Ranking Riot Fest Performances: Saturday (Day 2)

In honor of my attending Riot Fest in Chicago, I am doing a mini-series where I rank each of the performances I saw.  While I’ve discussed Riot Fest significantly on my podcast, Groupie and Harmony, it is historically a punk festival, though it has branched out into other genres.  This year, the main stages (Cabaret Metro Stage and AAA Stage) are largely genre specific by day (Friday is pop punk based, Saturday is alternative/indie based, Sunday is metal based), the NOFX stage has punk acts with NOFX headlining each day, and the other two stages (Rise Stage and Radical Stage) are kind of a catch-all stage.

On Saturday, Beck and Pavement were coheadliners, and there were other featured notable acts such as St. Vincent, Spoon, Manchester Orchestra (performing Cope), Waxahatchee, Taking Back Sunday, and NOFX (Bright Eyes was originally scheduled to perform, but cancelled their performance late).  The acts I saw (in reverse order) were Beck, NOFX, Pavement, Descendents, St. Vincent, Beach Bunny, Manchester Orchestra, Health, The Armed, Jack Kays, and Buzzcocks; I planned on seeing Brutus and Liquid Mike, but I realized after I almost got to the lot I was parking at that I forgot my earplugs at the hotel I was staying at (always remember to protect your hearing at concerts and festivals).  * indicates that I didn’t see their entire set due to a conflicting set.

I want to preface this list by emphasizing that there were no bad sets per se.  While I wasn’t a fan of the last set I saw, the performance was still good.

 

 

1:  Manchester Orchestra (Performing Cope)

4:25-5:25, Cabaret Metro Stage

I have always been a sucker for entire album plays during festivals, so it’s not shocking that I’m a bit biased here with my number 1.  Cope is my favorite album out of the 3 at Riot Fest this year, and it lived up to the hype.  They also played a few brief interludes in between which honestly worked, but it was a stunningly beautiful set.  In particular, the section I was in went crazy when the title track came on.

 

2:  St. Vincent*

6:35-7:35, Cabaret Metro Stage

The lone tragedy about this set is that Descendents were playing at around the same time, so I couldn’t see the entire set if I wanted to see Descendents (which I did).  That said, she puts on an amazing and stunning show.  I’m not surprised since she is a talented musician, but that show felt like it was amazing; the only reason it’s not number 1 is because any of the top-5 could be there.

 

3:  Beck*

8:45-10:00, Cabaret Metro Stage

I originally was going to split time between NOFX and Beck since I’ve seen Beck live before, but after I bailed on NOFX, I wisely went over to Beck, and he did not disappoint.  He really puts on a fun show.  One that I find interesting is that he tends to do different versions of “Lost Cause” compared to the original version; this time was more country western themed.

 

4:  Pavement

7:40-8:40, AAA Stage

Pavement is my favorite band out of all those performing at Riot Fest, so it’s no surprise that a great set from them would end up near the top of the list.  They were more organized than I expected with the visuals and theatrics of their performance (I was kind of expecting them to just show up), and they still sound great.  It was kind of funny to see the members keep talking over each other in between literally every single song.

 

5:  Health

3:40-4:20, AAA Stage

The beginning of Health’s set was hampered by technical difficulties, but they rebounded swimmingly.  The performance was absolutely beautiful, and their music was absolutely better than their studio recorded music, which doesn’t always happen with electronic rock based acts.  It seemed like a good amount of the crowd was into it also, which was interesting since they really didn’t engage the crowd that much.

 

6:  Buzzcocks

1:45-2:15, Cabaret Metro Stage

There was a really big crowd for Buzzcocks, and they did not disappoint.  They had a short set but put on an amazing set while having an absolute blast.  There weren’t a lot of younger people in the crowd (as in my age or younger; I know I’m not young, but Buzzcocks came around many years before I was born), but they appeared to win over the ones I did see.

 

7:  Beach Bunny

5:30-6:10, Rise Stage

They are a really good band who put on an entertaining show.  I felt bad for them since there were a lot of attendees who clearly hadn’t listened to them and were still lingering around the stage who left in droves, but it was still fun.  It was kind of funny because at one point they asked the crowd to get down to jump up, but it became clear just how old and sore the average Riot Fest attendee was by this point on Day 2 since almost nobody did, and everyone groaned in pain instead.

 

8:  Descendents*

7:00-8:00, NOFX World

Descendents puts on a good show.  While they have some banter, they largely focus on the music.  While I didn’t see a lot of their set due to schedule conflicts (I had the fun of wanting to see St. Vincent, Descendents, and Pavement when each conflicted), I still saw several of their songs since their songs are all so short.  What I saw was a lot of fun.

 

9:  Jack Kays

2:25-2:55, Radical Stage

It was a solid set.  I enjoyed myself and the music was good, but it just can’t be any higher than this since the ones ahead on this list were significantly better and amazing, whereas this got the job done and was entertaining.

 

10:  The Armed

3:00-3:30, Rise Stage

I had the biggest smile leaving this set out of all the sets I saw due to how chaotic this set was (one vocalist jumped into the crowd, the other crowd surfed several times, the rhythm guitarist fell off an amp, they broke a mic stand, they threw water bottles to the crowd, their rhythm guitarist smashed his guitar, and they crowd surfed at the end to distribute the broken guitar).  That said, the sound quality was pretty bad; I could only hear bass and the remnants of vocals existing.

 

11:  NOFX*

8:30-10:00, NOFX World

Look, I’ve never been that big of a NOFX fan and found a lot of their antics to be obnoxious; I felt obligated to see them since these are among their final shows.  The music was good, but I was annoyed by them complaining that Beck’s set on the main stage was too loud multiple times within the first 15 minutes.  Welcome to music festivals, NOFX!

 

 

Have you seen any of these acts?  If so, what did you think of them?  Any acts you love out of these?  Let me know in the comments!