Bad Copy

Each year’s Riot Fest is similar yet so different, like a snowflake… a sometimes 85*, sometimes sopping wet, always very loud snowflake that leaves you super exhausted but also very content. Knowing myself, I’d think that blindly committing to spending 12-14 hours covering music over three days would eventually get stale or that my age would start to catch up with me (as it seems to be in many other aspects of my life). But every year, when we are lucky enough to get that confirmation email from the almighty heads of Riot Fest Press, I do a little dance of excitement. And when this year’s lineup dropped earlier in the year, I was stoked. The 2000s are back and I am here for it, from my baggy pants to my chunky highlights, I am in my element with this fashion and musical flashback era.

After a few weeks of prepping and planning, I packed up my car with the Bad Copy banner, my trusty Hanson folder circa 1996 full of fresh Bad Libs, and I headed south to pick up my photographer and longtime friend Mat. I actually hadn’t seen Mat since *checks watch* last Riot Fest, because the world comes at you fast and by fast I mean, I have spent the last two years in grad school writing papers and reading textbooks and watching a lot of bad trashy TV with my dog. Graduation came and went and now I am ready to leave the house, reconnect with friends, and wear my almost 40 year old body down to the point of never recovering. Where is it better to do this than three days at Riot Fest?

Mat and I navigated the press check in and made it into the park just in time to catch Shonen Knife. I’d never seen them before, but I had heard so much about them. They formed back in the ‘80s in Osaka, Japan and sing in both English and Japanese. Their songs are a blend of pop, punk, and girl group aesthetics. Fun fact, Kurt Cobain once stated that their album Burning Farm was one of his favorites. That’s some heavy praise. Their set was the perfect way to kick off the next three days PLUS we got to play a round of Bad Libs with them later!

Afterwards, I caught a bit of Loviet’s set. My friend Matt caught her at Buddies Fest up in Canada earlier this year and wouldn’t stop talking about how great her set was. She’s got a sound that’s a bit of a ‘90s throwback but with a new and fresh indie twist. We were also able to snag her for a round of Bad Libs later in the day, and we were cracking each other up. She’s one of those artists that you will just be hearing about more and more as her fame grows, so you might as well get on the ground level now. Check out her Bad Libs here! 

I scampered over to the Press area where I finally dropped off all my things. I met up with some of my very favorite people that I see only at Riot Fest (including Aaron from Bearded Gentleman. He’s one of the best parts of Riot Fest every year!). But the rest was short lived, as there was no way that I was going to miss Mac Sabbath’s set. I’ve caught this band almost every time they have come through Chicago for the last decade… and I don’t even like Black Sabbath! I also love to witness those who have not seen them before take in everything that is unfurling on stage in front of them.

I was a little bummed that I had to head back for a prescheduled round of Bad Libs because I would be missing Puddles Pity Party. While I had only done a quick Google search on the performer – and found that he’s a Pagliacci style clown who sings covers of popular music – I knew it was going to be an epic set. I heard all about it from the rest of my press crew buddies. One of my favorite parts of Riot Fest is catching sets from bands and artists that you would have never seen before. Plus… the festival has been booking artists like Mac Sabbath, Saxsquatch, and Puddles for the last few years that are as much spectacle as they are musical. I’m into it!

While playing Bad Libs with Loviet, I got to listen to Touche Amore just a few yards away. I thought about when they used to play DIY venues with my friends on the West Coast and how far they came. AND… how great they sounded. I said by her Loviett and her manager and scampered off into the park to catch Rico Nasty. Every year, there’s one set that has the press area buzzing way before it starts. This was that set and she’s that artist. Almost every year, I miss it because I’m tied up doing interviews. But not this year! Rico Nasty was phenomenal, a pure force of nature. She opened with “WHO WANT IT” into “Smack a Bitch.” I had never heard either of these songs before today, but I was singing along by the end.

I shuffled over to catch the rest of Sparks’ set. I had never heard of the band before (I KNOW!) but I heard that their set was something to see. And it was! The duo weaves pop, rock, and synth with catchy and dancy tunes. Visually, they were so fun, I couldn’t look away! I watched their whole set, a Riot Fest rarity!

I stumbled across the park to the Riot Feast section to grab some food. I realized that I forgot to eat this morning in my frenzy to get everything packed and ready and to get to Douglass in time. I shoveled fried rice into my face and watched the Didjits from a nice spot on the grass nearby. This is another one of those great Riot Fest finds. The band is originally from Mattoon, IL. They have been on and off from the 80s-90s and even in the early 2000s. But they were on hiatus again until this year. They were great!

Was I glad that all the interviews and band meet ups were done for the day? Yes. Was I worried about how many more I had crammed into the other two days of the festival? Oh yes. But that’s tomorrow Kendra’s problem. Today, I decided to just enjoy the last few bands of the night. I walked with the press photographer friends over to see Alkaline Trio and told them where to find me… because I would be there the entire set. Trio played all of Maybe I’ll Catch Fire with a few songs tacked on the  start of the set including “Private Eye,” “Calling All Skeletons,” and “Mercy Me.” It was a solid setlist and great performance overall. And I love to write that, as someone who, over the decades, has seen the band (or at least parts of the band) barely be able to hold a guitar and almost crash into a mic. I also started to lose my voice right around here… which does not bode well for someone who had to interview 14 more bands over two days.

I popped into the Press Tent to grab a Riot Slop. The 0% Riot Pop is now called Riot Slop and it was a hot contested topic all weekend since us sober people are far less likely to be ‘sloppy’ with our hydration drink than those brave souls who tried the 8% pop. With a Slop in one hand and a Ghost energy drink sucking the life out of me in the other, I headed over to catch Stiff Little Fingers with Matt. They were great, they always are! But I am always blown away at how good they sound. Whether it’s on the back bar stage at Liar’s Club or on a huge stage at Riot, the sound and the feelings are the same. My only complaint is that they only played 8 songs. However, one of them was a cover of The Specials’ “Doesn’t Make It Alright,” so they are forgiven 😊

I trudged back to the Press area; the day had finally caught up with me. My body was more caffeine and electrolytes (thanks Riot Slop!) than anything else. My muscles were threatening to give in and I was having visions of Mat having to drag me across the park and to the car. There was one more band on the docket and, holding very true to the early 2000s  theme that I mentioned earlier, I had not seen them since… *checks calendar*… 2000 on the dot. Blink-182, the Day 1 headliner, took the stage to thunderous applause as basically everyone in the whole park had wandered over to catch what they could of the trio, if even on a TV screen.

The last time I saw the band was on the Mark, Tom, and Travis show in 2000, back when sex was a mystery, the word “boob” elicited tears of laughter, and Matt Skiba had yet to have a one night stand with the band. In fact, I still have my tour shirt from the show… you can see whichever Kardashian this is wearing the same shirt here. While I moved away from band worship and memorizing their albums, I – of course – still know the post-Enema hits like “Miss You” and “Feeling This.” But I was here for the early aughts hits and they did not disappoint. They played 22 songs, and while I only knew about half, I found myself going a bit feral when they did play something like “M+Ms.” Mat invented this absolutely terrible game that we could not stop playing where we kept singing “All the… small things…” to lyrics from the wrong songs. I am so sorry to anyone who was standing around us during their set; I’m sure we ruined it for you by being obnoxious as hell and laughing the whole time. But isn’t that kinda what a Blink-182 show should be about?

When they finally did play “All the Small Things,” me, Mat, and Jackie (the final three press friends who didn’t bail) started jumping up and down and shouting. It was really fun and really silly, just one of those moments where the smaller things (I did not plan that pun) keeps you feeling alive while everything around you seems chaotic. The world is a mess. Our country is struggling. The bands, in fact, talked a lot about freedom and democracy all day. And throughout the day I had been grappling with how I could even let myself be whisked away for a set while I know how much is at stake right now. I have been a ball of nerves and worry for the last year and now, suddenly, I was taking a break from that and it felt kinda wrong. But I kept returning to this quote I had read from Dan Savage, a queer writer and activist, who spoke of life during the AIDS crisis. He said:

“We buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon and we danced all fucking night. The dance kept us in the fight because it was the dance we were fighting for.”

And in this case, my ‘dance’ was seeing bands that had gotten me into punk in my formative years onstage playing together and supporting each other. This is one of the things that I have lived for, for so long. And it’s important to remember how important these things are to us, so we can recharge and are ready to fight when we need to be, whatever that means to you.

Mat and I packed up our gear and headed out into the masses, weaving through the crowd and to the gates of Douglass Park. We trudged to the car (parked once again and for the 10^th year in a row at a place I like to call merely ‘secret parking’), and pointed my Honda in the direction of Handlebar, seemingly the only restaurant in the Wicker/Logan area that’s open past 11PM, to meet up with the rest of the press crew for sustenance and some decompression along with prepping for Day 2!

Check out Mat’s photos below:

Check out our Day 2 coverage here!