Editorials

Riot Fest 2026: The Slow Descent Into Muddy Madness

Published

1 hour ago

September 25, 2026

*all photos by Colette Custin

The weather apps threatened rain for September 16th through the 18th during the week leading up to it. Concert-goers weren’t surprised but I can’t speak for the thousands of worms disturbed from their depths when Sunday turned into a muddy hell hole, or for Riot Fest organizers that were seemingly unable to find any hay or enough mulch to remedy the onslaught of rain.

Anyone living in Illinois has experienced one hell of a rainy summer (apparently we’re now the tornado capital of the United States, hate that) and unfortunately even multiple talks from legendary and beloved chief meteorologist Tom Skilling couldn’t keep the weather from wearing Illinois’ new title like a badge of honor.

Two friends posing in rain gear at a muddy outdoor music festival, with a yellow poncho and a stage in the background.

After being let in on Friday despite a mix up with the passes, I kicked off the weekend with the perfect festival intro, 30H!3 and their bizarre backgrounds. Their set was full of their non-stop bangers in their matching “old man living in a cabin but going out to a nice dinner” outfits, while whoever manned the screen cameras switched between a stoked Y2K girly and a Cat In The Hat who looked like he was being held their against his will. Immediately I recognized the woman behind the kit was Jess Bowen, famously known from The Summer Set and being an all around phenomenal drummer. I bounced over to Bayside where a woman wearing an all-out Mexican pride outfit in celebration of recent holiday Mexican Independence Day and a man who no doubt was hell-bent on educated his uninterested 13-year old daughter on the GOOD pop-punk while “Go To Hell” played.

A musician passionately playing a yellow bass guitar on stage, wearing sunglasses and a sleeveless shirt. The background features large, stylized text.

Bayside

Motion City Soundtrack launched into a set full of hits while three guys in matching denim vests went to TOWN having the best time of their lives. They all looked like pretty different people and something tells me these were high school pals who come together yearly to put on matching outfits and become those high school boys again. In this moment, the festival feeling really kicked in for me. We were here to have FUN with our FRIENDS, rain be damned!

A man singing passionately into a microphone while wearing a red beanie and plaid shirt on stage.

Motion City Soundtrack

A T-Rex crowd-surfing to Alkaline Trio‘s “Warhol” seems hardly worth mentioning but I figured I’d be the one to let you know that trend is still going. Frank Carter, the man the myth the hardcore legend, brought a new energy to the Sex Pistols, a band I never thought I’d have to opportunity to see live. I’m a firm believer that Carter is the only man for the job. If there’s one thing Riot Fest is good for, it’s for seeing legacy acts that are a once in a lifetime opportunity.

A musician wearing glasses and a cap, playing an electric guitar on stage, dressed in a light jacket with a colorful background.

Sex Pistols

Speaking of which, closing the night seeing Iggy Pop was one for the books. If you closed your eyes and listened to his set, you’d have no idea that the man is suffering from extreme scoliosis and a twisted spine that has him throwing himself into every step just to walk two feet. He looks like he’s in unimaginable pain but it’s part of who he is. His self-destruction is part of what made him so iconic and at 80 years old, you couldn’t keep this man from the stage. His energy was high and he carried his shirt-off tradition, his locks shiny as hell and voice even stronger. Everyone, including myself, lost our goddamn minds. Iggy fucking POP.

More Friday photos:

A man in a beanie singing into a microphone on stage, wearing a light-colored hoodie with visible tattoos on his arms. — Tricky

A male musician passionately singing into a microphone while playing an electric guitar. He is wearing a white t-shirt with the word 'BRUTAL' printed on it. The background features a colorful stage lighting effect. — Tricky

Saturday arrived and we knew the rain was approaching. We held onto our butts and brought our rain jackets, but the crowd still held faith that we could look still look cute. This included three guys dressed as the “Riot Fest Pirates”. Yarr. The rain held off for a large part of the day and it was actually decently hot while the sun was still up, such luck! A band Riot Fest actually introduced me to, the paper mache bass-heavy experiemental duo Angine De Poitrine, was a treat to see on the heels of their U.S. TV debut, appearing on Jimmy Fallon just 10 days ago. They tossed around giant dice to match their polka dot get-ups and the crowd was absolutely médusé (mesmerized for you non-Francophones).

Of course, all good things come to an end, and such was Saturday’s weather. The rain hung around on and off for the rest of the night and began when Less Than Jake took the stage, but weather gloom is nothing the fun and joyful attitude of LTJ can’t shake off. Their silly demeanor brought a different vibe to the crowd and reminded us that it was just rain. I personally began to feel like the little kid on his dad’s shoulders in the circle pit, who didn’t care what happened to his hair because he was creating a core memory. Our photographer captured a photo of them (I promise they were both having a great time). Nothing can make you feel that way like dancing and crowd-surfing to “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts” in the rain with a bunch of friends.

Three men in a crowd, with one man being lifted and supported by the others, all displaying joyful expressions, set against an outdoor background.

A child with curly hair wearing pink headphones is sitting on an adult's shoulders at a music festival, looking up with a thoughtful expression. The crowd around them is enjoying the performance.

Creating core memories during Less Than Jake

Nothing can also violently murder the hype like Less Than Jake being the ones to tell you that the festival is ending hours early due to the rain. Everyone thought we were being punked, especially given Riot Fest’s usual attitude of “it’s just rain deal with it”, and Less Than Jake had to cut their set down to 30 minutes. Of course this made everyone try to enjoy the set even more but all our faces were confused and trying to load the updated schedule. When Less Than Jake ended, the updated schedule was displayed, showing Tool, Bright Eyes, Bad Religion and NAS all playing at the exact same time with no staggering. This was going to get tricky.

A drummer playing enthusiastically on stage, wearing a black cap and shirt, with a Pearl drum set in front of him.

A musician passionately playing a saxophone on stage, raising their arm in excitement against a dark background with bold graphic text.

Less Than Jake

I had to pop into Gogol Bodello‘s set despite not being the largest fan ever, I’d been curious about the hype ever since I heard “Start Wearing Purple” on the 2005 Warped Tour Compilation CD I listened to non-stop at the age of 12. His crowd was going absolutely nuts, Bordello touting his self-proclaimed genre of “gypsy punk” as his 100 different band members took turns leading the stage energy. Then I made my way over to Tool, and after trying to get close enough to actually see the band with my eyeballs, I gave up and surrendered to watching the ’90s acid trip-inspired visuals that after a while became more like 2000s Microsoft screensavers. During Tool‘s set, a man with his 2 year old on his shoulders donning the proper ear protection was staring into the abyss and having a spiritual awakening to the intricate sounds. It was awe-inspiring to get to see them, another band that wasn’t on my list but I was stoked to see, as I was transported back to hanging with my middle school crush, his bobbed hair middle-parted and baggy jeans showing me “Opiate” for the first time while we lit a small bonfire in the backwoods of Florida. We were ~different~ *the alligator watching us from afar rolls his eyes*.

A drummer performing on stage, wearing a full-body muscle suit design, with colorful drum kits featuring artistic graphics.

A musician on stage performing, wearing glasses and a black shirt, while holding a microphone stand. The image is captured in black and white, with blurred foreground elements.

Tool

The end of the fest got squirrely, as the major storm that was supposed to blast over us was hitting later than expected. All we got was some light rain, and NAS was still performing when the festival was technically supposed to be over. Everyone was confused and a message was displayed on the screens saying “the storm passed, we’re still jamming”, whatever that meant. It was a weird way to end but I guess not even Tom can save us.

A male musician playing bass guitar on stage, with curly hair and wearing a black t-shirt, focused on his performance.

A musician passionately performing on stage with a guitar, singing into a microphone. The background features a drummer, and the image is in black and white.

Sunday was going to be a big rainy day, this we knew. We had our waterproof boots, well…most of us. Far too many people wore Vans that I’m SURE will never see the light of day again after what transpired. The doors were delayed which I wasn’t surprised to see, although announcing that 30 minutes before the original time of doors was a poor move. The updated schedule didn’t even come until 30 minutes before the updated door time of 2pm and it will never make sense to me that a prior contingency plan isn’t created in advance, especially when the rainy forecast hadn’t changed for the entire week. Within five minutes of being inside, our boots were COVERED in the thick Illinois clay mud and I knew we were in for a long ass day.

Close-up view of muddy footwear on damp grass, showing two pairs of boots, one brown and one yellow, alongside footprints in the mud.

Highly recommend Red Wing’s steel-toed boots, my feet were the only dry part of my body all day

My first band was Cartel, one I haven’t seen since the Bamboozle Roadshow in 2010. With new music out, they were so exciting to see live but I didn’t think the crowd was hype enough. Maybe they were pissed about the delays or the pissing rain in general. At this point, the mud had started to take over. There were still occasional grassy spots but those quickly disappeared as the crowd tramped through them and turned them into mountains of mush.

Feet standing in shallow water with a muddy bottom.

A muddy ground with footprints, surrounded by a crowd of people walking in a dimly lit environment.

Around 5pm, it was HORRIFIC

We stayed put after Cartel to see our Godmother of Punk, Patti Smith. She took the stage emitting a calming yet powerful energy that can’t be replicated, never hesitating through the set to remind us how happy she felt to be here with us. She never really needed to say it because the crowd could immediately feel it. That’s who she is, our punk beacon of activism. Dedicating “Pissing In A River” to Lake Ontario (while we felt like we were experiencing Lake Riot Fest) and sorrowfully reminiscing on writing “People Have the Power” for freedom from war in 1988 but still needing these songs because not much has changed for us. She dedicated it to the Palestinian people and the crowd broke out in a “FREE PALESTINE” chant, joining the ranks of musicians becoming louder about their activism following the controversy surrounding Macklemore getting kicked off Ed Sheeran’s tour. Followed by “Peaceable Kingdom”, creating a somber moment that was equally important to experience. What a force she is.

Finally, it was time to make the daunting trek to the other side of the festival to see Alanis Morrisette. I am not exaggerating when I say it literally took at least 20-30 minutes to get over there because of the calf-deep mud that was continuing to claim entire pairs of shoes, ripped right off people’s feet. At one point, two strangers had to pull me out from being entirely stuck as this mud became quicksand. Anything that was dropped was gone forever, we lost my nicest ear plugs, a beer, a lighter and part of our dignity probably. My queen made it all worth it though. She came out to “Hand in My Pocket” and continued to perform hit after hit as girls from 14 to 54 danced in the mud and gave it everything they had left. The crowd was all ages, all walks of life, You Oughta Know that Alanis is for everyone. She had notes about the misogyny regularly experienced by women on her backdrop and she left the crowd buzzing. I never wanted it to end.

To close out the weirdest Riot Fest thus far, ICP was the obvious choice. Old faithful. Old, weird, sticky Faygo-covered faithful. For all my life I’ve hated clowns and thank God I somehow dodged ever seeing this band because I would have never recovered. This year I was finally doing it, and the Juggalos weren’t going to disappoint me. If there’s a reason the aliens pass our planet by making a stank face, it’s probably partially because of this. As someone who watched a lot of inappropriate TV shows when I was far too young, I had to laugh at the amount of young kids brought on stage during Faygo breaks to launch soda liters. Some even so small that they couldn’t launch them by themselves. The tinny carnival music as a backdrop for the raunchiest lyrics and bizarre obsession with soda was a fun way to wrap up the night. Riot Fest 2026, you were weird. Thanks for not taking my boots from me.