Riot Fest 2022 day one review (My Chemical Romance, Alkaline Trio, Rocket From the Crypt, and more)

Chicago’s Riot Fest kicked off its 2022 edition on Friday, September 16 at Douglass Park with a stacked lineup of acts including headliners My Chemical Romance, Chicago hometown heroes Alkaline Trio, Taking Back Sunday, Rocket From the Crypt, and more.

This year’s edition saw tens of thousands of fans converge onto the sprawling site that featured four stages running simultaneously for ten hours a day, along with carnival rides, a scary variety of deep-fried chocolate bars, and much more.

Riot Fest has essentially taken the mantle from the now-defunct Warped Tour and super-sized it, with a punk-heavy focus that also branches out into hip-hop, alternative rock, and anything else the diverse crowd of primarily 30-50-year-olds might be currently listening to.

Read on for our highlights of the first day of the festival. Riot Fest runs from September 16-18, 2022. Tickets and the full schedule can be found at the official festival site.

Rocket From The Crypt

Rocket From the Crypt doesn’t play outside of California very often these days, so any chance to see one of the world’s best R&R bands is always going to be worth the trek. The band performed 2001’s Group Sounds in its entirety during their late afternoon set, which included many tracks most fans have likely never heard live before. With the sun beating directly down on the stage, a smiley Speedo led the band through blistering tracks like “Straight American Slave” and “Heart of a Rat,” delivering a perfect hour of rock n’ roll that set the tone for the entire festival weekend.

Descendents

We may not have the Ramones around any longer (more on that below), but thank god for the Descendents. The California pop punk heroes ran through a whopping 28-song setlist in their hour-long slot, filled with crowd singalongs like “Hope” and “Bikeage,” along with songs from their new/very old 9th & Walnut release. As exciting as the band is live, the true hero of their set was the ASL interpreter side-stage who enthusiastically relayed the lyrics of even the goofiest Descendents songs (“Van” was a particular highlight).

Taking Back Sunday

For fans of early-00s emo, the rest of the night was a dream lineup, with back-to-back sets from Taking Back Sunday, Alkaline Trio, and the recently-reunited My Chemical Romance. Taking Back Sunday has eased into their status as elder-statesmen of the Long Island scene they emerged from over 2 decades ago, and have evolved into a powerhouse live act. Friday’s set was full of hits and some welcome comedic banter from singer Adam Lazzara, though the highlight has to have been a couple getting engaged in the crowd during the band’s set. You love to see it.

Alkaline Trio

Alkaline Trio has been singing about their love of their Chicago hometown for decades now, a love affair that is more than reciprocated by their local fans. With Blink-182 seemingly on the back burner, singer Matt Skiba is back with Alkaline Trio and the band hasn’t lost a step in the intervening years as they delivered a driving set full of moody punk rock that included massive singalongs like “Bleeder” and the cathartic set-closer “Radio.” There’s nothing quite like seeing Alkaline Trio in their hometown, and the set only emphasized the special bond the long-running band has with their rabid fans.

My Chemical Romance

Speaking of rabid fans…recently reunited New Jersey emo favourites My Chemical Romance are in the midst of a huge arena tour, and brought a massive crowd to their Friday headlining set. Decked out in a glamorous dress and heels with a headscarf and Jackie O-style sunglasses, Gerard Way and the band (guitarist Frank Iero’s new band L.S. Dunes also played earlier in the day) kicked off their set with their new 6-minute single “The Foundations of Decay.” With tens of thousands of fans filling the festival grounds, Way repeatedly implored everyone to take two steps back between songs to create space for the fans up front, many of whom had been camped out in front of the stage all day in the sweltering heat.

Kudos to Way for keeping a close eye on the well-being of the gigantic crowd, who repaid the band in favor by screaming along to hits like “Welcome to the Black Parade” so loudly that they could easily be heard two full blocks away.

Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg

While this band is essentially Marky Ramone drumming for a pretty good Ramones cover act, there’s still something thrilling about watching the iconic Ramones drummer blow through these classic punk tracks in his inimitable style. This is the kind of band you want to see at the end of a long festival day, where every song is ingrained in your subconscious and if you stand back and squint hard enough, it almost feels like the real thing. Sadly, Marky’s tomato sauce was nowhere to be found at the merch stand.