Riot Fest 2022: Total Domination at Douglass Park [Photos & Review]

They used to say Lollapalooza was the festival that Chicago was known for and was the more punk-fulled off-the-beaten-path filled type of event. To me, that isn’t the case anymore, and now that crown goes to Riot Fest, a three-day event that’s been happening at Douglass Park in Chicago, Illinois for quite some time.

It was my first time at this festival, so I really didn’t know what to expect besides punk music, and carnival rides, but I’m always up for an adventure. Come with me as we explore this festival, and all of the bands that I was able to catch:

After travelling 700 miles from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, I finally made it to Douglas Park in Chicago, Illinois. It was my first time back in the Land of Lincoln since 2016, so I was excited to get back to this part of the country. Upon entering Riot Fest, you’re kind of blown away and feel kind of like a lost sheep. This is such a ginormous festival with so much stuff to do it’s easy to get lost in it all.

There are five 5 stages and tons of things to do, if you don’t want to watch any of the bands play. Besides music, there were loads of vendors offering various things to buy. There’s also a skateboard half-pipe where there were people constantly skating. Besides that, there were countless carnival rides. Oh, and if you were feeling hungry, you could also grab a slice of pizza or some noodles… or oodles of other goodies. Needless to say, there were a ton of things to do.

But let’s talk about the main reason why I attended; the music.

Across 173 acres there are five massive stages. When I first discovered this, I thought there might be a lot of sound bleed, but that wasn’t the issue at all. Somehow RF has the stages strategically placed out so well that there’s minimum sound bleed happening. Which was impressive whenever the band Foxy Shazam was playing and another band Cliffdiver, was playing 1,000 feet away. (Give or take a few hundred feet probably).

Speaking of music this was one stacked lineup, and out of all of the festival lineups I’ve seen this year, I think this might be my favourite. You had some absolute legends like My Chemical Romance playing and Nine Inch Nails as well. Some of the other people I loved seeing were Action Bronson, Sleater-Kinney, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LS Dunes’ first show ever, and Anberlin.

The lineup was really all over the place, but they mainly stayed on the punk/alternative side, which I think might be my favourite festival lineup I’ve seen all year. It feels like with other festivals, they are pretty much all of the same bands playing so it was refreshing to see this lineup, and not see something as cookie-cutter as the other lineups that are out there. I do have to comment on the My Chemical Romance show that happened on Friday night. I don’t know what it was, but it seemed like the crowd was really out of control. After every song played I think MCR had to tell the crowd to back up. I’ve never heard that before, and I’ve been to a TON of shows. MCR did an amazing job though, and it felt wonderful hearing “Welcome to the Black Parade” live in person.

Besides the MCR issue, it was a really great festival and something you have to check out if you love punk/alt music. There really isn’t another festival like it, and I hope you get to check it out next year if this sounds like something that would be up your alley.

Riot Fest (Day 3) @ Douglass Park (Chicago, IL) on September 18, 2022

95 photos