The festival was fun. There were alot of vendors to choose from. Everyone was friendly. The staff kept everyone in check. Definitely had fun! read more

Riot Fest Chicago - Festivals Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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The musical talent at this event is outstanding. I attended Saturday which was the second day of the event. Jack White did not disappoint. He was outstanding live. Also enjoyed James and The Beach Boys. They do a great job setting up the stages so they don't interfere with other band's performances. They fall short with the food, water station, and bathrooms. Please keep in mind if you plan on attending this event in the future, it is an outdoor event and you will feel the full effect of the weather. read more

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One of the best festivals in Chicago. 3 days towards the end of September for great bands, delicious local cuisine and even better local brews. read more

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Riot fest is always a blast. There's a wide selection of music, mostly rock and roll and punk from different decades. With a variety of great food selection, it'll be tough picking just one thing to try. I would wait to buy tickets on resale the day of the festival because they'll be significantly cheaper. read more

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First of all let me just say I love standing in lines. And this is the place to be if you love standing in lines. These are some of the best and longest lines I have come across. All kinds of lines, food lines, merch lines, bathroom lines, there is a line for everyone! There is nothing better than standing in line for 30 minutes, then being charged $15 for French fries. So it's great if you like being ripped off also! I especially like being able to hear 2 bands at ounce. Great value!! I would say the drink lines could have been longer. I don't really drink but it would have been great for everyone else. Also I think the single day ticket did not cost enough. read more

Amazing first time experience at Riot Fest 2023! The headliners were great which is the main reason I attended. Took my HS aged kids to the show & they loved it! Will definitely be back if the artists I love will be on the list read more

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This venue is amazing!! Awesome bands! Enough space and close up experience with artists!

RIOT FEST! Riot Fest is a rock music festival held in Chicago. It celebrates a lot of artists that don't typically get the most love in the mainstream, though are beloved by fans nonetheless. In this regard, Riot Fest totally delivers. The variety of acts that I saw over the 3 days I was there in 2022 was pretty great - going from some of the newer bands out of the UK like Boston Manor, all the way to the punk rock legends like Descendents and Bad Religion. The festival has 5 stages, which are all spread out across Douglass Park. Usually with music festivals, walking from stage to stage can be a huge pain. At Riot Fest I didn't notice this issue too much, however, what was annoying was having to walk to one area far from the stages for refillable water. Despite the water line moving very quickly, it was a hassle and made me not excited to get more water (which can be dangerous on hot days!). The food at Riot Fest was really freaking good. There are a variety of vendors, and I think most if not all are from the Chicago area, like Dark Matter Coffee. The giant pizza slices and pierogis were particularly amazing! Staff at this festival are also a huge highlight. Bartenders in particular were very friendly. Not only are there friendly staff at this festival, but there are lots of them. No one area felt particularly understaffed. Special shout-out to the folks who were working the water lines - they did a great job of keeping the line moving. Some of the downsides of Riot Fest (and they are somewhat big downsides) are the lack of shade and the difficulty of leaving the festival. For shade, you really only have natural shade from trees as an option. By day 3, many folks were hanging out under every possible shady area. This is a thing at a lot of festivals, however, Riot Fest is different because there really isn't any reprieve from the shade unless you go inside (outside of the festival) or just wait it out until the sun goes down. Coachella, by contrast, provides lots of shade for attendees in the form of tented stages and indoor areas, along with artificial shade (there really isn't any natural shade on the polo fields). Leaving the festival is tricky because you absolutely need to have a solid plan. If you don't have a plan, you're going to get stuck walking a long ways before you can catch a ride. My friend and I were staying in Bridgeview, so we needed to get a ride and couldn't necessarily rely on the CTA. In hindsight, finding a place to stay for Riot Fest which is along the Pink Line would go a long way to helping you out when leaving. Walking to the train station doesn't take too long, and the line moves fairly quickly (I know this because we went to an after-party on day 3 which was off the pink line). Overall, Riot Fest is an awesome festival, and I'm very grateful for its existence. These bands mean so much to me and the fans, and it's great to have a festival dedicated to them. I'm sad to see Riot Fest getting heat from the local community for being a "mega fest", given how much Riot Fest tries to support the community and not be a corporate greed fest like people seem to be claiming. read more

Here is my truth: I don't like people. Sure, on a one on one level, they can be pretty great. But on a large scale, big crowd, people you don't know all around you level? They drive me absolutely NUTS. It's gotten to the point that, generally speaking, I hate going to concerts now because inevitably I'm sitting next to someone who is talking through the whole show, or standing way too close to me, or spilling beer on my shoes while yelling obnoxious things at the people on the stage. I spent my high school and college days fighting through that, I worked for radio stations and record labels and was at shows 3-5 times per week. I was much younger then and my patience as a close to 40 year old lady has nearly run dry. The music goers of America are generally a pretty terrible group and it gives me anxiety these days. So, music festivals? LOL No. For sure not for me. Now, I went to Lollapalooza once in 2005, had a shockingly amazing time, and decided that I would never again do that festival. Go out on top. I've done Pitchfork a few times but as I got older the crowds got younger. And then I left Chicago and I never felt compelled to go back for it. So for almost 15 years I kept it to small clubs, or mid sized venues, or the occasional stadium, and silently stewed as the people around me paid good money to ruin the experience for everyone else around them. BUT BUT BUT. This year I felt antsy. I needed some new kind of adventure. I saw the Riot Fest lineup for Sunday and thought "I could be into that." So I got a ticket and drove to Chicago and brought a couple of friends on board to come with me. And you know what? IT WAS THE BEST! The crowd was cool as hell (not once did I roll my eyes at anyone or feel threatened or terrible for existing as a woman in a public place), the bands were great and so fun--Save Ferris, Guided by Voices, Ride, The Village People, The B-52s, Patti Smith, BIKINI MFING KILL. Everything was in my wheelhouse. The weather was perfect, and the whole vibe was awesome. Was it without fault? Of course not. Some of the stages drowned each other out (I'm talking to you, Bob Mould, who totally drowned out the B-52s) and the food wasn't great. But the beer options were solid, the lines were swift, and my friends and I splurged on VIP tickets (because, we are old and like a place to sit for a bit) so we had a private area to unwind and nice trailer toilets which were FANCY AF and clean-ish (highly recommend if you can financially swing it). I just had so much fun and I was not expecting to love it as much as I did which I guess is why I'm giving it a full 5 stars. The crowd are just contentious, music loving old punks and I'm HERE FOR IT. Everyone just felt happy. Now again, I didn't do the full weekend. Maybe my positive response is because I had one, action packed, super successful day and I was out. But it was great. It's the one festival I will keep tabs on and look forward to attending again and again. FYI-- we splurged on the parking and it was honestly worth it. Granted, we got there at the very start of the day and snuck out right before the encores of the last bands, so it wasn't quite as crowded, but leaving was a total snap. Way better than fighting our way through CTA on the way home. read more

So glad I got to experience the 15th year of RIOT FEST. I have to say what a line up! GBV, B52's, Wu, Patti Smith, Ween, Nick Lowe, that one Jack White Band, and so much more that I had no clue about! The diverse line up was really fantastic and the sound was great.. At least Saturday and Sunday when I went! I heard Friday they had issues! Anyway.. I will say this fest is maybe to big for me.. To many people everywhere.. And also there seemed to be a large amount of BEES flying around every second of the fest! If you don't like big crowds this is not for you! The set up was pretty darn good for seeing the bands, but I will say Jack White's guitar was drowning out WEEN which was not fun for this guy but what can you do! Also the lines for beer were never too long so that was great! I'm a germ a phone so porta potties scare me in general but I'm also a Festival goer for over 20 years so I know to bring some wet wipes and hand sanitizer. I love riding the ferris wheel and overlooking the mass amount of people! I also dug that people were cool and chill! I was wondering what was going to happen with SLAYER fans and WU Tan fans mesh and everyone was great! I admit I had a riot at riot fest! read more

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Hands down the best festival I've ever been to. Everything was great, the lineup was incredible and everyone was beyond helpful. My wife and I purchased ultimate tickets and it was worth the money. The cabanas and elevated viewing areas were fantastic, and our bartender, Liz, was the best!! 10/10. Will attend again! read more

I yearn for my review of yore (2012) when Riot Fest was just in its inital move to an outdoor space at Humboldt Park. I enjoyed it again there in 2013, and did not hesitate to grab a three-day pass for 2014. The biggest change was the move to the north end of the Park, taking up the space between Division and North, Kedzie and California. It was bound to happen, as festival attendance grew, people complained about sound bleed between nearby stages, but it just made the Fest a bit of too unwieldy. You know when you have to choose at Lollapalooza to leave someone's set 20 minutes early to get to the other side of Grant Park? It's like that now. Getting there- Do DIVVY or Cab it. Avoid Division Street. Next year, take Blue Line to California and walk south. After work on Friday I couldn't even catch the Division bus at Ashland, as every bus was full of concert goers by the time it reached us. I did DIVVY, as many did, and parked it at California and North. Friday 2014 was a freezing cold rainy muddy mess, but Riot can't do anything about the weather. What they can do is put down those plastic squares by the port-a-potty entrances, and put boards/sawdust down in the worst places in the Park, as they do at Pitchfork on Day 2 following a bad rain. Nothing was done. As the mud dried, it smelled like a horse barn all weekend. One positive with a larger setup, is that sets at neighboring stages start immediately one after the other, on time. You could just stay between two stages all day if you wanted to. More bathrooms needed! Always. Like, twice as many. Bigger festival, more people, more port-a-potties needed. Like, one per person would be good! The North Avenue entrance was great. Those working were so helpful and polite, it was a breeze! Nearby, kids from Youth Making a Difference (YMA) were selling water for $1, and snacks. Hit up the community vendors! Also near that entrance were lockers for rent- great for stashing your black hoodie, backpack, rain gear. There was some good food, Cevapcici, Dia de Los Tamales, Pulled Pork everything, so it's easy to avoid the generic fried food vendors. Also nice was the All Rise Brewing Company (Cobra Lounge) that sold their Wonderbeer and Dizzy Blonde Wheat Ale for the same price $7 as the generic beers. They were selling wine in boxes for $20, which I recently saw at the store for $3.99. Ouch, the mark up! I enjoyed discovering Lucero from Memphis, and From Indian Lakes on a smaller stage. It was great to see Billy Bragg on his own, and see so many raised fists singing along "the Union forever!" The Cure was a great headliner, as was Jane's Addiction in Perry's weird way. The full classic album is a great come-on, and so many people enjoyed Slayer's Reign in Blood. The addition of more indie bands suited my taste, but overall, this remains a punk festival, even with the move to a more mainstream taste. (But saw lots of old punks singing along with Offspring, who were completely mainstream/major label, so, even the punk lines are blurred). It was great to see so many people, young and old, at Cheap Trick. Would I go again next year? Umm, Who's playing? read more

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I'm not a fan of music festivals, generally. At all. I like indoor settings and nice places to sit down. But that was then. After missing out on live music for a year and a half, we decided to fly up to Chicago to see Morrissey play set at Riot Fest this year. It was a very well organized festival, at least the "preview party" on Thursday that we attended was. The fest required a negative covid test or a proof of full covid vaccination from all attendees, which made it as secure a gathering as one could have in this era. Many attendees were masked also. And it was a wonderful evening! Morrissey gave a heartfelt show, as did Patti Smith. It was a lively festival and everyone I encountered was really cool and pleasant. The bathrooms were clean and plentiful and had hand sanitizer stations. The drink prices were reasonable. The only negative was that they stopped selling merch very soon after the show ended and since the lines were quite long, it cut a lot of fans out from getting concert memorabilia. read more

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So much fun! I'm a big live music fan - all types. This festival is great because there is a mix of headliners that we've all heard and up and coming bands that I'm putting on my playlist as soon as I finish this review. It's in Douglas Park and - as is the case with any Fest- it has parking but it's expensive, the L requires a second mode of transportation like an Uber or bus, etc. it's crowded but not overcrowded like lollapalooza or taste of Chicago. It's easy to walk around look at merch, grab good food, and hang out. Everything is reasonably priced. $9 for a beer is way better than Hollywood Casino Ampitheater's $17. The ticket price for an all day event is actually super cheap. The event is run well and the crowd generally seems to be all about dancing and meeting fellow rioters. I'm planning to attend next year - this was a great experience. read more

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First off we hit the concert on that Saturday of, trying to check-in with the Yelp phone app and couldn't find it anywhere. So, I freaking loaded this location for Riot fest on Yelp.. I uploaded photos and was thinking.. I'd score first to review too.. NOT! I look on here now and see its been stolen from me! It's cool though.. Kudos Michael G. and everyone else. So this has been my most recent experience of Riot in years. I know I'd been to it before and yearly get bombarded with emails when it rolls around, but just haven't been able to get around to going. At the time a few friends asked me about it and I was thinking and thinking till my buddy Jaik S. called me up and said he's got me covered for TWO days. SWEEEEET!! Two solid days of great bands, fantastic sun and good weather. It was very warm but not unbearable. A lot of good vibes with lovers of good music and some interesting dancing when Gogol Bordello got on stage. This year Riot had a theme of a concert with a carnival. So it included a Ferris wheel and the typical carny games found at most Chicago festivals. Regarding the music: I went thinking I wasn't sure whether I'd know half of these bands and their music and left thinking I've heard all of these bands what the heck was I thinking?! The beer selections were weak and cocktails remained only for those with VIP tickets. Boo. On the day of, they have to (should) offer some kind of upgrade for folks wanting to drink something other than beer. Note: Never try and bring booze in, they were checking bags and persons for any and all contraband. You could lose your chance to enter just because you want to save a few bucks and bring in a bottle of something or be forced to trash one of your belongings. People descended from all over the country. Chatted with a few folks visiting from the West Coast, Tennessee and then by chance bumped into some hardcore Yelpers from NYC that were going on and on about their love for Yelp. LoL, I never say anything when this happens in real life... of course Jaik S. has to bring up # of reviews just to have a laugh at my expense. Big thanks to the community of Humboldt Park for being cool with the hundreds of people that descended onto their community for the stay of the concert and dealing with the urine soaked grasses and overcast of herb infused clouds. Much of which probably happens on a weekly basis. cheers! read more

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I've gone to Riot Fest two years now, and this year will make lucky number three. There's nothing I look forward to more each year! The lineups are always amazing, and are generally pretty well scheduled on the like six stages that there are. The people are super nice, and it's a great place to people watch. There's always a good selection of food trucks and booze stalls, a freak show, and a carnival. Go in with a plan though- the map of the fest is your best friend. read more

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I have always been ending my summer festival season with Riot Fest for the past 3 years - this year is my fourth! It was a sad thing when Blink-182 dropped out due to health reasons this year, but Weezer and Taking Back Sunday stepped in so still a good grab! I've always loved the kinds of bands and I love that for the price of a ticket, I can see all of them instead of paying so much to see each band individually. Some of my favorite headliners in the past have been System of a Down, No Doubt, Nine Inch Nails. They get some good people! Quick tips: -Always always watch out for early bird tickets because they sell out fast! -Don't bring a water bottle or a empty bottle to fill up. They will have you throw it out at the doors -Sunscreen, hats, sunglasses or anything to protect from the sun. -Really cool merch shirts sell out fast! get there asap if you want something awesome! -Bring cash because there's ATMs in the park, but they charge a fee. -Bring a pancho just in case it rains. -Wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty because if it rains then you best believe your boots will be super dirty! read more

We paid a ton of money for the vip deluxe + and it's a total scam. There are very few seats where you can see the stage or hear the music so either you cram outside (in which case why do you need VIP) or sit inside where you can't see or hear anything. Total waste of money (other than the bathrooms, which are better). Would not come back. Total waste of money. read more

Music lineup great. VIP area/ticket total waste. Not near music stages, not very VIP. Drink selection not great. Parking difficult. Grounds meh. But the lineup was really solid. read more

We did Ultimate VIP and it was a phenomenal experience! Special thanks to our amazing bartender Liz Melvin who went above and beyond to give us great service. We will definitely be coming back!! read more

Riot Fest is a festival in its truest sense. Tons of people, completely at the will of the weather, somewhat intoxicated and determined to see as many of their bucket list bands as possible. For regular concert goers these festivals are high holy days. Find me three rows in from the gate soaking in the bass, reveling in the group of sweaty strangers I'm surrounded by, in common pursuit of musical ecstasy. Smaller than Lollapalooza, older crowd (which is a huge plus for those of us sick of drunk 16 year olds puking all over our parks). Tons of great food, drinks, and a SOLID lineup every year. A big plus, the porter-pots were cleaned daily and the sanitizer was refilled! This is pretty huge. Lots of parking at reasonable prices, and the convenience of either the California or Kedzie pink line stops off the L. Thanks Riot Fest! So then why 4 stars? Well four major things: 1. A single location where goers can fill up water bottles for free is not only stupid, it's negligence. It was V hot and the lines for water were too long. Not everyone can justify 3-7 bucks for water. 2. The bar only took cash and the ATM fees were 5 dollars. GET CASH BEFORE YOU GO! 3. The bars only sold vodka and bourbon based cocktails. No tequila, no gin, no rum, no fun! Lots of beer though. And 4. A single entrance to the festival with no signage or explanation of direction for queuing or gender search lines. This caused confusion and cutting which nobody likes. read more

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I have a limp and pretty much feel like every bone in my body is broken plus am completely exhausted. I couldn't be happier to be at work (sarcasm font) coming off of a crazy Riot Fest weekend. Good- *The bands. Obviously. Seeing some old goodies, discovering some new gems. *I'm going to surprise myself here and say The Pizza Underground put on quite an enjoyable show! It was a highlight for me. That and seeing Macaulay Culkin grabbing some grub. *Chomped, Billy Bragg, Primus, Weezer, Tokyo Police Club, Cheap Trick, Mudhoney, City & Colour, Die Antword, Wavves, Paul Weller, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Wu, Flaming Lips, Used, National, Survay Says - year I heard a lot. *Lockers. If you aren't VIP, get a locker. It's well worth having some extra stuff in case of emergency plus having a sweatshirt for the chilly evenings. *Stages that were facing each other - Riot & Roots & Rebel & Rise. I liked being able to listen to Primus while waiting for Weezer to perform. I LOVED being able to listen/watch Flaming Lips while waiting for The National. *Food Options, there were a lot, something for everyone plus not just carnie food - some local options like Cheesie's, Goddess & The Grocer, Wow Bao. Bad- *Water Stations. I saw one during my entire Riot. And it was nowhere where the map said it was, plus had an insanely long line. We had brought a water bottle but ended up just buying a lot of water. They need more water stations. *Bands who show up late. Not cool man. Set times at these fests are pretty much it. You get your time & if you show up late, you're slighting the fans. *Food & Non-Liquor prices - $3 for a water?! $6 for a lemonade!? *Sound issues at the Revolt stage. RiotFest's sound team screwed over Survay Says for about half their show, not listening when they kept telling them which person was lead. *Food vendors selling things that just shouldn't be sold at festivals. Ease of food eating is a necessity when surrounded by a million billion people. *The layout was ridiculous. It caused insane bottlenecks. At one point I was just stopped on the main walking path surrounded by 6' & over people (I'm 5'5" so it was feeling a bit claustrophobic) and moving at about an inch per minute with no way out. That was torture. Who puts all the food, drink & retail stations along the main walking path? People who want to make money but not people who care about the attendees' experience. *Garbage! Man people are gross. I will never understand not walking 5' to a garbage can and just throwing your trash on the ground. However at Riot Fest, there were nowhere near enough garbage cans and they weren't readily available. Downright Ugly- *Port a Potties of course. I was a crazy person avoiding these at all costs & did not drink liquor so thankfully only needed them once a day. But man were they gross! No toilet paper, completely full, locks not working (I walked in on a gentleman sitting on the toilet who screamed UGHHHH at me and I screamed AHHHHH back at him). They need more flipping johns and to keep them stocked with TP/hand sanitizer. *Mud. So much mud. Neverending Story quicksand style mud. They did nothing to try to help the mud issue. When it rains, that sucks and not much can be done...but then to do nothing about giant hog swell heavens just made it hell on earth. *Did they oversell this event?! I mean, just seas and seas of humans. It was pretty horrible. *I nearly died during Weezer. Jackass kids of 20 years old kept shoving & trying to push up to the front. I was in the middle front along the metal bar and thought my body was going to be chopped in half over the bar because of the force I was being slammed against it. Myself and a girl behind me screamed a number of times in pain as security just kind of watched. Many points where I couldn't breathe, just had to cover my head & hope for the best. I have bruises. I've never experienced such a moshy pit of hell with such a good soundtrack. Really though I couldn't even enjoy the music because during the choruses everyone went with such force, I just had to try and use all my strength to keep standing and watch for kicking towards my head. That brings me to.... *Idiot crowd surfacers. It ain't allowed yet you people keep going & going. At one point, I had to crouch down as 4 people straight were pulled out by security above me. It was just non stop people being pulled out deterring me from enjoying Weezer's Blue Album. *Nowhere to sit. Picnic tables/benches would be nice. Oddities- *Guy climbing up one of the poles during Primus. I feared for his life! *23 year old kid on 'Molly' (back in my days it was called rolling *shakes finger in a Let Me Tell You Somethin' Sonny way*) sitting down with us during Dads & smoking a ton of weed right out in the open, then inviting many others to come sit with us ranging from 20-24 in age. Me sitting there realizing wow, I'm too old for these kids. *People watching was amazing! I'd def go next year, but VIPing it fo' sho. read more

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Cabbie as he drops me off at Riot Fest: Don't do drugs. Me: I won't. Cabbie Driver: Except weed. Weed is ok. Me: Sir, do I look like the type of person who can afford drugs? Cabbie Driver: *looks me up and down then laughs and says... Well, try to have a good time anyway. Little did he know, I'm my own good time. This was my first time going to Riot Fest and I definitely wasn't unimpressed. Stellar line-up. Mature crowd. Personal box wine. What more could I ask for? How about a better festival sprawl? From the entrance to the labeled 'Rock Stage' it had to have taken us at least 45 minutes to get through the bottleneck by the bathrooms and food, all not-so-conveniently place right across from each other. Also, the VIP areas seemed more like sad time-out areas with no stage views and run-off sounds from where the real show was happening outside of VIP. The VIP bathrooms were great, I'll def give them that though. I came for just Saturday as I wasn't in town for long, and got lucky that the weather, though chilly and in the lower 60s and upper 50s, was still pretty sunny and not a frigid, muddy, rainy mess like Friday's festivities - though the turf definitely took a beating that was present all weekend. So many ruined articles of clothing from sinking, sliding, and slipping into the mud. I didn't partake in any of the festival food but based on the aforementioned bottleneck in that area, it seemed to be pretty popular and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the presence Ćevapčići Chicago, which is always great to see anywhere. The beer selection wasn't great, but then my festi bro pointed out that you could get a juice box wine in red or white that was basically the equivalent of a full bottle of wine. Normally, I'm a beer person, but if I've the opportunity to drink wine in the lest classy way possible, I'll obviously be interested in taking advantage of that. I think that's when the evening really started to get fun, and then eventually very sloppy... but in hindsight still a blotchy mess of pretty damn good times. I felt like they did a pretty good job with the overall number of the port-pottys and the ones that I'd used were all pretty clean. I was really in it for the Flaming Lips and while they didn't disappoint, I feel like their set was super short... then again, my memory of every detail after the boxed wine discovery isn't exactly pristine, but I do recall having a blast. read more

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I was really excited to check out Riotfest this year and once inside the gates immediately felt too old! Its a cool fest with a lot of different bands and maybe the biggest crowd Ive ever been in! I saw some of my favorite bands (Bloc Party) and some classic ones (B52s!) with some of my favorite people which made it a good time. It was rad to see bands like Slayer and Wu Tang playing at the same time! My biggest complaint is there is no re-entry. Once youre in you are stuck. It can make for a really long, hot day. There arent many places to sit, the bathroom lines are long and gross and you have to cross a massive crowd of people to get to overpriced food. Man I sound old writing this but Ive definitely learned from this experience these kinds of fests are not my style! I would only go again if the lineup was AMAZING, but Im glad I have had the experience! read more

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The only USEFUL tip I have to share is watch out for the early tickets when they go on sale!!! Even if it's riskier to buy before you know any of the lineup, they are cheaper and it's worth it if you are already pretty sure you'd wanna go, even just for the experience. I've attended Riot Fest in Chicago five times, from 2013-2017. Sadly I don't think I will be returning this year, so I thought I'd show some love while it's still somewhat relevant to my life. My first year I was willing to make the trip from Oregon to Chicago because the lineup, to me, was AMAZING, and I had friends in Chicago, so it was a good excuse to go visit and hang out. Then it just became tradition for us to go every year, and after that first year we always went ahead and bought the early tickets. Riot Fest is really the only music festival I've been to, so I don't really have anything to compare it to, but I had fun every year. Even the years with the rain and the mud and the BEES, I look back on all of it fondly. Sadly though I think I've grown out of enjoying festivals like I used to, and much prefer waiting for bands to come my way and play smaller venues instead. Just personal preference. If I lived closer to Chicago, or anywhere Riot Fest had a date, I'd still consider going, but I can't justify spending all the money for travel anymore when it's just not that enjoyable for me now (I hate getting old and boring ugh). So overall, five stars for all the great memories and playing some of my favorite bands over the years, and opening me up to some new music too. I know this "review" sort of became more of my personal diary, but truthfully I'd recommend anyone who is a fan of music to check out Riot Fest if they haven't already. It's good times. read more

2 hour plus wait - its a waste of money. Dont come here. Line loops around whole park and tons of people. Way too long of a line. Thought it would be a fun event but no. read more

Riot Fest Chicago - WAY too many people - Festivals Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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As I've stated to many people before, this is the best thing that can happen to Chicago. I don't think Lollapalooza would gather such amazing sets. The festival has arranged their 5 stages very conveniently for those that don't want to walk too much. There is a variety of food vendors including everything from burgers, Philly cheese steaks to Dia De Los Muertos Tamales. The beer prices are high in my opinion especially for a PBR worth $7, I know anyone can get a 6 pack for less. They have a variety of music for everyone's tastes. I heard punk, metal, 80's grunge, Japanese bands, ska, did I mention Blondie and Joan Jett??? There was also music for the old and the young, not just catering to one genre. I was very impressed with this years and last years lineup. I was also happy that there weren't as many teenagers as some other festivals that I've been too. It rained and rained on Sunday and you were S.O.L if you didn't bring a poncho or small umbrella but luckily in case you did get wet, there are also vendors that sell hoodies for cheap. I got a black hoodie from Fueled by Ramen for $20, not bad eh? This festival will definitely be my once a year event. I look forward to next years show. read more

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The bands and the people are what make RiotFest worthwhile. We had no problem getting in, on any day, as we used the North Ave entrance. Herd lots of bad stories about hour long backups at the Division St entrance. All transportation sucked. Taxis were few and far between, no patience for busses, CTA train closed at California....ended up taking the Blue Line to Western and walking from there, which worked out just fine. Most everything is cash only, including food, beer and shirts. Somewhat inconvenient but prices were not too bad. By not too bad I mean relatively priced as compared to other fests and large scale sporting events. Lots of food options, including vegan, gluten free and a very paleo bacon sausage. A few beers to choose from, plus wine boxes and a cider. And though port-os generally suck, there were some areas we named 'poty-topia' for the massive quantity of available potys, most with tp and hand sanitizer. The carnival was mostly in the way, creating more congestion than what they were worth. The layout of the park really sucked. It was hard to get from one stage to another. Too many booths selling stuff plus carnival rides added to mud was just no bueno. That said, the bands were great. Jane's Addiction, Gogol Bordello, SD, Flaming Lips, the Cure, Raygun......I could go on and on. The people were largely in part not complete assholes. Not much pushing, lots of excuse me's, no groping, no puking, passing out, etc. But then, the median age of Riotfest attendees is older than 25. read more

I absolutely loved this fest. Went in 2012 and I didn't even get to experience a lot of it, since I was working on my bf's food truck. I still saw enough bands to make me pretty damn happy. The line-up was awesome - a ton of great bands in one place. You can't beat that! The park is a great location. See a band, get some food/booze, lay out on the lawn under a tree, make-out, repeat. Lots of awesome food options from vendors to food trucks. Ethnic food, carnie food, comfort food. Oh and food trucks sold water for $1! Sadly, I didn't have time for the carnival portion but it's awesome that it was a part of the fest. Anything + Carnival = Awesome. Lots of port-a-potties. Really a great outdoor music experience and I'd love to come back. read more

This is my multi-day music fest. Not Lolla, not PitchFork, not that EDM mess on Montrose Beach. So many bands I like. An older, diverse crowd. Punk rock! They could do away with the sad, unlistenable rap acts and some of the hipsterish bands, and keep it to the hardcore, but that would have me scurrying around even faster to catch all the bands I wanted to see at all the different stages. My only complaint would be - Humboldt Park, ugh. Not a fan of that neighborhood and it's difficult to get to. The layout is a bit tough to navigate and figure out where stuff is. However, PROPS for them saying, straight up "There's no parking, ride Transit." What could add to this is a shuttle bus to relieve strain on the stuffed-full CTA buses, but this is a fine point. See you next year Riot Fest! read more

Riot fest is almost great, but is unorganized more than any other festival. The lineup is really awesome but the festival was not set up for the amount of people there. In 2013 the layout was completely different to this years and you were mostly able to find the stages and move around more freely. This year was a completely different story. The positives: I paid $70 in advance for my ticket The lineup was great and brought me back to my teen years Alcohol was present and not too bad for a festival More bathrooms this year The rides( though a poor decision to take up so much space near the biggest stage) The meh: The area where the rock stage is only had one place to eat and an annoying tent where people are drumming while the bands are performing, it was also located way too far away to make a trip between bands to anywhere else. The very bad: Entering on Saturday there were lines to get in the festival at 12pm, hours worth of people lined up and only two entrances that were open for thousands of people. Mud, though beyond their control, made for a much more difficult and worse smelling experience. The placement of EVERYTHING was so irritating, the rock stage was so far away from anything that it would've made more sense as the main stage. Trying to see any band on sunday (besides at the luckily less crowded rock stage) was so awful. There were so many people that I couldn't see or hear anything at most performances (I'm calling the people out that stand at a stage in a group to have a conversation.) it started at Andrew WK and never really ended. I wasn't even close to seeing the front of the stage weezer played on. Passing the cure people were out in the main area to walk through trying to watch them. Stage placement was a disaster. Leaving and getting transportation back was once again a nightmare. Waiting over an hour for anyone to take us back (uber and taxis) I'm definitely coming back if I get VIP tix..otherwise it's not really worth the hassle and crowd read more

Riot Fest Chicago - View of the rise stage from the Ferris wheel - Festivals Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Now if RF had weather powers the festival would have been great. I was really looking forward to the Friday shows but the weather was rough...I think I even saw sleet. Blech. The good: The band selection was great. The meh: While there were some food trucks, much of the food was straight up carnie food. The waterfountain station was gross by day 2. The bad: As a 1st timer, the maps were really confusing. The Friday snafu with the drink tickets. Depending on the band and your location the crowds were either awful, interesting or chill. I wish there had been more diversity of beverages and food. But the bands more than make up for any of that. read more

I had an awesome time at Riot Fest this year with my daughter. Being up close and personal with The Cure helped. We also caught Weezer's show and Social Distortion and Show You Suck. There was plenty of stuff to keep us entertained between shows including Lucha Libre (!!), the carnival rides, a haunted house and good ol' people watching. They were all pretty amazing. read more

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Deluxe package was a ripoff. $800 for 2 day "Open bar" but there was only one bar we could use with these tickets in the entire park venue. There were also restrictions on bringing drinks from that one stand so when you're buying these tickets and want to take advantage of what you're actually buying, you have to stay in the same viewing area the whole day. And Deluxe viewing areas were a hoax. We were still able to get better view in GA at every stage including the main stages. It looked like the deluxe viewing areas were placed there as a joke just to justify selling another tier of vip. This all should have at least been disclosed upon purchase. I would never have bought these tickets knowing all of this. We go to riotfest every year with GA or VIP tickets and doing the deluxe this year was an absolute waste of money and ripoff. read more

This was a pretty good festival. This was my first Riot Fest, but so far, it's the best music festival I've been to so far. The food was good and offered at a few different price points. There weren't terribly long lines at the bathrooms. The free water was a bit of a trek but easy to plan for. I was in and out of the entrance fast when coming and going. There were plenty of spots to sit under a tree and enjoy the music or eat some tasty snacks. An ex has been trying to get me to go to Riot Fest with him for years, but I was always a little wary of the crowds, but now I'm hooked. I enjoyed every minute of it. read more

No waiting in line to get in, which is great. There was a lot of mud this year, so make sure to come in boots! The parking situation sucks because all the areas were a tie zone. So you have to pay 25 for a parking space. It's secure tho. Once inside everything is awesome! The gyros are to for for. So check that out. A lot of t shirts, back packs, jewelry, pipes, and lighters for sale. (I got myself a bob Marley one) a lot of great bands and different locations to watch them perform. Not too crowded but a bit hectic. Overall, my experience was outstanding! A little top... Bring a lot of money, it goes away so fast! read more

Riot Fest Chicago - Just having a great time! - Festivals Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I'm so very tired of being taking advantage of during the worst year of our lives. I'm mad. Now we lose $1000.00 because a freakin hurricane kept us from attending something we bought tickets for in good faith? I feel like I ruined my daughter's only 21st birthday present and now I can't make it up. Yeah no. Social media is the only damn thing companies care about anymore. So I guess I'll just keep posting forever about this... I'll be posting this anywhere Riot Fest is mentioned to warn other people about VIP purchase. DO NOT purchase VIP- better yet, find a totally different fest to attend. After IRMA hit, days before we were supposed to go to Chicago, we were left with no power, no water, fallen trees kept us on our road until Thursday morning, we had a 40 ft tree covering our roof. We wrote Ticketfly and sent pictures. They advised no less than 4 hours later the event organizer denied our request for refund. Why? Did my 1k make or break this festival? Did they get other requests from people literally and legally required to stay in their homes? Frontier Airlines and Airbnb immediately refunded us with just our zip code. All festivals are based on music and community. Well music is everywhere and the community built around this fest is one I think we'll avoid. Which super sucks because we're active in Orlando and supportive of new Punk and Rock and whatever else shows and bands. Buying merch, seeing shows, designing posters... So remember, unless you are 100% positive that a hurricane isn't going to take your power, water and ability to leave the state don't spend 1k on tickets for a fest who's promoters give ZERO shits about anything but money. read more

One of the best music festivals I have ever attended. Fantastic lineup, well organized schedule with multiple stages, and truly incredible staff. Everyone I encountered working here was lovely and professional, from the bartenders to the security. I have never seen such efficient crowd control in my life-I was standing front row for upwards of 9 hours and never once was injured by the dozens of crowd surfers flying over my head. Easily accessible toilets, water re-full stations, and food/alcohol tents. Great selection of vegan food. $8 beer sold on the barrier every half hour if you don't feel like walking to a tent and losing your spot. Surprisingly clean toilets with plenty of hand sanitizer. Non-stop entertainment. One thing that I feel Riot Fest should improve upon is the set times for headlining artists. I attended this year (2016) specifically to see Morrissey, who was only given 1 hour and 15 minutes to play-30+ minutes shorter than his normal set. They also need to improve upon exit strategy for concert goers. It took me over an hour to leave the festival in the massive crowd, and an additional hour to get an uber. Perhaps they should consider a shuttle bus or designated taxi/uber area. Overall a great experience. If you love music festivals, and/or want an opportunity to see a variety of artists, definitely attend Riot Fest. read more

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A festival in September in Chicago? When it's not 100 degrees out? Who thought of that great idea? They deserve a million in prizes (because they're worth it). Or at least a million thanks. It's just one of many things that Riot Fest got right in its first year as an outdoor festival. The first thing they got right was the lineup. Riot Mike seems to have more hookups to good bands than even Perry Ferrell. A band like NOFX (or GWAR), who played mid-day, would headline a lot of punk festivals. But there was even enough softer and older rock (Elvis Costello, Jesus and Mary Chain, and Built To Spill) come to mind to draw a good cross section of "normal" people to join with the punk kids. Another was the prices. Even Ian MacKaye would find them acceptable. The tickets cheap enough. The food was, amazingly, inexpensive enough for multiple meals (with many choices for around $50 and there were even vegan options on most of the "carnival" items at the Riot Feast stands for the same price. Plus the food trucks in attendance were allowed to sell $1 water. I mean, that *never* happens at festivals. The stages were staggered amazingly and the Rock Stage had some of the best acoustics I've ever heard at a festival. But from this came my only beef. The two main stages were too far apart. When a band ended on the Roots Stage, the band that immediately started playing on the Riot Stage (or vice versa) sounded a million miles away. Also it might have been cool to have a roller coaster behind the stages or something. The carnival (with its games, rides, and even fire jugglers) did feel a bit separated from the festival at times. Still, this scrappy upstart of a festival has already surpassed North Coast, Pitchfork, and even Lollapalooza, in my mind, for wow factor in its first (outdoor) year. It's not like Chicago needed another amazing outdoor festival to draw people from all over the country, but it got one. The rest of the country should be very jealous. read more

WHO ARE THE EVENT PLANNING WIZARDS WHO CAME UP WITH THIS ONE?? Yes, I saw some very great bands, and I'm thankful for that, having said that: -Too many tickets were sold -Stages were set up in a very poor missplanned fashion: Primus & Weezer stages were soo close together, I could barely hear any sound!!!! -Are you serious with the portable potty wait time??? Really? I should have just pissed on the floor, every time. -The whole purchase tickets for drinks is a scam. You have to make sure you do the math so you don't come home with unused tickets, otherwise, not only did they over charge for beer, but made the money off tickets that were never used. For a minute I thought I was getting too old for this... But no. I am not too old at 32! Some scam artist put this fest together, made money out of everybody and I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. I would have been better off listening to these favorite albums in my car. In the garage. Where I feel safe. read more