The heat raged on, and so did Riot Fest. After night one’s stellar lineup, Riot Fest’s second day continued to showcase the exciting and diverse lineup that the festival had in store. With alternative music icon Beck as Saturday night’s headliner, the day was infused with alternative rock, pop, and everything in between.Continue reading
Benjamin Franklin said nothing in this world is certain except for war, death, and taxes. If he were around today, there’s no question he might consider adding Riot Fest to that list of definitive certainties.
Once again, Chicago held its very own Riot Fest – one of music’s most renowned Punk music festivals – in Douglass Park. Despite original plans to move the festival to the suburbs in Bridgeview, a month before the fest was to take place it was announced that Riot Fest would once again be held in Douglass Park as usual.Continue reading
After deliberations with the Mayor of Chicago’s office, the Chicago Park District’s leadership, and Alderwoman Monique L. Scott, Riot Fest has decided to relocate the festival from the SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview back to its original home at Chicago’s Douglass Park. This is effective immediately for the 2024 festival! Continue reading
For the second time this summer, we are giving fans a chance to attend Riot Fest 2024, the iconic annual punk rock and alternative music festival! Well known as a festival home to Punk, Hardcore, legendary Alternative Rock is going particularly Metal this year! Home to the exclusive and very first reunion show from Slayer, the fest will also host Rob Zombie, Lamb of God, Mastodon, Suicidal Tendencies, Clutch, GWAR, Drug Church, HEALTH, Brutus, Sunami, GEL, Lord of The Lost, Poison The Well, Pixel Grip, and more! In addition to the recent announcement of the daily lineups, the fest has announced shuttle service, a community band contest in the Lawndale & Little Village neighborhoods and more! This year’s festival will take place at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, from September 20-22nd, featuring 90+ bands over 3-days, and will feature RiotLand, an immersive “Choose Your Own Adventure” world that promises to elevate the festival experience to new heights. Riot Fest, while reluctant to leave its longtime home in Chicago, made the difficult decision to relocate due to issues with the Park District, which paved the way for RiotLand, a 3-day version of which will be explorable on the Riot Fest website starting tomorrow. Fans can double tap their way through the various locations in this punk rock town. The giveaway ends in a few days, so enter to win now!Continue reading
Beck @ Chbm89 dreamstime_s_51047408
UPDATED: Win another pair of tickets to Riot Fest from Ghost Cult below!
Riot Fest, the iconic annual punk rock and alternative music festival, is excited to announce its 2024 daily lineup, shuttle service, a community band contest in the Lawndale & Little Village neighborhoods and more! This year’s festival will take place at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, from September 20-22nd, featuring 90+ bands over 3-days, and will feature RiotLand, an immersive “Choose Your Own Adventure” world that promises to elevate the festival experience to new heights. Riot Fest, while reluctant to leave its longtime home in Chicago, made the difficult decision to relocate due to issues with the Park District, which paved the way for RiotLand, a 3-day version of which will be explorable on the Riot Fest website starting tomorrow. Fans can double tap their way through the various locations in this punk rock town.Continue reading
Riot Fest, the iconic annual punk rock and alternative music festival, is excited to announce its 2024 lineup, along with the introduction of an innovative new world, and a venue change, now with parking! This year’s festival will take place at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, from September 20-22nd, featuring 90+ bands over 3-days, and will feature RiotLand, an immersive “Choose Your Own Adventure” world that promises to elevate the festival experience to new heights.Continue reading
Quarterbacks is streaming their self titled album, out now via Team Love Records here, here and here. It’s 19 songs played in 22 minutes. It’s fast, broken-hearted and full of people, places and things. Quarterbacks was recorded at the Tin Roof Sessions Studio in New Paltz by Kyle Gilbride (Swearin,’ Waxahatchee, Radiator Hospital) in less than 12 hours.
Quarterbacks started as a short-lived duo playing too-fast love songs backed by guitar and a single snare drum. Basement style, old smelly carpets, house shows for punk and patch kids. This was in New Paltz, a college town at the bottom of a mountain in upstate New York. Dean (Dean Engle, the band’s songwriter/vocalist) worked at one of the town’s two record shops, as K Records-obsessed small town boys usually do.
The Quarterbacks line-up combusted after a handful of shows. The songs sat dormant until January 2012 when Dean enlisted Max Restaino and Tom Christie to revive the project. The new three-piece expanded the original vision, playing love-obsessed songs with limited affectation. The songs averaged under-2 minutes, and the DIY ethic remained firm. A few tape-only releases came into being (See the brilliant Double Double Whammy Records of Brooklyn NY).
Two years of upstate basement shows further refined their efficient tw*e punk set, new songs slowly forming from familiar themes and chord patterns, progress through recursion. Down the street from the record shop where Dean worked was Team Love Records, a record label that had relocated from Sugar Street in NYC’s East Village to Church Street in New Paltz. The folks at Team Love and Dean found themselves spending way too much time discussing favorite Cat’s Miaow singles and post-Young Marble Giants projects.