One of music’s great debates may have just been brought to an end.

International music festival Riot Fest has just announced an incredible lineup for its 10th anniversary edition this year that will definitely have you considering stockpiling your frequent flyers’ points and certainly gives big name internationals like Glastonbury and Lollapalooza a run for their money in the amazing stakes.

It’s not just the fact that Riot Fest is taking place in three separate locations with three unique bills, or that they’ve roped in over 110 amazing rock, punk, and indie bands – it’s that 10 of those top-tier music-makers will each be playing a classic album live and in full for their festival set.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The first part of Riot Fist will kick off in Canada, with the Riot Fest & Expo in Toronto on 6th and 7th September, then the Riot Fest & Carnival in Chicago from September 12th – 14th, and last but not least the Riot Fest & Sideshow in Denver, Colorado from September 19th – 21st, each with its own unique lineup (which we’ll get to in a moment). …Ten of those top-tier music-makers will each be playing a classic album live and in full for their festival set.

To celebrate Riot Fest’s 10 years in the business they’ve organised ten bands to perform ten classic albums at the Chicago and Denver legs, including Slayer (Reign In Blood), Descendents (Milo Goes to College), Weezer (The Blue Album), Jane’s Addiction (Nothing Shocking), The Get Up Kids (Something to Write Home About), NOFX (Punk in Drublic), the Offspring (Smash), Glenn Danzig’s reunited band Samhain (Initium), Naked Raygun (Throb Throb), and one more to be announced, as Pitchfork reports.

As if that wasn’t enough to convince you, let’s take a look at each of the three festival lineups, which combined makes for one of the biggest music festival lineups ever seen in the US.

The Chicago event is the biggest, with a list of 110 bands headlined by Robert Smith and his not-so-merry men, The Cure, glam grungers Jane’s Addiction, indie royalty The National and the (controversy stirring) Flaming Lips, along with local punk heroes Rise Against, geek rock stalwarts Weezer, Slayer, Social Distortion, The Offspring, Descendents (who re-united for last year’s Riot Fest), Samhain (reuniting for this year’s event), and the Wu-Tang Clan.

There’s also a special panel discussion with two members of famed Russian fem-punk band Pussy Riot, a set from The Pizza Underground – Macauly Culkin’s bizarre Velvet Underground tribute band – plus plenty of metal  and hadrcore (Mastodon, Gwar, Bring Me The Horizon), classic punk (NO FX, Buzzcocks, Dropkick Murphys, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, Stiff Little Fingers), indie groups (Kurt Vile, Wavves, Superchunk) and enough names to send 90s guitar rock aficionados dizzy (Thurston Moore, Mudhoney, The Afghan Whigs, The Dandy Warhols).

The Toronto edition features many of the same top-billed artists but also focuses on Canadian talent, including City And Colour, Metric, The New Pornographers, Stars, Tokyo Police Club, plus a few extra additions such as Death Cab For Cutie and Death From Above 1979, while the Denver edition features a slightly altered selection of the Riot Fest bill in Chicago.

You can view all three drool-worthy lineups below, along with the ’10 Classic Albums’ flyer, but be sure to bring a bib. Tickets and info at http://riotfest.org/

Riot Fest 2014 Chicago

Tickets and info here.

Riot Fest 2014 Toronto

Tickets and info here.

Riot Fest 2014 Denver

Tickets and info here.


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