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Normally, the annual Riot Fest in Chicago is in October and over the course of a long weekend, typically four or even five days. For their first ever event outside of Chicago, they decide to bless Philadelphia with a stellar cast of punk rock veterans and newcomers that would make any fan salivate. In addition to the bands I saw, it should be noted that Samiam, Weston, Hot Water Music, The Menzingers and tons of other bands were also on the bill. However, given the festival setting and the fact that I was coming from an afternoon show featuring Ted Leo and The Pharmacists at Johnny Brenda’s (review here), I couldn’t catch all of the bands. I did catch all of the ones I really wanted to see, though. The set-up was such so that bands alternated between the main stage and a stage set up inside an adjacent set. As fans soon found out, though, this was less than ideal.
The first band I got to watch was 7 Seconds. They played a short, abbreviated, barely 30 minute set that tore through early to mid ’80s classics like “Here’s Your Warning,” “New Wind” and “Walk Together Rock Together” mixed in with a couple of similar-sounding newer tunes. It was a bit monotonous and emphasized the speedy, melodic hardcore that most of their fans love as opposed to their more challenging mid ’80s to early ’90s work, but given the festival setting and limited time, this was understandable. What was barely tolerable, though, was the heat inside the tent. Within a few seconds of their set, I had beer spilled on me. That I didn’t mind (this is punk rock, after all), but the heat and the fact that I barely had any room to move were much more annoying.
Right after 7 Seconds’ set, I rushed over to the main stage to catch the majority of Naked Raygun‘s set (the first of their two sets that day; here’s a review of the other one). While not as riveting as their incredible set several years earlier at the First Unitarian Church (incredibly, their first ever Philadelphia show), it was still plenty great. They played a lot of material from Throb Throb and All Rise and not too much from the later albums, but again they only had 40 minutes or so to do their thing before they had to leave the stage.
The next band I watched was Plow United. Honestly, I was perplexed as to why they got this huge main stage slot with Hot Water Music and later X played inside the tent. Regardless, they didn’t impress me. It was your basic mid ’90s pop-punk with touches of Rancid thrown in for good measure. Interestingly, Exene Cervenka of X joined them for one song, so she must hear something I didn’t.
After using part of Plow United’s set to use the bathroom, get a snack and shmooze with friends, it was time to watch The Dead Milkmen. I didn’t catch their entire set because I wanted to go in the tent early to get a good spot for X’s set (the last of the day in the tent), but I did catch most of it. They sounded good and like Naked Raygun, it was odd to see them in such a huge setting and on such a huge stage since my only other times seeing them were at Johnny Brenda’s back in 2008 and the week before at an in-store for the grand opening of the new Doc Marten’s store here in Center City. They stuck mostly to material from Big Lizard in My Backyard like “Tiny Town,” “Right Wing Pigeons” and the venerable “Bitchin’ Camaro”, but threw in later numbers like “Punk Rock Girl” and “Methodist Coloring Book” as well. During one song, singer Rodney Anonymous used the large crowd to rally support behind Philadelphia Sherriff candidate Cheri Honkala, even inviting her on stage at one point.
As for X, despite the atrocious sound (which did get a bit better as their set went on), they played really well and were great as always. They played their debut Lp Los Angeles in its entirety just like they’ve been doing on the rest of their fall tour, but unlike most of the stops, the 1986 documentary The Unheard Music wasn’t screened along with it due to time limitations and the festival setting. I wish I’d had a chance to catch them play another show on this tour, but I’d have to settle for this festival appearance. Thankfully, they got to play a few songs after the Los Angeles set (including rousing versions of “White Girl,” “Because I Do” and “Devil Doll”), so I was happy about that as well.
Finally, it was time to see the evening’s headlining band, Descendents, on the main stage. From the opening “Descendents” and into “I Don’t Want to Grow Up”, they were on fire. Appropriately enough, fireworks from the nearby casino went off during the middle of their 50-minute set. Most, though not nearly all, of the classics were touched upon and a few newer ones (notably “Thank You” and “Nothing with You”) mixing in with one stone-cold classic after another like “Hope,” “Suburban Home,” “Silly Girl,” “Get the Time” and many others. At one point of the set, singer Milo Aukerman (who was wearing a Gerunds t-shirt!) brought out his kids to recite a few lines from “All-O-Gistics”. This was charming and showed that one is never too young for punk rock!
