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the lineup

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It wouldn’t be Riot Fest without a dazzling array of full album performances, and this year will be no different. This year’s selections will give fans the rare opportunity to hear some unforgettably classic records.

Here’s the list for 2022:

✶ THE ORIGINAL MISFITS – Walk Among Us (40th Anniversary)
✶ YELLOWCARD – Ocean Avenue
✶ THE MENZINGERS – On The Impossible Past (10th Anniversary)
✶ ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT – Group Sounds
✶ THE GET UP KIDS – 4 Minute Mile (25th Anniversary)
✶ FEAR – The Record (40th Anniversary)

Tune in to the playlist below to listen through this year’s album plays, and read below for some insight about why these 6 records are so damn special.

The Misfits’ debut record—one of the most influential punk records of all time—is home to some of their greatest hits, including “Skulls,” “Astro Zombies,” and “Mommy, Can I Go Out & Kill Tonight?”. For the first time ever, they’ll be performing it front-to-back at Riot Fest 2022 to celebrate the record’s 40th anniversary.

Walk Among Us has been cited by many as their introduction to punk music as a whole, including several Riot Fest artists: My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way picked it as the one record that changed his life. “My mom wouldn’t buy it for me because it has a song called ‘Devil’s Whorehouse,’ so I got my grandfather to buy it for me,” Way told Guitar World. “I put it on and immediately I felt more liberated, free and pissed off than I’d ever been.”

Yellowcard’s biggest, most beloved record will be front-and-center for their exclusive reunion at Riot Fest 2022. It’s known for the eponymous mega-hit “Ocean Avenue” that dominated airwaves and MTV at the time, along with the singles “Only One” and “Way Away”.

If you’re like us (as in, you bought Ocean Avenue with an iTunes gift card stuffed in your Christmas stocking), you’re no doubt familiar with every song on the album. It’ll be a joy to hear them all in a row, from “Way Away” to “Back Home,” just how our iPods played it.

The Menzingers will return to Riot Fest this year to celebrate a fan-favorite album: On The Impossible Past, which turned 10 this past February. (“Good Things,” the album’s opener, is an essential Menzingers track.)

On The Impossible Past was met with universal praise upon release for its nostalgic lyrics and infectious melodies, catching on quickly in both younger and older punk circles; Vocalist/guitarist Greg Barnett even once spotted Descendents frontman Milo Aukerman, a personal idol of his, singing every word off the record at Riot Fest 2012. It’s a timeless record about dealing with regrets, old memories, and “why all good things must fall apart”—and we can’t wait to hear it in full.

We’re beyond excited to have a rare performance from Rocket from the Crypt in the cards for 2022. The San Diego rockers will return to Riot Fest this year with a special performance of their 2001 record Group Sounds, known for the hit song “Savoir Faire.”

Rocket from the Crypt’s second-to-last album was considered a breath of fresh air for the group, who had cycled through several drummers before tracking the record; it would be Ruby Mars, a former pro skater, that would give Group Sounds the proper energy. You can see Ruby (and the rest of the band, of course) on Friday, September 16.

The Get Up Kids were one of the biggest players in the resurgence of emo, and it just so happens that their excellent debut 4 Minute Mile turns 25 this year. If you’re not familiar, all-time classics “Coming Clean” and “Don’t Hate Me” are a great place to start.

4 Minute Mile was tracked in just two days on a shoestring budget right here in Chicago. As the story goes, the band drove from their hometown of Kansas City in a van leaking carbon monoxide, requiring them to keep the windows down the entire ride. Thankfully, their hard work has clearly paid off since we’re paying them to play the record in full at Riot Fest 2022.

Fear’s first and greatest record—which is currently getting reissued and remastered by the band—turns 40 this year. We’re thrilled as ever to have them back for this year’s fest.

The Record had perhaps the greatest unplanned album promo of all time: getting kicked off SNL. John Belushi infamously got the band booked, only for their performance of tracks like “I Don’t Care About You” and “Beef Bologna” to get so rowdy that it caused $20,000 in damages and got the band banned from the show for life. Thankfully, Fear has not been banned from Riot Fest, so you get to hear this badass record in full come September.

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