Riot Fest Day 3: After the rain, a ‘beautiful day’ for L.S. Dunes

Patience paid off for Riot Fest goers after a rain delay got things off to a slow start on the final day at Douglass Park.

Around 10 a.m. Sunday, organizers announced a timing setback due to the weather, but later they decided that doors would open at 2 p.m. and salvaged most of the acts planned in a last-minute shuffle.

Crowds showed up early, with massive lines traversing Ogden Avenue and bending over to California. The first people in line ran into the park like it was a victory lap, staking a spot over at the main stages for the night’s finale acts, Mars Volta and The Cure.

Here’s a look at some of the highlights from Sunday:

The Dresden Dolls

Sept. 17 will be a day Amanda Palmer remembers for the rest of her life. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been because I just met Robert Smith of The Cure,” the Dresden Dolls singer-pianist said, sharing how much the U.K. band has meant to her and drummer Brian Viglione.

“In the year 2000 we bonded over many things: We were the weird kids, but we also bonded over bands and our love of The Cure. It’s the greatest pleasure for our band to play the same stage.”

There are some throughlines of the two groups: Palmer and Smith wear nearly the same amount of eyeliner and also dabble in dark arts, with The Dresden Dolls taking it a step further in their punk-cabaret suite of music and carnival makeup.

Much of the purpose of the band is to act as a vehicle for Palmer’s beautiful prose, while Viglione provides even more heart and soul on the kit — and picks up guitar here and there. Like when he slung one over his shoulders and took over vocals to lead a cover of Beastie Boys’ “Fight for Your Right.”

For that number, the duo became briefly a trio with guest Melissa Auf der Maur joining in; though she has flown off the mainstream radar in recent years, Auf der Maur holds a special place in the alterna-rock era as the bass player in Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins. “I heard the band needed a bass player,” she joked as she entered the stage.

“You and me and this bass have cosmic history, Chicago,” she added. “The Smashing Pumpkins changed my life and they changed rock history.”

(Curiously, Auf der Maur was a guest on the same night the Pumpkins are staging a 30^th anniversary performance of landmark album “Siamese Dream” at Madame Zuzu’s in Highland Park.)

The Dresden Dolls had one more cover to offer, this time as a duo, with a take on Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” done incredibly sans guitars. Though the Dolls abstained from any new songs, Palmer confirmed they are working on a new album: “We’re too scared to play them but we’re touring soon so we hope you come out to see us.” — Selena Fragassi

L.S. Dunes

Remnants of the rain-soaked morning stuck out on the way to L.S. Dunes, with yellow caution tape blocking off heavily soaked mud pits in the pathway to the Radicals Stage. The gear and speakers on the stage itself were still covered in protective wrap.

But for L.S. Dunes vocalist Anthony Green, it was “the most beautiful day,” marking an important moment in the band’s short history. “It’s an honor to be celebrating our one-year anniversary as a band — a real band … and not just being known as some industry shills,” he said, recalling the COVID-born supergroup making its debut in this very park at the 2022 edition of Riot Fest.

A few months later, L.S. Dunes released its first album, the tongue-in-cheek “Past Lives,” hinting at the five members’ collective track record in the punk timeline (in addition to Green, who logged time in Circa Survive and Saosin, the lineup also includes members of My Chemical Romance, Thursday and Coheed and Cambria).

That album was naturally the focus of Sunday’s performance, with songs that migrated into emo, post-hardcore and good old-fashioned punk undertones. There was also a pinnacle pizza moment as a fan in the crowd handed a giant slice of pepperoni to Green, who gladly accepted. “This must be what happens when you die, a bunch of people screaming your name and handing over pizza.” — Selena Fragassi

The Black Angels

Upon gates opening after Sunday’s rain delay, The Black Angels were the first to warm up the Roots Stage. The Austin, Texas, quintet quickly ran through a litany of psych-influenced rock that was so welcoming it may have been directly responsible for bringing out the sun.

The Blacks Angels are one of those bands that fit in as well with the record store junkies as they do the biker bar regulars, drawing equal parts of both denim and leather to the main stage to hear a hallowed mix of guitar wrangling, spirited organs, hearty vocal reverb and the occasional tambourine and harmonica in a well-stitched mix. All of it ties in well to the band’s affinity for The Velvet Underground canon.

Giving good bits of their six-album catalog, the latest coming in 2022 with “Wilderness of Mirrors,” the bandmates were short on stage banter, instead keeping people in the zone with their unyielding performance that proved, once again, there’s always something for everyone at Riot Fest. — Selena Fragassi