NUNN ON THE RUN
Riot Fest Rocks Out
Wed. September 21, 2016 12:00 AM
by Jerry Nunn
Riot Fest music festival engulfed Douglas Park and the surrounding area on Sept. 16, 17, 18 in Chicago. The locals charged for parking spaces, bottled water, and homemade food outside the festival grounds. The always unpredictable weather in the Windy City held out for once with only light sprinkling on the Friday of the fest.
Black t-shirts made up much of the attire to a wide age range of attendees, some bringing out a whole new generation to see the lineup, ride carnival rides, and eat from local food booths.
Variety was the spice of the festival with artist such as Julian Marley supplying reggae music, The Specials brought ska, and rap lyrics came from Method Man. There was also a lot of rock and louder than ever.
Dee Snider couldn't take it anymore and asked fans waiting for Tiger Army on the stage to the right to rock out whether they like his music or not. It was a beautiful day in Chicago after all and not to be squandered.
Afterwards, Bad Religion stirred up an old school mosh pit, and Rob Zombie displayed showmanship with his colorful performance at the Roots Stage.
Morrissey was unpredictable as ever arriving after a 30 minute music video montage on Saturday and demanded no cooking or selling of meat products during his time slot. Rapper NAS competed with him at the same time creating a completely different vibe on the other side of the park.
Some people didn't even connect the dots that actress Juliette Lewis leads Juliette and the Licks or Joey Bada$$ is from USA series Mr. Robot.
Bisexual rocker Corin Tucker who fronts band Sleater-Kinney showed diversity in the lineup, along with openly gay singer Bob Mould.
The Original Misfits closed out the weekend on the Riot Stage. Many of the crowd were able to see this classic band for the first time. Misfit t-shirts were worn by the multitudes in allegiance of the group that uses horror images and was founded way back in 1977.
Visit riotfest.org for more on the festival's lineup for next year.