Chauncey and Chumley's Dad

Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile have collaborated on a forthcoming album and just announced a US tour for 2017. Their back up band is called Sea Lice and includes Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag), Rob Laakso (The Violators, The Swirlies, Mice Parade), Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint) and Katie Harkin (Sky Larkin, touring member of Sleater-Kinney and Wild Beasts). They are set to play three shows in Chicago; Oct. 26 at (surprisingly) Rockefeller Chapel, Oct. 27 at Thalia Hall and Oct. 28 at Empty Bottle.

Riot Fest 2016 Day 3 - Another glorious day with blue skies and zero percent chance of rain and some awesome music.

Billy Talent (Rise Stage) – As with Day 2, this was another band that just happened to be on Rise stage when I arrived and I listened to most of their set while waiting in the water line, applying sunscreen, and retrieving my strategically hidden flask of whiskey. Some good hard rocking Punk/Alternative. Good banter with the audience. They are from Ontario, and I can’t remember the exact quote, but the singer introduced one song saying that the name of it was, “Good Luck To The Cubs And We Look Forward To The Blue Jays Beating Them In The 7th Game Of The World Series.” A cool band that I hope to see again some time.

Juliette Lewis & The Licks (Rock Stage) – I got pretty close to the stage for this show. I looked forward to this set and it was every bit as entertaining as I hoped it would be. Juliette is just a bundle of energy on stage and for a petite girl, she sure has a set of pipes. They band played tight and Juliette laid it all out with her singing and prowling the stage including twisting body movements that would be virtually impossible for most people. At one point, she went crowd surfing and she was not content to stay in one position as she did that. She twisted, turned and flipped over repeatedly throughout the ride. Being an actor, working a crowd clearly comes easy for her and she executes her brand of Hard Rock and Blues to perfection. I know she has played at The Vic Theatre in Chicago and I would love to see her perform there sometime in the near future.

A Will Away (Storyheart Stage) – One of the two bands I saw today on the “small stages,” I stood right up at the stage barrier for this band. They are a young band from Connecticut that plays Pop Punk. Good set. Up close always make it enjoyable.

War On Women (Rebel Stage) – Another band on a “small stage,” this Baltimore Hard Core feminist band was tremendous. Man, was I glad I saw them! They put on a frenzied show with great singing and theatrics by front woman Shawna Potter. At one point, they brought out a condom filled Donald Trump piñata which Shawna smashed with a baseball bat and then she proceeded to hump and pummel the remains on stage. (After throwing the remains into the audience, some of it landed near my feet, as seen in the photo above.) Seeing this band was reminiscent of a similar small stage experience I had last year seeing another Hard Core band, Civ. As with Civ in 2015, War On Women was one of my unexpected highlights of Riot Fest 2016.

The Julie Ruin (Rock Stage) – I saw this band last year at Pitchfork and like them enough to want to see them again. They have a quirky artistic mix of Punk and Alternative and lead singer Kathleen Hanna has a charming stage presence.

Jake Bugg (Rock Stage) – I laid down for some shade and rest on the soccer field next to the stage. The next band I wanted to see started at 6:30 on the Rise Stage, so I decided when I heard Jake Bugg start at 6:15, it would be time to head over to the Rise Stage. Jake’s brand of Indie Folk Rock seemed a tad out of place for Riot Fest but there is always room for diversity. The couple of songs I heard sounded really good so perhaps I’ll catch his show another time.

Me First & The Gimme Gimmes (Rise Stage) – I’ve mentioned that several of the bands have a lot of fun on stage and when it comes to putting on a fun show, this band is as good as it gets. They are strictly a cover band and they take mostly Top 40 pop songs and turn them into Punk songs. How about Paul Simon’s Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard? Or Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive? And George Gershwin’s Summertime? No artist is safe from the hyper Punked-up renditions of the Gimmes. And for the second time at Riot Fest 2016, I got to hear one of may all time favorite songs, Sloop John B. (See my review of Meat Puppets from Day 1.) Their banter and sense of humor was the best. Keeping in mind that they are strictly a cover band, they often made a point of telling the audience, “This next song is a cover!” The irony was incomparable. They also poked fun at Sunday headliners, Misfits, a few times. One comment was, “We’re a cover band. We don’t play real songs like Misfits.” Another was, “You know how we’re always hugging on stage? Maybe the Misfits should start hugging more to solve their problems.” (A reference to Misfits years of legal battles within the band.)  With a 6:30 time slot, and competing with Deftones, they drew a very large crowd. I missed this band at Riot Fest 2014 but I am very happy I got to see them this time around.

Sleater-Kinney (Rock Stage) – The Hold Steady are my boys and Sleater-Kinney are my girls. I just love the way they rock! I saw them for the first time last summer at Pitchfork and given that they had just come off a hiatus of several years, I was not sure if and when I would see them again. Who knew it would be a year later? Thank you Riot Fest! I ended up about 10 people deep from the stage and the enthusiastic  audience was treated to a tremendous Riot Grrrl show. They rocked hard with great vocals and wailing guitar from Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker, and the hard driving drumming of Janet Weiss. They played a nice mix of old and new material, and their one hour set just seemed to fly by. A great band to see on a beautiful Chicago night, they were clearly my Riot Fest 2016 favorites.

Misfits or as they were billed for Riot Fest, The Original Misfits (Riot Stage) – This is a band that flew under my radar (other than the familiar imagery on t-shirts) and until this year, I knew little or nothing about them. The back story on this band is that they formed in 1977, pioneered the Horror Punk genre, and by 1983, they had split up and spent several years in legal battles which resulted in various reformations of the band and spin off bands. So Riot Fest apparently pulled off another one of their famous coups, getting the original trio of members to regroup for shows in Chicago and Denver. They looked to have an interesting stage show and under different circumstances, I may have been a little more compelled to watch the show. However, they had the last time slot of the festival to themselves and the vast majority of fans that attended Day 3 stayed for the Misfits show. By the time I wandered over after Sleater-Kinney, I think I was close to two football fields away from the stage. The crowd was that deep. After three long days of music, sun, standing, walking, dancing and drinking, I was not about to attempt to start working my way through the crowd to get closer to the stage. I stayed for a few songs and somewhat enjoyed what I could see of the stage show, but music was not very satisfying at that distance. I finally decided to close out my fourth Riot Fest and make the mile long hike back to the L station. At any rate, for the hard core Misfits fans – and based on the attire and face painting, there were a lot of them – I hope the show was everything they wished for.

Photos: 1) Juliette Lewis & The Licks, 2) Juliette Lewis crowd surfing, 3) A Will Away, 4) War On Women, 5-6) War On Women with Trump pinata and remnants, 7) the Douglas Park soccer field, 8) The Julie Ruin, 9) Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, 10) Sleater-Kinney

I am really stoked about getting to see Sleater-Kinney again. I saw them last summer at Pitchfork Festival and I’m thrilled that they will be at Riot Fest this year. This video is a selection from their performance at Pitchfork last year.

The Riot Fest daily line up for Chicago is out! Some excellent new additions include Sleater-Kinney, The Flaming Lips and Julian Marley who will perform Bob Marley’s masterpiece Exodus in it’s entirety.

Pitchfork Festival Scenes

My first experience at Pitchfork and it was an overall wonderful experience. The artists that drew me to the festival, Wilco, Parquet Courts and Courtney Barnett, were every bit as good as I imagined they would be. It was great to discover some new music as well, most notably Chvrches. I also loved seeing The New Pornographers again and Sleater-Kinney just impressed the hell out of me. Thanks to Pitchfork and the City of Chicago for putting on such a cool festival in the hot summer sun.

Day 2 at Ptichfork Festival 2015 was incredible! Here is a summary of the day:

Transportation – Again, the CTA was spot on! Trains ran on time and the staff kept things orderly and efficient. (Please do the same for Riot Fest and any future Pearl Jam concerts at Wrigley Field!) Waiting for the trains, I particularly enjoyed giving Chicago Police officers a fist pump and thanking them for their service.

Weather – A mixed bag. Of the three days, this was supposed to be the hottest day and the lowest chance of rain. It started out hot and humid, and we ended up getting a storm around 3:00, and it later turned out to be clear and breezy. Typical Chicago weather potpourri! Some lightning forced the festival to shut down for about 40 minutes.

Facility – I did a 180 on the food and beverage lines on day two. Maybe I hit it at the right time, but around 7:30, I got food and beer with virtually no wait. I found a Cajun stand and had some excellent red beans and rice; a generous portion for just $5.00. Did not buy as much beer today due to the fact that I smuggled in 12 ounces of Jack Daniels in a hip flask. While seeing Parquet Courts and standing near the center aisle, I also discovered that Pitchfork volunteers supplied free bottles of water for the asking. That beat waiting in line and the water station. And there was a stand that had free fruit where I got a delicious apple.

Post Festival Fare – Stopped at Gene and Judes on the way home after exiting the Blue Line. Chicago style hot dog, fresh cut fries and a Supreme tamale. Dynamite late night munchies!

Music – As with Day 1, I saw some entire sets and caught bits of a couple of other sets. Here is the list:

o   Protomartyr – This band was playing when I entered the park, so I heard just a small sampling. One of the Parquet Courts band members mentioned that they played a great set, so they are on my radar for a future opportunity.

o   Mr. Twin Sister – Wanting to pace myself in the heat, I went to see this band at the Blue Stage which was the area with the most shade. I came across a tent sponsored by Vans and sat down on the front step. I really enjoyed the rather ethereal electronic sounds of Mr. Twin Sister, and I thought the lead singer was excellent. I spent part of the time talking with a couple from L.A. that I met at the tent. During the set, it started to rain, and it turned into a heavy rain. I was fortunate and lucky to be in the tent! Then lightning started and because there were live wires in the tent, they kicked everyone out. But within minutes of leaving the tent, the rain stopped, the storm moved on and the festival eventually got restarted.

o   Kurt Vile and the Violators – Good rock band. They played on the Green Stage and I mainly saw them because I was at the Red Stage waiting for Parquet Courts.

o   Parquet Courts – This is when the day really amped up for me. Parquet Courts was my #1 band to see today and they were great! They rocked loud and hard with their post-punk garage rock attack. They played a lot of their material including most of my favorite album, Sunbathing Animal. They were so much fun to see and the fans were really into it, including a few crowd surfers.

o   The New Pornographers – This was the only band in the line up that I had seen before. I like the band but I can’t say that I’m a huge fan. I have just two of their albums and only listen to them occasionally. However, I really enjoyed them the first time I saw them and today was no different. They are just a wonderful live band. They play a brand of power pop that includes beautiful harmonies, lush instrumental layering and complex chord structures. I’m not saying they sound like a Phil Spector production, but they do create a sort of “wall of sound” that sucks you in. No, Neko Case was not with the band, but Simi Stone was added as a second lead female vocalist and she and Kathryn Calder meshed really well. They played a great set which included, Sing Me Spanish Techno, my favorite song that I did not get to see them play the last time.

o   Sophie – After TNP’s, I went to get some food and decided to low-key-it at the Blue Stage for a spell. Again I retreated to the Van’s tent where I listened to Sophie. Basically synth-pop, they played a nice set with Sophie creating some beautiful vocals.

o   Future Islands – I only saw two songs while I was waiting for Sleater-Kinney. Hard to judge by two songs, but I was not impressed. They had a monotonous beat that was permeating throughout the park and the two songs I saw them play featured the same tired beat.

o   Sleater-Kinney – Oh my God was this band great! I just thoroughly enjoyed their brand of Punk or “Riot Grrrl” rock that these ladies played. Great songs and hard driving guitars and drums along with passionate vocals. I wish they could have played a longer set. I wanted them to play all night!

o   Photos – Parquet Courts (1 & 2), The New Pornographers (3 & 4), Sleater-Kinney (5 & 6).

UP NEXT!

Sleater-Kinney will be rocking the old Green Line Ashland Avenue “L” station to it’s foundation when they hit the stage at Union Park.