Riot Fest recap

Riot Fest
Congress Theater, Chicago
Sunday November 5, 2006

Celebrating its second anniversary as an annual event, Riot Fest 2006 set out to prove it’s the one-stop-shop for all things punk rock. A dozen or so equally minded (aesthetically speaking) bands stretched out sets over the course of a smoky, sweaty Sunday at Bucktown’s Congress Theater. The locally born and nourished festival even managed to pull off a few booking coups.

Iconic stalwarts like headliners Naked Raygun, Blue Meanies, and The Bollweevils were coaxed from retirement-or “indefinite hiatus,” as the kids are wont to call it these days, for a weekend of previously-mohawked revelry. (All three bands also played “surprise” gigs around town as well).

Although the participants were warmly received, it was obvious the aforementioned trinity pulled the biggest draw at the surprisingly well-attended gathering. The Bollweevils delivered a mostly by-the-numbers set that revealed how severely the foursome worship at the altar of the night’s headliner. Blue Meanies took their ska-flicked brand of bravado to a sizable throng of acolytes who genuinely savored the fact that the opportunity to see any, or all, of these bands is dwindling.

With a roar reserved for The Beatles’ first landing on these shores, Naked Raygun announced their presence with “Home Of The Brave,” only to stop the song due to gear trouble. It proved to be the harbinger of things to come. Once mighty and unmatched, the Chicago quartet seemed short of breath. Lead singer Jeff Pezzati’s normally gigantic vocals were still depleted from the previous night’s show at the considerably smaller Subterranean.

Still, there were the occasional flashes of former glories. Pierre Kezdey’s lacerating bass line helped fuel the menace that is “The Peacemaker” and the “whoo-whoa-whoo” intro the audience improvised on “I Lie” could have transported any of a handful of salt-and-pepper punks back to a time when Metro had a Cabaret in its title.

All in all, the evening proved to be more about a glance back than a sneer forward, a case of the “spirit is willing but the body is not.” As the crowd consumed the line “What poor Gods we do make” (“I Don’t Know”) and shouted the words back at the band, it would have been more appropriate to change the “do” to “did.”

— Curt Baran

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly