After an eventful and jam packed day 1 of Riot Fest, day two soon kicked off with a much calmer and non beyond packed look.
Pop rocker Mothica, also known as McKenzie Ellis, kicked off as one of the days opening act. Hot off a summer tour opening with Coheed And Cambria and Alkaline Trio, Mothica drew a large crowd with her brand of pop infused rock. Commanding the stage to fans that clearly knew her, as a first time listener I was pleasantly surprised and see a long career for her.
Poorstacy soon hit one of the main stages with an explosive performance. Also known as Carlito Junior Milfort he soon explained that due to issues he had to hire a full new band last minute to make this performance. Thankfully you’d never have known otherwise as he set the crowd on fire. Mixing what could only be described as early Slipknot / Nu Metal influences into hard rock and hip rock this was one of the biggest surprises of the weekend.
One of the highlights for me all weekend was the rare sighting of Canadian post hardcore legends Alexisonfire. Kicking off right into “Accidents” the band drew a massive crowd and kept the energy high through a 10 song setlist spanning the bands career. High energy for these guys as well is an understatement with nonstop movement throughout the set. Now hopefully it isn’t long before the gents return to the states to grace us with their music.
In a 1 / 2 punch combo the main stages were graced with the stylings of JDXN and Yungblud drawing massive crowds of younger fans. While not a fan of either music its super easy to see why both have drawn themselves as massive names that will only grow bigger. With catchy hooks and songs intertwined with high energy performances and making a large festival set feel intimate I feel it won’t be the last time Riot Fest is graced with either act.
Another highlight of the weekend was one of the only true hardcore acts gracing the smallest stage. NYHC legends Madball hit the stage with explosive energy kicking off right into their biggest hit “Set It Off”. The band drew a large crowd to the far away stage for a quick set of old school hardcore goodness. This also featured one of the gnarliest moments of the weekend as someone attempted to stagedive off an amp only to face plant directly into the barricade. Stagedives at festivals don’t work people.
Bad Religion on the main stage proved that though punk rock has no age limit and appears to only get better with age. One of the best sounding bands of the weekend gave the crowd a lesson on punk rock blazing through a set of songs spanning their entire career. Frontman Greg Graffin controls the band and crowd with such ease while also keeping it minimalistic. Staying towards his area mostly and using a lot of hand signals its almost a mastercraft to watch him in action.
Closing off the evening though was the returns of possibly the biggest punk rock band to ever live, The Misfits. Continuing their reunion span of shows that kicked off originally at Riot Fest, this time we saw the band do possibly a one time only deal performing their hit album “Walk Among Us” in full for its 40th anniversary. Blazing through the album before busting into a plethora of other hits fans saw Danzig, Doyle, and Jerry Only back together and having a great time. Even with the typical flaws from a Misfits set it was great to see Danzig and Jerry Only on stage seemingly having a fantastic time and happy to be there.
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