

Get ready to gawk

Riot Fest turns ten this year and it returns to Humboldt Park in September with a pretty fantastic lineup: the Cure, Jane's Addiction, Slayer, Weezer, Wu-Tang Clan, the Offspring, and Patti Smith are just some of the big names that are at the top of the bill, but those are hardly the only names worth mentioning. It's honestly difficult to focus on a single portion of the list, which is jammed with reunited acts (Hot Snakes, Mineral), beloved old-school groups (Buzzcocks), indie crossovers (Tegan and Sara, Metric), perennial picks (Andrew W.K., Descendents), and a cornucopia of fourth-wave emo bands (Hotelier, Modern Baseball).

The name that first caught my eye is that of feminist Russian group Pussy Riot, which is billed as Pussy Riot (Nadya Tolokonnikova and Masha Alekhina); to dilute the group's history to hyperbole in a festival announcement is a little cheap, but it's hard to express the gravity of what the band has done in the name of free speech, feminism, and punk in its homeland's unsympathetic cultural environment. It's certainly odd seeing the group on a festival lineup that also includes the gimmicky Pizza Underground, but I'm certainly excited about getting to see at least one of these bands.

Gwar is another act I wouldn't have expected to see on the bill. Front man Dave Brockie, aka Oderus Urungus, passed away earlier this year, and although they've rotated through members through the decades Brockie had been the group's guiding force; all Gwar performances are "must sees" simply because of their theatrics, but I imagine this one will be particularly symbolic. As always I'm looking forward to checking out the local groups slated to perform, which includes My Gold Mask, Archie Powell & the Exports, ShowYouSuck, the Orwells, Naked Raygun, Rise Against, and Cheap Trick (I'm counting Rockford as "local"). The folks behind Riot Fest plan to announce even more acts leading up to the blowout (fingers crossed American Football is one of them), but Gossip Wolf managed to correctly guess six of the acts currently on the bill: the Get Up Kids, La Dispute, Mudhoney, Andrew W.K., Weezer, and ShowYouSuck.

The three-day fest kicks off September 12. Check out the full lineup below, which includes links back to old Reader pieces on many of the groups:

The Cure

Jane's Addiction

The National

Rise Against

Weezer

The Flaming Lips

Social Distortion

Slayer

The Offspring

Wu-Tang Clan

Descendents

Tegan and Sara

Metric

Samhain

Cheap Trick

Pussy Riot (Nadya Tolokonnikova & Masha Alekhina)

Patti Smith

Taking Back Sunday

Die Antwoord

City and Colour

Paul Weller

The Used

Bring Me the Horizon

NOFX

Dropkick Murphys

Gogol Bordello

Of Mice & Men

Mastodon

The Afghan Whigs

Naked Raygun

Cock Sparrer

Dashboard Confessional

Superchunk

Billy Bragg

Blue Meanies

Lucero

New Found Glory

Saosin with Anthony Green

Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Murder City Devils

Mudhoney

Failure

Hot Snakes

Dandy Warhols

Thurston Moore

Circa Survive

Get Up Kids

Motion City Soundtrack

Me First & the Gimme Gimmes

Streetlight Manifesto

Clutch

Gwar

Buzzcocks

Andrew W.K.

Bouncing Souls

Stiff Little Fingers

Face to Face

Kurt Vile & the Violators

Marky Ramone with the Bouncing Souls

Wavves

Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears

We Came As Romans

Senses Fail

The Orwells

ALL

Mineral

Title Fight

La Dispute

RX Bandits

Samiam

7 Seconds

Anti-Flag

The Menzingers

The Front Bottoms

Silverstein

Emarosa

Citizen

The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die

Bad Suns

Pizza Underground

Hotelier

Nostalghia

In the Valley Below

Radkey

Pianos Become the Teeth

Modern Baseball

I Am the Avalanche

Skaters

Laura Stevenson

Cerebral Ballzy

Red City Radio

Pup

Dads

ShowYouSuck

Unlikely Candidates

Jessica Hernandez & the Deltas

My Gold Mask

The Bots

Broncho

The American Scene

Baby Baby

Restorations

Wounds

Plague Vendor

Team Spirit

Somos

Rose's Pawn Shop

Chumped

Archie Powell & the Exports

Ex Friends