Riot Fest opened Friday at its usual venue in Douglass Park in North Lawndale, with opening-day headliners Fall Out Boy and The Marley Brothers, joined by punk band NOFX who will play farewell shows on all three nights of the festival. Other big acts this weekend include Beck on Saturday night and Slayer on Sunday.
The topic leading up to Riot Fest has been location, with the festival announcing in June that it would move to SeatGeek Stadium in southwest suburban Bridgeview after a permit delay, and then cancel this decision in August after reconciling the two parties with the city and the Chicago Park District.
Festival-goer Jeanne Barr said Friday that she and her husband have been attending Riot Fest for 10 years. Like others at the site, she was happy that the festival was back in the park. “I think about the neighborhood and I hope the residents are happy with it, but man, it’s so much nicer here. There’s shade and you can see the skyline. And then there’s the history,” she said.
This three-day independent festival of punk, hip-hop and alternative music has been held in Douglass Park since 2015, when it moved from Humboldt Park. It was founded in 2005.
The question behind this year’s game of musical chairs was whether Riot Fest was welcome in the community, where it occupies part of the city park each summer.
Rep. Monique Scott, 24th District, said it did, pointing to its positive economic benefits and other outreach efforts. I called him an outside intrusion into the surrounding neighborhood of North Lawndale, a predominantly black neighborhood, and into the Little Village, which is largely Latino.
Roxana Lopez, a festival-goer from Pilsen, says that if Riot Fest had been moved to SeatGeek Stadium, it would have been harder for her to get there; the Bridgeview venue has been criticized by some for its lack of access to public transportation.
Lopez said she was able to get to Douglass Park on the CTA (it’s literally only two stops) and also liked the sense of community the festival had. “It’s because it’s for the misfits! It’s for all the weirdos, all the people who don’t fit in with the mainstream scene, so it’s a place where we could all be united.”
A local resident known as Dee Glo was outside the park Friday selling homemade tacos and Polish sausages for $5. She said Riot Fest adds a positive touch to the North Lawndale neighborhood and helps reduce violence.
“It brings positivity, a good vibe. It makes people want to stay here,” she said, and people have been happy to see her booth. “It makes them feel like, ‘Hey, we’re glad you’re all here!’ Do you know how far it is to a restaurant here? … We need festivals here to have fun, no violence, just good energy.”
Lillian Holden, another West Side resident, has a different opinion and was disappointed to see the festival return. She says the park has a lot to offer residents, from recreation to general exploration, which many can’t always participate in.
“Douglas Park is also near two major hospitals and the festival brings a lot of traffic. Both of those hospitals have emergency departments, so because of the traffic, people probably can’t get to the emergency room. That means lives are at stake. There’s a lot of noise pollution, so we have to think about how that impacts our wildlife,” she said.
Listening to a Suicidal Tendencies concert late in the afternoon, festival-goer Deimus Lopez said he bought his tickets as soon as they went on sale. As a metal fan, Riot Fest is the only festival he cares about. He was upset when the decision was announced. “But we should have taken care of it. For the protesters, it’s totally understandable that they don’t want Riot Fest in their community. We live near Wrigley Field,” he said, referring to the game-day crowds, “so we totally get it.”
The music isn’t the only thing that sets Riot Fest apart from Pitchfork and Lollapalooza. The vibe is more carnival-like, with a funfair ride, games, and a new tent this summer from the Hellzapoppin Circus Sideshow. “Freak show!” blared a sign at the entrance. The acts inside looked more like aerial acrobats.
On Friday, the sun shone like never before. The current drought in Chicago raised a cloud of dust, and by mid-afternoon, the rides were sparsely attended.
Post-hardcore band Drug Church and their fans seemed unfazed by it all on the Radical stage, dressed in black and going wild. A mosh circle swirled and sent gravel flying through the crowd.
“Right before we went on stage, one of the very helpful Riot Fest members offered us some sunscreen,” singer Patrick Kindlon joked between songs. He declined, but eventually came to doubt his judgment. “In retrospect, I’m going to look like a (large) tomato.”
At the end of the day, local band Fall Out Boy’s comeback show was an exhilarating party from start to finish. They opened with “Chicago is So Two Years Ago” from their 2003 album “Take This to Your Grave,” and hearing it live was emotional, with lead singer Patrick Stump singing with the passion that it was an unofficial anthem for the city of Chicago.
On the Rise stage, the Marley Brothers, Damien, Ziggy, Stephen, Ky-Mani, performed a set of hard-hitting Bob Marley music that seemed particularly appropriate.
Songs like “Buffalo Solider” and “Get Up, Stand Up” seem just as relevant today as when they were recorded decades ago. Ziggy’s rendition of “Shalom Salaam” was powerful, with the lyrics: “No peace, no peace for the children of Israel / Gaza is crying all the tears in her eyes / Will there be no peace for the children of Palestine.”
They closed the night with “One Love,” a reminder of the joy of music that brings so many people to the West Side in the first place.
Mark Braboy is a freelance writer.
Originally published:
