Riot Fest opened Friday back in its usual location in Douglass Park in the North Lawndale neighborhood, with first-day headliners Fall Out Boy and The Marley Brothers, joined by punk band NOFX playing farewell concerts all three nights of the music festival. Other big acts for the 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 it would decamp to SeatGeek Stadium in southwest suburban Bridgeview after a delay in permitting, then reversing that decision in August after mending fences with the city and Chicago Park District.
On Friday, fest-goer Jeanne Barr said she and her husband have attended Riot Fest for 10 years. Like others inside the grounds, she was glad the festival had returned to the park. “I do think about the neighborhood and I hope the residents are OK with it, but man, it’s so much nicer here. It’s got shade and you can see the skyline. Then there’s the history,” she said.
The three-day, independently owned festival of punk, hip hop and alternative music has played 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 has been whether Riot Fest is welcome in the community, where it takes over a portion of the city park every summer.
Ald. Monique Scott, 24th, has said that it is, pointing to its positive economic benefits and other outreach efforts. Opponents have called it an outsider intrusion on the surrounding North Lawndale, a predominantly Black neighborhood, and the largely Latino Little Village.
Festival-goer Roxana Lopez from Pilsen says that had Riot Fest moved to SeatGeek Stadium, it would have been harder for her to get there; the Bridgeview location was criticized by some for its lack of access to public transportation.
Lopez said she was able to travel by CTA to Douglass Park — “It’s literally just two stops” — and also that she loves the festival’s sense of belonging. “It’s because it’s for misfits! It’s for all the weirdos, all the people that don’t fit in the normal scene so it’s a place where we could all be united.”
A local resident who went by the name Dee Glo was outside the park Friday selling homemade tacos and Polish sausages for $5. She said Riot Fest adds an air of positivity to the North Lawndale neighborhood and helps to decrease violence.
“It’s bringing positivity, good atmosphere. It makes you want to stay here,” she said, and people have been happy to see her stand. “It makes them feel like, ‘Hey, we’re glad you all are here!’ Do you know how far it is to walk to a restaurant here? … We need the festivals right here so we can enjoy ourselves, no violence, just good energy.”
Lillian Holden, another resident of the West Side, feels differently and was disappointed to see the festival return. She says that the park has much to offer residents from recreation to general exploration that many are not always able to partake in.
“Douglass Park is also near two major hospitals and the festival causes an influx of traffic. These two hospitals have emergency rooms so, because of traffic, they’re probably not able to get to the emergency room. That means that lives are at stake. There’s a lot of noise pollution, so we need to think about how it’s impacting our wildlife,” she said.
Listening to a set by Suicidal Tendencies late in the afternoon, fest-goer Deimus Lopez said he bought his tickets when they first went on sale. As a metalhead, Riot Fest is the only festival that interests him. He was upset when they announced the move. “But we would have figured it out. As far as the people who protest, it’s completely understandable if they don’t want Riot Fest in their community. We live near Wrigley Field,” he said, referencing the crush of game days, “so we completely understand.”
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Music isn’t the only thing that sets Riot Fest apart from Pitchfork and Lollapalooza — it leans into a carnival atmosphere, with a midway of rides, games and a new tent this summer by the Hellzapoppin Circus Sideshow. “Freak show!” a sign outside the entrance blared. The acts inside were more akin to aerialists.
Friday was as sun-blasted a Riot Fest as there ever was. Chicago’s current drought conditions raised a haze of dust and mid-afternoon, the carny rides were sparsely attended.
Post-hardcore band Drug Church and their fans seemed immune to it all on the Radical Stage, wearing black and thrashing it up with abandon. A mosh circle pit swirled and kicked up grit in the middle of the crowd.
“A moment before we took the stage, one of the very helpful Riot Fest staff offered us sunblock,” vocalist Patrick Kindlon joked between numbers. He had refused but had come to doubt his judgement. “In retrospect, I’m gonna look like a (expletive) tomato.”
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At the end of the day, local band Fall Out Boy’s homecoming performance was an exhilarating romp from beginning to end. They opened with “Chicago is So Two Years Ago” from their 2003 album “Take This to Your Grave,” and hearing it live was soul-stirring, an lead singer Patrick Stump delivered his vocals with the passion of it being an unofficial anthem to the city of Chicago.
On the Rise Stage, the Marley Brothers of Damien, Ziggy, Stephen, Ky-Mani, and performed a set of Bob Marley’s impactful music that felt particularly appropriate.
Songs like “Buffalo Solider” and “Get Up, Stand Up” felt just as relevant as when they were recorded decades ago. Ziggy’s performance of “Shalom Salaam” was powerful as they sang the lyrics, “No peace no peace for the children of Israel / Gaza cries all the tears from her eyes / Will there be no peace for the children of Palestine.”
They closed the night with “One Love,” and it was 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.
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