Riot Fest day 3 sees pop and punk truly mix

The third day of Riot is always a different vibe. Tiredness from 2 days of fest so far for fans and even more for those partying all weekend or doing aftershows. After some iffy weather bits it was time to finish the day strong.

Bad Religion played giving fans the chance to see their 1988 classic ‘Suffer’ in full. Full of crowdsurfing and singalongs galore to hit after hit the band made it clear why they’ve been a mainstay in the scene for so long.

Sunday though was a punk heavy album play through. Zero Boys played ‘Vicious Circle’ in full, Pegboy did ‘Strong Reaction’, Smoking Popes did ‘Born To Quit’, and The Ataris did ‘So Long, Astoria’. Pop punk / alt act The Academy Is even headlined a side stage doing the scene classic ‘Almost Here’ in full.

One of the biggest crowds of the day though came with quite the delay. While the stage had issues all day, leading into Hanson the stage had delays which caused the brother pop group to go on 40 minutes late. They still played to a packed crowd and even brought out John Stamos for a song as well as Descendents guitarist Stephen Egerton for a Descendents cover.

The Wonder Years continued to prove though that you can have some of the genres best songs while also using your stage to give a message. Soupy continues to stand on business letting it be known what the band and the fan base stands for and was the most vocal of the fest about real world issues.

Bad Religion :

Dune Rats :

Hanson :

Pegboy :

Smoking Popes :

The Ataris :

The Wonder Years :