chloe Alper, to fill in. When Debbie returned, they shared the role for a while.”
Debbie performed at Riot Fest that Sunday like a trooper, even though she was six months-pregnant and vocalist Tim Booth was uniformed in a dress harkening back to their fifth studio album cover of Laid. Jim reminisced about the memorable photograph by stating, “Photo shoots can be torturous for us and we get bored. Tim suggested that we take our partners’ dresses to lighten things up and give us a burst of energy. We took the picture in front of the Marseille Cathedral and when we filmed the video later, the dresses came out again. We have worn dresses a few times, like in Manchester after an encore.”
Saul added that they also wore dresses at Lollapalooza previously in Chicago and said Madonna complimented his blue sequined dress in the past. He joked, “I didn’t need her to tell me I looked good!”
Following James’ live performance, a much-anticipated dream was fulfilled on the Riot Stage: Actor John Stamos joined The Beach Boys to sing a variety of their classic hits. The organizers had pursued Stamos since 2013 after offering his fictional Full House band, Jesse and the Rippers, a chance to be booked in the lineup. It took some buttering up from the Riot Fest producers to make it happen, but a butter sculpture as an homage to Stamos and a stick of butter tattoo on founder Riot Mike’s leg with Stamos’ name all paid off.
John Stamos milked his visit to the Windy City once more by returning the day after his Saturday night set to shake a tambourine with the brothers Hanson for their massive hit “MMMBop.” Sept. 21 marked the final day of the festival and the talented trio Weakened Friends talked to WCT directly after their early appearance on the Radical Stage. The Portland, Maine band currently consists of married couple Sonia Sturino and Annie Hoffman, plus drummer Adam Hand were on hand to chat. Annie was most excited to see a fellow queer band perform Lambrini Girls’ song “Help Me I’m Gay,” slated for later in the day on the Rise Stage.
Riot’s Sunday afternoon leaned towards pop music with acts such as Hanson, Gym Class Heroes and Cobra Starship. Frontman for the Starship, Gabe Saporta, promoted his line Brotege backstage with high hopes that men would eventually take skincare seriously, then The Paradox met up to talk to WCT about diversity. Eric Dangerfield from the new group confessed, “It may seem odd to see four Black dudes from Atlanta play punk music, but the representation is needed, even though we feel like unicorns sometimes.” In their first month together, The Paradox opened for Green Day in 2024 and were able to see the California crusaders perform the last night.
Unexpectedly, a lucky young person named Argyle was chosen out of the crowd to sing the track “Know Your Enemy” from Green Day’s eighth record, 21st Century Breakdown, with bisexual singer Billie Joe Armstrong. The anthem expressed the freedom of speech energy contained in the lyrics to “revolt against the honor to obey.”
This summed up an important message 20 years in the making, serving as a reminder that the punk scene is and always will be inherently queer. Beneath the sky-high Mohawks and infinite headbanging, there was an undeniable heart to the multitude of rebels who attended an unforgettable Riot in 2025.
Riot Fest will be over the legal age to drink in Illinois in 2026, so stay tuned to riotfest.org in the future, including Riot Fest Presents… events all year long, such as queer rapper Princess Nokia at Cobra Lounge, 235 N. Ashland Ave., on Oct. 25