Riot Fest, the music festival that, presumably in deference to its punk rock roots, continues to be a public nuisance into its second decade of existence, has announced the initial lineup for this year’s events in Denver’s National Western Complex August 28-30, Chicago’s Douglas Park September 11-13, and Toronto’s Downsview Park September 19-20. (Riot Fest Chicago was forced to move this year after the alderman representing its old location, Humboldt Park, pulled his support for the festival, citing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to the park after last year’s event.)
As usual, the lineup is sprawling, eclectic, and includes at least a couple of bands you haven’t thought about since the ’90s, with No Doubt, Modest Mouse, Faith No More, Iggy Pop, Pixies, The Wu-Tang Clan, Alexisonfire, and Snoop Dogg toplining various incarnations of the festival. (Also, did you know that Hum is still around?) In true Riot Fest fashion, the festival will also include reunion shows from bands like the aforementioned Faith No More, Drive Like Jehu, L7, Babes in Toyland, Thrice, and The Academy Is… And in typical summer festival fashion, a few acts will play some of their most famous albums all the way through, including:
Snoop Dogg (Doggystyle)
Ice Cube & Guests (Straight Outta Compton Remix)
Rancid (… And Out Come The Wolves)
The Academy Is… (Almost Here)
The Dwarves (Blood Guts And Pussy)
More atypical will be a special stage devoted to The Rock-afire Explosion, the famed Showbiz Pizza animatronic band that, as the press release trumpets, is “considered by many to be the greatest animatronic rock band of all time” and was the subject of a documentary in 2008.
The official posters with initial lineups are below; expect more announcements in the coming weeks. Whether Riot Fest continued last year’s tradition of putting fake band names at the bottom of the poster, we’re not sure; we’re too old to know a lot of these bands, and Googling them sounds like a lot of work.