In response to John Stamos' demands to finally appear at Riot Fest, the Chicago White Sox volunteered to help out. One of the items on Stamos's humorous retainer to promote the Beach Boys' appearance on Sept. 20 is a Greek pizza named in his honor. Working with Beggars Pizza, the White Sox will have a Stamos slice for Saturday's game against the Yankees.
The pizza features gyro meat, olives, feta, artichokes, and roasted red peppers. I gave it a test drive at Rate Field on Friday, and were it part of my Food Day rating system, I would give it a Home Run. It might be such a hit that perhaps Beggars Pizza would entertain the idea of keeping it around longer than one game.
The White Sox's involvement with Riot Fest is a smart marketing ploy. With the team staring at another 100-loss season and the arrival of football season, fan attention is on the way out, so anything that helps sustain some of the summer spotlight on is appreciated. The connection isn't really a stretch when considering how much individual musical tastes -- walk-up songs, entrance music, player trivia -- are part of a gameday production.
To help break up the monotony of another White Sox season stumbling to the finish line, I took the chance to chat with the creator of Riot Fest, "Riot Mike" Petryshyn. If you live outside of Chicago and are not familiar with Riot Fest, it's definitely one of the top music festivals the city hosts. Obviously, due to scale, Lollapalooza is number one, but come September, you can feel the FOMO for those who didn't grab a Riot Fest pass and head their way to Douglas Park for a mid-September weekend. While the White Sox are taking on the San Diego Padres, I'll be attending my first Riot Fest, looking to see Blink 182, Weezer, Jack White, Green Day, and even Jim Margalus' personal favorite, The Hold Steady.
As a Riot Fest noob, I wanted to learn more about the festival and how Riot Fest became a partner with the White Sox.
Q & A with Riot Fest Mike
JOSH NELSON: It’s the 20th anniversary of Riot Fest. Looking back, how do you view all the success you and the festival have achieved?
“RIOT MIKE” Petryshyn: Well, if somebody would have said to me 20 years ago that Riot Fest is going to get to 20 years, but somewhere in there you're going to be introducing a [John] Stamos pizza with the White Sox in order to get him here to play with the Beach Boys, I would have said “You're out of mind!” [Laughing]
NELSON: You mentioned that you’re a big baseball fan. Have you always been a White Sox fan? Also, what’s the partnership like with the White Sox?
RIOT MIKE: I grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., and so we didn’t have a major league team when I was a kid. My first game was seeing the Buffalo Bisons, which was a Triple-A team, and they were the affiliate to the White Sox [1985-86]. So that was kind of like the first MLB team I got into.
But I love and romanticize baseball. I’m a card collector, love the players, and the history of the game. So as long as the New York Yankees don’t win, I’m generally happy. I like small market teams and the teams with history. Of course, living in Chicago, I want the White Sox to win. But you know, if the Pittsburgh Pirates won, that’s cool, too.
NELSON: Why the John Stamos tattoo?
RIOT MIKE: Why not? [Laughing]
We’ve been back and forth with Stamos for 12 years. There’s been banter online, a little bit of trolling, but it’s all in good nature and jest. We’re doing everything we can at Riot Fest to get Stamos here for the [September] 20th.
NELSON: Riot Fest is held again at Douglass Park. Will that remain the future home of Riot Fest?
RIOT MIKE: We’ve been at Douglass Park for 10 years and have a multiyear deal with the city. They appreciate that we’re here.
NELSON: Would Riot Fest ever hold an event at Rate Field?
RIOT MIKE: Why not? Of course! Plenty of parking [Laughs].
NELSON: When I read about the current state of the music industry, it’s a tough gig. From your perspective, how has the music industry evolved and where does Riot Fest fit in?
RIOT MIKE: Us coming from the clubs, we earned every inch. We were inside for the first six years starting with 1,900 people at Congress Theater to what it is today with tens of thousands of people each day.
There’s a lot of luck along the way, but we’ve worked really hard. What allowed Riot Fest to survive is that we’re an enigma of festivals. We have our own personality, our crowd respects us, and it’s a bond that maybe some other festivals don’t have.
NELSON: Which Riot Fest acts were most memorable to you?
RIOT MIKE: Gosh, that’s tough.
The Misfits reunion in 2016 was special to me. Smashing Pumpkins post-COVID put on one of the best sets I’ve ever seen anybody play, and I’m a pretty hard critic on that stuff. But Billy [Corgan] brought it. It was fantastic.
If you love the band, it’s like you always have a natural tendency to be like, “Oh, that set was awesome.”
But if you stay neutral on it, just really pay attention to how the artist is performing on stage and what they’re doing with the crowd. The direction, especially somebody with the art direction stuff, those sets stick with you for years. What’s great for us at Riot Fest is that the big guns like Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, and the Foo Fighters all brought their “A” games. They know that the fans out there are passionate. They’re not fly by night.
So even though everybody loves them, if they played well or didn’t play well, they’d hear it from the fans. Those big bands feel that pressure to perform well, which is why they bring it at Riot Fest.
Another factor is that the bands stay all weekend long. They don’t often do that at other festivals because their favorite bands are playing here, too. Or they get to meet people they’ve toured with in the past. It’s like one big reunion.
NELSON: What advice do you have for a Riot Fest newbie like me?
RIOT MIKE: Soak it all in. The bands are vital, but I think what you’re going to be most surprised about, and what’s going to bring you back, is the fans. They’re the ones who actually give the soul to Riot Fest. That’s why we are different from every other festival in the United States.
I build stuff and get bands to play, but it’s really the crowd that kind of makes what Riot Fest is and how it’s not like any other festival out there.
