Last week, Coachella dropped its 2025 lineup and, unsurprisingly, it sparked quite a bit of discourse . Echoing sentiments lobbed at Lollapalooza in previous years, many felt like Coachella’s three pop star headliners marked a shift away from the festival’s alternative roots. Luckily, there’s a festival in the Windy City that has dug its feet into the ground, remained independent, and kept the ethos of its founding days intact: Riot Fest .

The punk-leaning event celebrated its 20th anniversary this past weekend at Douglass Park in Chicago, boasting a pop punk holy trinity of headliners in Blink-182 , Weezer , and Green Day , as well as an impressive undercard consisting of both scene veterans and exciting newbies. The whole shebang was certainly grander in scale than Riot Fe

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