Riot Fest returned to Douglass Park for another three days of punk, rock, alternative and everything in between. This year, though, the weather seemed determined to make each day feel like its own completely different festival. Friday brought near-perfect conditions, Saturday ended early with storms approaching, and by Sunday, simply making it from one stage to another became part of the experience.
Friday
Friday kicked off with gorgeous weather and easily the best conditions of the weekend. With the sun out and the grounds still intact, it was the perfect way to start three days at Douglass Park.
My day started with Glixen on the Rebel Stage before heading over to Fleshwater on Roots. Both helped set the tone early with heavier performances before Violet Grohl took over the Riot Stage. Grohl continues to establish herself outside of the obvious family connection, bringing an calmer energy that made her early-afternoon set one of the day’s more interesting stops.
From there, the afternoon turned into a sprint between stages. 3OH!3 brought a heavy dose of late-2000s nostalgia and was easily one of my favorite sets from the day with the crazy stage visuals and energy, followed almost immediately by The Paradox and Bayside. Bayside remains a band that feels completely at home at Riot Fest, delivering the kind of polished, reliable performance you’d expect from a band that’s been doing this for more than two decades.
Motion City Soundtrack kept that nostalgia going later in the afternoon before DeathbyRomy brought something completely different to the Radical Stage. Her dark aesthetic and commanding stage presence stood out against a lineup largely rooted in punk and alternative rock.
The evening belonged to some of the biggest names of the day. The All-American Rejects packed the Riot Stage for a set loaded with songs that seemingly everyone in the park knew, while Rise Against followed on Roots with one of Friday’s biggest hometown performances. Finally, GWAR provided exactly the kind of ridiculous, chaotic spectacle you’d expect from them to close out my first day of shooting. Stepping away from some of their more political performances, this set featured baby dinosaurs biting off arms and of course, more blood.
Friday felt like Riot Fest operating exactly as intended: good weather, packed stages and a schedule that had you constantly trying to figure out how quickly you could make it across Douglass Park.
Saturday
Saturday started normally enough, with NoBro opening my day on the Rebel Stage before Asava on Riot. The Chats from Australia, followed later in the afternoon with their frantic punk energy before Destroy Boys took over Rebel.
That’s when the fest took a turn. A slight rain started coming down midway through the day, but it quickly became clear that much heavier weather was on the way. Riot Fest made the decision to move the remaining schedule forward, pushing bands on earlier in an attempt to get as much music in as possible before larger storms reached Chicago. That suddenly turned an already busy festival schedule into a race against both the clock and the weather.
Bright Eyes was supposed to be next on the list, but their set got moved to the end of the day which made way for Thrice to set up earlier than expected, followed by Frankie and the Witch Fingers and Vana. Vana in particular brought one of the more intense performances of the weekend, fitting perfectly on the Radical Stage and bringing the first “Wall of Death” to the 2026 festival.
Bad Religion was among the final bands I photographed Saturday as the adjusted schedule went into effect. Tool was also scheduled to headline the Riot Stage, but the approaching weather ultimately forced Riot Fest to cut the night short.
It was an abrupt ending to a day that had started like any other festival Saturday. Instead of everyone slowly filtering out after the headliners, thousands of people were suddenly heading for the exits as the festival prepared for what was coming.
As messy as Saturday became, it was only a preview.
Sunday
Sunday morning brought heavy rain, and it basically never stopped. What was supposed to be a 12pm start time became a 2pm start time. Riot Fest decided to delay openings so they could do what they could try to make the grounds safe for festival goers. That called for a good check of the early morning bands to be cut from the line up.
By the time the festival got underway, Douglass Park had been transformed. What had been normal grass and dirt Friday had become massive stretches of mud, with what felt like 80 percent of the fields turning into mud pits. Some areas were easily five inches deep, and watching people attempt to cross them without losing a shoe became its own form of entertainment.
There wasn’t much avoiding it either. If you wanted to get from stage to stage, eventually you were going through the mud.
Arm’s Length kicked off my Sunday coverage on the Riot Stage before Pennywise took over later in the afternoon. The rain and mud didn’t seem to matter much once bands started playing, and if anything, the conditions made the final day feel more like an old-school punk festival. I think at this point, some of people had accepted the fate and embraced the mud. Numerous people could be found without shoes walking the grounds in their bare feet, some made mud angels, and some decided to do their best warpaint impressions with it.
From there I caught Cartel, another band perfectly suited for the weekend’s nostalgia-heavy lineup, before finishing with Taking Back Sunday on the Riot Stage. By that point, everyone still inside Douglass Park had seemingly accepted their fate. Shoes were destroyed, clothes were covered in mud and staying clean had stopped being an option hours earlier.
Taking Back Sunday playing Louder Now in full provided a fitting final chapter to my weekend. After three days of bouncing between stages, constantly watching the weather and eventually trudging through mud just to get to the next set, there wasn’t much left to do besides embrace the mess.
Riot Fest 2026 ended up being three completely different experiences packed into one weekend. Friday showed how great the festival can be when everything goes right. Saturday showed how quickly those plans can change and embrace the chaos. Sunday showed that even several inches of mud aren’t enough to keep Riot Fest fans away.
It wasn’t the cleanest Riot Fest weekend, but it was definitely one people won’t forget.
GALLERY: Riot Fest at Douglass Park in Chicago, Illinois (September 18-20, 2026)
DAY 1
DAY 2
DAY 3
