- HEALTH and Riot Fest’s sound system don’t play well together
-What was one of the most promising mid-day sets became the most disappointing after technical difficulties plagued literally the entire set from the LA Industrial act. Bummer.
- All Rise Brewing Company ran out of beer
-”Sell Out” or whatever their IPA is called and the “Orange Wit” sold out. That is usually a good thing for breweries but an opportunity lost. They should look into contract-brewing in August so they can sell some suds at Riot Fest.
- Interpol is the new Morrissey?
-This is about to come out the wrong way. But, there were shitloads of Latino folks at the Interpol set. I saw almost a dozen (estimation is fairly accurate) Mexico soccer jerseys, and more than one group standing near me during the show were speaking Spanish. Interpol has never been stingy with their attention when it comes to Central American and International audiences. Some of their album releases have been held in Mexico City and Paul Banks speaks the language fluently. With a band that seems so absurdly oriented to the sad white-boy, this is refreshing. And believe me, I was there on the ground when Interpol first got big, those crowds were white.
- Cargo shorts are everywhere this year
-I can’t tell if it’s meant to be ironic either.
- Killing Joke is for butt-heads
-Although the bands is a beneficiary of the “post-punk” genre, Killing Joke has done little to make a lasting mark on rock music. In fact, the band that opened for Joy Division (not fucking New Order, moron, Joy Division) now writes and performs songs that can be classified as “butthead music.” And this is coming from a guy who owns a poster that has Killing Joke featured on it (said gig where they opened for Joy Division in London). “Eighties” is a sick track, but the rest of their output reeks of cheese and seems heavy for heavy’s sake. Bummer. I really want to like them.
- Gary Numan Played “Cars” Twice
-Gary Numan put out the most important new-wave record ever. You may notice that I omitted the “one of” from my previous statement. Gary Numan’s The Pleasure Principle is the most important new wave record of all time. Well his mid-afternoon set attracted sizable crowds for his decidedly industrial performance. The casual fans’ withdrawal after the hit was played resembled Stalingrad. I was there. Gary Numan and his band dressed as though they were from Tattooine, but their performance was VERY energetic. Overall, the set was a solid mix of Pleasure Principle hits and industrial discovery. Like, six hours later, Beck turned from Alt-Rock-demagogue to 90’s-Indie-MC. His setup played some on-brand pop covers before Gary Numan graced the Riot Fest stage for his second rendition of “Cars”. Both sounded decent.
- Cat Power needs to play Thalia Hall immediately
-That’s all I have to say about the situation. Not great for filling huge public parks up with noise. Legendary and talented for sure!
- Greta van Fleet aren’t “saving classic rock”
Twin Peaks already are. And in a much less gimmicky way. Please note that I love Greta van Fleet and think they have a great future ahead of them. But Twin Peaks are using their classic rock influences more constructively and sustainably. Their music is noticeably indebted to classic rock, but their songs don’t seem like glorified covers, like many bands. There is enough of their own identity in their music. Also, they aren’t dressed in halloween-costume versions of their idols (assuming the Twin Peaks dudes don’t idolize a bunch of suburban kids who just burned their J. Crew shirts and robbed a thrift store). I’m glad they were booked prominently at this festival. Late afternoon on the main stage was perfect and well-deserved. I certainly enjoyed myself. Their performance as a group was tight while the individuals seemed to be playing loose. Their energy on stage is infectious without being obnoxious. Best of all, it feels like your friends are on stage. For many in the crowd, I’m sure that was actually the case. 
- All aspiring musicians should strive to be big enough that your mediocre side-project band sells out venues no matter what.
-#thevoidz
-Also, please note that I really like the Voidz. I’m just commenting on Julian Casablancas’s financial security
- Riot Fest killed some people
Jesus Lizard vs. Interpol vs. Jerry Lee Lewis vs. GWAR.
- Wolfmother and Greta van Fleet need to have a fistfight for best Led Zeppelin impression
-This is the last time I will mention Greta van Fleet in this post. And for the record, I once tweeted that Riot Fest should be booking that band every year. I stand by that. Also, Wolfmother was fun for the few minutes I saw before sprinting towards Twin Peaks.
- Interpol closed with Roland.
Fucking nice. The Interpol crowd was white hot for the NYC brooders. They opened with “Not Even Jail” which is a slow-builder but surprisingly great to start an Interpol set. Their new album got some terrible reviews and a lot of that was because of the production quality rather than songwriting. This was evident because the new tracks “Marauder” and “Number 10” sounded fantastic. I was shocked at how great the crowd reactions were to the new material.
The bass line to “Evil” starts and that crowd lost their shit. (Full disclosure: I lost my shit). That song is so easy to sing along to and the crowd demonstrated that. “NYC” had the Chicago crowd swaying back and forth until a disco ball dropped and filled the park with light. “Obstacle 1” felt like a second and final encore.
I’m not sure how they planned the setlist but the crowd was disappointed not to hear “PDA”. I think they might have planned on closing with their biggest hit but ran out of time. I’ve seen Interpol enough that hearing “Roland” more than made up for it. That is a favorite of mine and was glad the crowd treated it like one of their major hits. Each song’s intro was world-ending to that crowd. I guess “PDA” would have been nice, “Slow Hands” or “The Heinrich Maneuver” even. Either way, that was the best Interpol crowd I’ve seen in a long time.
- Beck throws a party
He started his closing set with a ridiculous one-two punch of “Devil’s Haircut” and “Loser.” It seemed there was no direction to go but down after he “played the hits.” But things were just getting started, and anyone who thought they could leave after that sorely missed out. Enjoy your easy access to an Uber. You missed one hell of a show. The tracks off of the stinker he released this past year sounded much better life. Beck and his veteran backing band had just about every human in the entire park singing along to “Girl.” He brought out Gary Numan for “Cars”. One of the final tracks listed on Setlist.fm is “Good Times/Miss You/Cars/In The Air Tonight/Once In A Lifetime/Drum Solo.” So yeah. Fun was had.
FESTIVAL DAD FINDER 