I knew going in that Friday was going to be the best day, as the day ended with an insane four-band stretch that, barring huge surprises, would be the highlight of the weekend. For us, the day started at 2 PM with Fishbone. This started a theme for the weekend: Really good bands given early afternoon slots and not nearly enough time on stage. I'm not all that familiar with Fishbone's catalog, but as a long-time Sublime fan I could appreciate the dirty ska-punk and the cover of "Date Rape". The moment Fishbone left the stage, Living Colour went on on the next stage over, so I went over to the barricade and took this shot:
"Cult of Personality", and a bunch of songs that sound just like "Cult of Personality". Aw, yeah. Anything that reminds me of GTA: San Andreas will always be the best. After that, it was over to the other side of the park, where I paid half attention to Bayside and Every Time I Die while getting the best possible spot for my current favorite band...
That's right, wearing a super sweet "Gender is Over" top, it's Laura Jane Grace and Against Me!. I'm 2-for-2 in getting right up front during Against Me! sets, and I have every intention of making that 10-for-10 or so. They only got 45 minutes, but they didn't mess around- starting with True Trans Soul Rebel into Pints of Guinness Make You Strong into Unconditional Love into Walking is Still Honest. I mean, how do you beat that? Well, maybe by ending with a crowd-sized singalong of Black Me Out, Thrash Unreal, and I Was A Teenage Anarchist. They took me to church. No other way to put it. I consider myself very fortunate that every time I notice I've changed as a person, I luck into finding the band that speaks to what I've learned, as well as to how far I still have to go. The fact that Against Me! is that band for me, right now, is one of my favorite things about myself. After that, I took an hour to eat, drink, smoke- sorry Atreyu and Coheed and Cambria, you just aren't very good- and stake out a decent spot for Flogging Molly. This was Flog show #3 for me, and while I wouldn't go so far as to call them one of my favorite bands, they're consistent, fun, and some of the better performers I've seen. I love Dave King's charisma- constantly expressing his gratitude to be able to do what he does, without ever sounding disingenuous or obsequious- and the way Bridget Regan switches from fiddle to tin whistle and back again, never missing a beat. They rocked every minute of their hour, although I couldn't stay till the end. Another band on the other side of the park was beckoning, and besides, Flog had already played "Tobacco Island", so who cares what else they did? That other band I had to go see? Chicago's very own Alkaline Trio. Now, I haven't re-ranked my favorite albums of all time in a while, and it's possible that this is no longer true, but I think the Trio's "From Here to Infirmary" is still my #1. That album was the soundtrack to my mid-20's, and "Trucks and Trains" is still in my top 3 songs of all time. It was actually my hardest choice of the weekend- do you see Alkaline Trio or Faith No More in this time slot? I study Setlist.fm like it's my job, and I knew that Alkaline Trio wouldn't play a ton of stuff from the album I love, and I also knew that this was probably my last chance to see Faith No More. But in the end I went with the band I like more, and I'm happy with that. I did get Armageddon, Mr. Chainsaw, and- as the closer- Radio. So I was on some kind of high when I trekked back through the mud to the far corner of Douglas Park and the Roots stage, to catch my headlining act of choice: Ice Cube, with "special guests". I was hoping for Dre and did not get him, but there was MC Ren and DJ Yella, and there were a whole lot of white dudes unsure if they are allowed to yell certain words, even if they were just rapping along. I say yes, but honorable folk may differ. Anyway, once the "Straight Outta Compton" part of Ice's set was over, I decided to switch stages- basically turning around and walking 50 feet- and see how No Doubt was. My timing was perfect. I missed all the crappy No Doubt songs- there are plenty- I caught "Sunday Morning" and "Don't Speak", and I saw Gwen climb all the way up the side of the stage to sing "Just a Girl", before ending with "Spiderwebs". All the goodness possible in a No Doubt set, concentrated and delivered in a 20-minute burst. When the lights went out on that stage, I could hear Ice Cube ending his set with "It Was a Good Day". Damn right. It did kind of suck waiting for 80 minutes with everyone else to get on a Pink Line train, but for this night, it was worth it.
Day 2 was a shorter day for me, as we arrived later and didn't stay for the headliners. In fact, I probably would have sold my tickets to day 2 if it wasn't for one thing: Rancid was set to play "...And Out Come The Wolves" in its entirety as their set. The Everlasting Dave of 20 years ago would be so proud of me. We arrived too late to catch The Ataris, Gwar, The Joy Formidable and The Dead Milkmen, but we were just in time for Babes in Toyland, who I was unreasonably excited to see. I mean, Sleater-Kinney wasn't in the lineup, but Babes in Toyland are kind of like the bad-acid-trip psychotic version of S-K, right? I think they are. After that was Pennywise, another punk band I should probably know better than I do, but whatever. I can sing every word to Same Old Story and Bro Hymn and I'm not sure anyone needs to know more than that.
After this, I called an audible on my initial plan. I intended to see Echo & the Bunnymen, Bootsy Collins, and Merle Haggard all in a row- just to say I did exactly that- but it wasn't until ten minutes before Echo went on that I realized I knew zero songs and gave zero craps about any of those performers. Pennywise had me feeling the punk, so instead of that trip down someone else's memory lane, I caught half an hour of The Lawrence Arms and then staked my place at the tiny corner stages to see CIV. I knew just the one CIV song, but I like it, and the band has a pretty good reputation, so I talked myself into CIV being a rarer opportunity than the three acts I was blowing off. Maybe I was right, maybe I was wrong, but man, CIV rocked the tiny little group of people who were there to see them. The fun, the energy, the laid-back attitude with real punk rock behind it- this probably ended up being my third-favorite set of the whole weekend. Here's the part where Anthony Civarelli (far right) invited the women in the audience up on stage for "Set Your Goals".
After this, I did in fact set my goals: to be front and center while Rancid played the best album of the 90's in its entirety. I caught the end of Alexisonfire and the entirety of Drive Like Jehu while staking out my spot, but I don't remember a thing from either of them. What I do remember is how I felt when this happened:
Yes, that's just a guy doing a sound check, but that backdrop had just gone down, and it became real. I love a good headbang, and I enjoy a little folk rock as much as a person should, but there's nothing like a whole crowd of people singing along to punk songs so loud it drowns out the band. I was surrounded by people who love "...And Out Come The Wolves" just as much as I do, and it was a damn beautiful thing. It was also the end of our Day 2. After the Pink Line debacle of Day 1, our conclusion was that none of the headliners- Iggy Pop, Taking Back Sunday, or System of a Down- was worth that extra standing-and-waiting time, so we called it an early night to rest up for Sunday.
Now, the final day of 3. By this time every inch of Douglas Park smelled like a cow pasture and there was nowhere to walk without ankle-deep mud threatening to eat your shoes. But hey, bands were playing, tickets were bought and paid for, so why not? I made it a point to get there a little earlier on Sunday, because there was a solid list of bands I wanted to see. That list started at 2:15 with Hum, a 90's grunge band I remembered solely for their one modest hit "Stars".
It turns out most of Hum's songs sound exactly like "Stars", and that suited me just fine. After that came De La Soul, who spent just as much time demanding audience participation as they did performing.
Then I slogged my way across the park to catch Less Than Jake, a ska-punk band I know mostly for their covers of other people's music. This was fun, though. I failed to get a good picture of it- I have no idea how- but Less Than Jake has a mascot. This is a guy in full costume who looks like a Bart Simpson/ Calvin/ Dennis the Menace hybrid and spends the set flipping off the crowd, grabbing his mascot crotch, and blasting the crowd with squirt guns. I was entertained. My pic, however, just shows the band. Sorry about that.
At this point, I had half an hour to kill, but since I decided not to drink on the last day I didn't have to stand in a beer line or a port-a-potty line. So instead I just turned around to the stage behind me, and was in a fine position to get a face full of sun and Kongos. I guess everyone knows their song "Come With Me Now", but I was more impressed with their "Come Together/ Gin and Juice" mashup.
Turning back around- It's truly amazing how long you can stand in one place when you don't have to buy beer or pee every 45 minutes- I got to experience something I never knew I needed: a live performance by Andrew W.K.
The over-the-top energy, the ninja-girl backup vocalist who spends most of the set shadow kickboxing, the band's full commitment to not recognizing their own painfully obvious ridiculousness... Frankly, I loved it all. I didn't go out and fill up iTunes with Andrew W.K. music or anything, and in fact I would be fine if I never heard one of their songs again, but this was a fun way to spend 45 minutes. My next stop was across the park, where my plan was to move gradually forward throughout Cypress Hill, listen to the Airborne Toxic Event from the next stage over, and be in perfect position for Snoop Dogg, who was set to play "Doggystyle" in its entirety. Phase one was harder than expected, but I got it done, and Cypress Hill was awesome:
Phase two was also easily accomplished. I was dead center in front of the stage Snoop was set to take in just an hour, and I could hear the Airborne Toxic Event and see their big screens from the next stage over. So that was fine. With about twenty minutes before Snoop was scheduled to go on, my whole area was subsumed in a big ol' pot cloud. Everyone got good and stoned... And then Snoop was late. And then Snoop was later. If it hadn't been for THC, there would have been something approximating a riot, and as it was, there was still plenty of booing and angry chanting. Half an hour past his scheduled start time, an intro by Lady of Rage only made things worse. When Snoop finally took the stage, he blamed Riot Fest for not having his videoboard working, and instead of a full performance of a seminal 90's album, we got a medley of bits and pieces from across his career. The kind of thing you'll see if Snoop is playing regular Vegas matinees in 20 years. They cut his mic after about 25 minutes so headliners Modest Mouse could go on one stage over. Before that night, I had no idea it was possible to be stoned and indignant at the same time. It was a crap way to end an incredible weekend, but it could have been worse. I could have stuck around and watched the "classic electronica" of The Prodigy, or the general awfulness of Modest Mouse. I guess leaving on a bad note was going to happen no matter what. But they can't take Against Me!, Rancid, CIV, Alkaline Trio, or Andrew W.K. away from me. No, they cannot.
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