Riot Fest Part 1

Hey guys this is going to be the first of a two part blog about my time at Riot Fest the last weekend. Wow what a weekend it was. It all started on Thursday night when i went to The Aragon to see Rise Against play the pre Riot Fest show. Now Rise Against has been one of my favorite bands for the last 10 or so years and i have seen them close to 20 times. But this show was up there in one of my favorite Rise Against Shows. They just released their 7th album but still dident fill up their set with new songs. They managed to give the audience a little of everything. There wasn't a cd that they didn't play a song from.

The next day started the actual festival in Humboldt Park. The day was filled with rain and mud. The rain soaked everyone and then being in the wind just made every one freeze. The weather was horrible and the entire place was a giant mud pit. This was a bummer but all the bands still put on awesome shows. My biggest highlights from the first day would be Senses Fail playing their entire first album front to back, The Offspring playing Smash in its entirety for its 20th anniversary, and then once again Rise Against. Something a little different the first day was a panel held during the day featuring members of Pussy Riot, Rise Against, Bad Religion, and moderated by Henry Rollins. This was an hour and 15 minute discussion about politics, punk rock and anything else they felt like talking about.  All in all the day was good the bands put on great shows the weather kind of put a damper on everything but the music over powered it.

^GWAR

At the end of the first day i headed to The Double door to the sold out Bad Religion/ Anti-Flag show. I was hopeing to find someone there selling an extra ticket but there were none to be found. I ended up hanging out outside for a bit and talked to the security guard at the stage door. I gave him some cash and he let me slip right in just in time to catch the end of Anti- Flag and all of Bad Religions set. Now this was an amazing show. I have seen Bad Religion a few times but it has always been in a large venue where there are tons of people and you are far away from the stage. Getting to see them play this rare club show was something ill talk about for the rest of my life. I also got a drum stick.