Riot Fest, aka Chicago Concert Photographer Christmas

The pandemic was tough on a lot of serious fronts for many people. My fiancé and I were lucky that we were primarily worried about shortages of stuff in stores, whether our dog and cat would have separation anxiety when normal life returned, when live music was going to come back to Chicago, and whether or not our favorite venues across Chicagoland weathered the storm.¹ To say I paused when I picked up my press credentials and walked through the festival entrance last year, and said a big "thanks" to the universe is a true understatement.

Everyone has their happy place and live music in the city is ours.

The mighty photog Jake Barlow, found on a sweet holographic sticker.

Each of the trifecta of major festivals in Chicago (Lollapalooza, Pitchfork, and Riot) all have their own personalities and quirks. Riot in particular caters to the chiller crowd, folks that love a wide swath of rock, indie, and metal. That and All Rise’s Wonder Beer. It doesn’t try to be trendy or take itself too seriously. The phrase “Riot Fest sucks” is thrown around a lot, along with all the porta-potty jokes. The colorful devil head beams against the skyline, coupled with the ferris wheel that never seems to have all of it’s lights completely in operation.

Joey Belladonna and Scott Ian of Anthrax.

As a photographer covering the event, it’s an annual family reunion of sorts for the concert photogs of Chicago. It’s rare to have so many of us in the same pit. It’s the long weekend of the year where we’re exhausted from running from stage to stage but are nevertheless laughing along the way. No one seems to take themselves too seriously. It’s truly Christmas day for each of us.

Ice-T of Body Count.

The bands I covered last year included an eclectic, rockin’ bunch: Bayside, Best Coast, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Gwar, Night Moves, Rise Against, 3oh!3, Anthrax, Body Count, Devo, Facs, Health, K. Flay, Machine Gun Kelly, New Found Glory, Pet Symmetry, Simple Plan, and The Flaming Lips.

Tim McIllrath of Rise Against.

When I walked out of the last three-song set, I thought to myself, “the weekend went by too fast, let’s get to next year already”.

3OH!3.

Machine Gun Kelly.

Pierre Bouvier of Simple Plan.

¹ Of course this was after knowing vaccines were a thing and the fear of potential health issues subsided. That and that our jobs were as secure as they could be. Subscript to the subscript- get vaccinated if you haven't yet!
² Teenage me would have completely freaked out at the idea of New Found Glory and Simple Plan alone.