“This is only our third show in three years … we missed our job really badly,” El-P said at the start of the set. Much of the material from the night came from “RTJ4,” their fourth studio album that came out in June 2020, and one which they obviously never got to tour on until now... Killer Mike did take a moment to commend the ASL interpreters (as Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath also did earlier in the night) and also paid tribute to a mentor, the late Alice Johnson from North Chicago. As Killer Mike said, she taught him how to organize and first introduced him to the important work of civil rights leaders like John Lewis. Advising that there’s something greater than allyship — that being friendship — he pushed the crowd to “keep empathy alive” as an intro to the socially conscious diatribe "Walking In The Snow." [Chicago Sun Times]
The 2021 edition of Riot Fest continued on Saturday (9/18) in Chicago's Douglass Park, with Run the Jewels, Taking Back Sunday, Dropkick Murphys, and Andrew W.K. closing out the night. Rise Against, who played the final set of the day on the Roots Stage, were a last minute addition to the lineup, replacing Faith No More, whose set was cancelled, along with Mr. Bungle's. Rise Against dedicated their set to the band, and to Mike Patton, whose mental health struggles were the reason for the cancellation. They also brought out Damian Abraham of Fucked Up, who weren't able to perform because the whole band couldn't make it into the country in time.