Riot Fest 2018

Got back home this morning, and, after a quick nap, went straight back to work! So needless to say I'm running on fumes, but totally worth it, as usual! Despite all the hiccups, it seemed like another successful year of Riot Fest. Attendance didn't seem down and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Generally, I like doing deep dives into artist setlists once the schedule is released and I was a little peeved it was so late this year. Luckily, I had already seen like 15 of the bands on the lineup and therefore my last minute cramming wasn't too hectic. Weather was pleasant overall, if not a little on the warm side. The festival layout was similar to the last 2 years so not much to report there. I was glad they put the food trucks on the other side of the festival so the food options weren't all confined to the same place like last year. Other than that, more carnival stuff was fun. Less lighting on the grounds at night was not. Onto the music.

This was probably my least favorite lineup of the last 4 years, but again that was due to already having seen a lot of the bands and the fest lacking a true 3rd headliner. However, the weekend was still full of music legends, surprise performances, and punk rawk! Here be my top 10:

1. Gary Numan - Holy hell so unexpectedly amazing! He and his band owned that stage with the costumes erratic dancing! It was a little intimidating diving into his discography, spanning 4 decades and all. I liked how his recent stuff was NIN-esque industrial metal while his older stuff was bleep bloop songs that almost sounded like a retro video game soundtrack by today's standards. HOWEVER, those "cute" synthy early songs were revamped to be HARD AS QUACK and I LOVED every second of it! He should've been given a full, night set. What a legend!
2.Bouncing Souls - So much better than their '14 Roo set! The crowd was great and massive for that tiny stage and you could tell the band was feeding off that energy! This was one of the few acts I got rail for and Greg gave me a loving shoulder pat with his punk hands during Lean on Sheena which made me feel special. Hard to believe this band will be 30 next year!
3. Weezer - Was low key pumped when it was announced they would be replacing blink-121.3 (get it?? cuz its only 2/3 of 182!!!11111). Mainly because I'm also low key pumped that Africa has made such a memetastic comeback. Anyways, what I liked best about their set was it seemed very much curated for riotfest, with the blink cover and usage of the other main stage. Though I think they sounded better at 80/35 in 2015, it was still a solid performance.
4. Flogging Molly - It took me seeing them again to remind myself why they were my favorite band of Roo 2012. Dave King is a goddamn delight! They were so good I hardly noticed that the banjo player was absent.
5. The Aquabats! - WE WANT THE AQUABATS! Some people may think they are gimmicky but I love their whole shtick and I honestly could have used twice as many songs.
6. FEAR - Dude, Lee Ving sounds exactly like he did 40 years ago. Loved the intensity and vulgarity! The only thing missing was a saxophone!
7. Lagwagon - Looked and sounded great! I really like Let's Talk About Feelings so it was really cool seeing it played in full.
8. Beck - Everything was great, I just have this hang up about too many people backing up the frontman on vocals/guitars. I mean at one point there were 4 guitars playing the same part and there was a dude singing note for note with Beck on every song. If the frontman can stop singing and playing and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference, at what point is he just a hype man? I didn't realized they were playing E-Pro until the Nananas cuz there were just too many cooks in the kitchen. I did like the all the screens and the acoustic part of the concert but what really turned everything around was when he brought out MOTHER QUACKING GARY NUMAN!!!! I GOT TO HEAR CARS TWICE!!!
9. Incubus - Solid. Good visuals and fun covers. Just lacking that wow factor that puts shows over the top for me. Came out of the gate REAL strong with Privilege, Anna Molly, and Megalomaniac so it was hard to keep that intensity going the entire time.
10. Interpol - Also solid. Good lights and setlist, just nothing overly special. Probably would've liked it more if I was actually at the stage rather than with the Beck crowd.

Honorable mention goes to HEALTH. They were right on their way to making my top 5 but ALL THEIR INSTRUMENTS BROKE!! Major bummer but now I'm determined to see them again! Adolescents and Run the Jewels were also great, I was just pretty far back for both.
Elvis and Blondie were a bit disappointing. Elvis couldn't keep up with his own songs and DH was having none of that sun! Ah well, I can still say I saw a couple rock pioneers over the weekend!

I can't say I'm not a little worried about the future of this fest though. The problematic roll out had to have cost them a bunch. I know blink-182 has committed to headlining next year, but the new twenty one pilots album was being a little too heavily promoted for my liking. Worst case scenario for next year: blink, top, Bauhaus (2 members). Best case: blink (with Tom, EotS 20 year set), Bauhaus (full reunion), and of course, KANYE #YEEZYSAVERIOTFEST2019
And with my lack-of-sleep delirium showing, I should probably end this megapost. See ya next year!