Official 312 Noise FINAL RIOT FEST 2024 PREDICTIONS
The bummer about Riot Fest is that it's so late in the year, it's one of the very last big US festivals to announce a lineup.
The silver lining there is it lets us all whip out our magnifying glasses and pipes (not that kind) (well yeah probably that kind too) and play amateur Sherlock Holmes. With bands already announcing their own summer/fall tours, you can do some digging and see who conspicuously has no dates set for the third weekend of September AND seem to be skipping one of the three biggest markets in the country.
The first semi-confirmed leak was Sum-41 letting an unedited tour poster slip through on social media. Then Slayer was announced and we did our best guessing the other bands likely to be joining them (Something Corporate, NOFX). Two months later, and on the eve of when Riot Fest usually dumps their lineup on us, here are my final predictions:
Definitely In:
On top of SoCo and NOFX, there are a number of notable tours that are skipping Chicago when they very well should not, some of them doing album plays to boot (a very Riot Fest friendly practice). Most notable? New Found Glory, doing a tour for the 20th anniversary of Catalyst. There's no way they aren't at Riot Fest. Same with both Manchester Orchestra (playing their album Cope) and St. Vincent, both acts being Riot Fest veterans as well as the perfect vibe and popularity for a late-day slot.
Honorable Mentions: The Descendants, Spoon, Basement
Probably In:
Death From Above 1979 is touring around the 20th anniversary of You're a Woman, I'm a Machine and the fact that I've been straining my neck headbanging to that album for two decades just hit me almost as hard as the songs on that album. The perfect band and album for Riot Fest that I cannot wait to sweat my ass off in the midday sun rocking out to.
If The Descendants seem pretty likely, you might as well throw in Surfbort who is on tour with them. And speaking of support, Riot Fest veterans and famous Chicago band Sincere Engineer are on tour with New Found Glory in support of this year's excellent Cheap Grills. They are playing Taste of Randolph in June, but that date juuuuuuust falls outside of the oft-discussed 90 days/90 miles conflict rule by about 4 days. If we don't get them, it's time to...well, riot.
It's also been a few years since we got Jimmy Eat World and it's been 20 years since Futures. Pencil them in too, but not pen. Maybe dry erase marker.
Honorable Mentions: The Starting Line, Rival Sons, The Aces
THE HEADLINERS:
So if you assume that Slayer is the headliner for one night, that still leaves two nights of Riot Fest that need BIG NAMES anchoring them. One of the best things about Riot Fest is their ability to grab names that are huge and unexpected, so here's where I'm doing a lot of guessing.
I think the most 'likely' remaining headliner to be announced would be Fall Out Boy. They're on the second leg of the So Much For Tour(dust) tour and would be right at home playing RF again, even if they don't do a full album play of From Under the Cork Tree. Beck has also been mentioned as a potential headliner that would fit the alternative headliner slot that the likes of Jack White have taken in previous years.
Ok ready for my biggest of big predictions? I think Riot Fest ends up with one of either Paramore or No Doubt. Paramore will be done with their supporting slot for Taylor Swift's Eras tour overseas by the time RF rolls around and after being a no-show at both big Chicago fests last year without a standalone Chicago date on their last tour, the crowd would go batshit crazy for them to make an appearance. And as for No Doubt, that might just be me wanting to will it into existence. One of the big selling points of the band playing at Coachella last month was that they supposedly weren't going to play any other festivals. But one of their last gigs before they went on hiatus was headlining Riot Fest in 2015.