Riot Fest 2015 Lineups
Riot Fest celebrated their 10th anniversary last year by having a bunch of bands play their essential albums in full. There doesn’t seem to be any similar shenanigans planned for this year’s fest, but they do have reliably extensive and decent lineups that pay special mind to their punk roots. Over the past few years, a once-shifting roster of cities seems to have codified around Denver, Toronto, and their home base of Chicago, and that’s exactly where the different Riot Fests will be held this year.
First up is Denver, where Riot Fest will be taking over the National Western Complex from 8/28-8/30. The top of the bill includes Modest Mouse, the Pixies, Snoop Dogg, Iggy Pop, Tenacious D, Ice Cube, Run DMC, Rancid, and Motorhead, while the rest of the lineup boasts bands like Cold War Kids, Babes In Toyland, GZA, OK Go, Desparecidos, Andrew W.K., Gwar, the Black Lips, Benjamin Booker, Speedy Ortiz, Beach Slang, the Hotelier, Cayetana, Meat Wave, and Rozwell Kids. There’s also a decent amount of question marks throughout to save room for some last-minute surprises.
Their Chicago iteration always has the biggest lineup of them all. It’ll take place from 9/11-9/13 in Douglas Park, and features some overlap with the Denver fest: Modest Mouse, Iggy Pop, Snoop Dogg, Motorhead, Rancid, Tenacious D, and Ice Cube will all show up here as well. The two major addition to the top tier are No Doubt and Faith No More, plus one mystery line one headliner. The rest of the lineup includes Drive Like Jehu, L7, Echo & the Bunnymen, Against Me!, Babes In Toyland, OK Go, Andrew W.K., Desparecidos, the Joy Formidable, FIDLAR, Swervedriver, Gwar, the Thurston Moore Band, Benjamin Booker, Hum, Joyce Manor, Kevin Devine, Into It. Over It., Alvvays, Speedy Ortiz, Superheaven, Beach Slang, Cayetana, Heems, and a bunch more.
The Toronto Riot Fest will take place in Downsview Park from 9/19-9/20, and has the shortest lineup of the three, which makes sense because it only spans two days. Alexisonfire snags the headlining spot, a mystery band is in slot number two, and Wu-Tang Clan rounds out the first line. Rancid, Motorhead, All Time Low, Tyler, The Creator, Atmosphere, Drive Like Jehu, Echo & the Bunnymen, Against Me!, Babes In toyland, the Joy Formidable, Andrew W.K., Bayside, Gwar, FIDLAR, and more round out the list.
These are all billed as the first wave of bands, so expect more to come soon enough. Tickets are available here. Check out the posters below.