Riot Fest looked a bit … different on Sunday. Gone were the earlier days’ oppressive heat and blistering sun, and in came the clouds and rain just in time for the first official day of fall.
Bands also looked different on Riot’s final day. Saxsquatch, Nekrogoblicon and GWAR were decked out in their best Bigfoot-horror-space alien costumes, with GWAR’s fake blood smearing over everything they touched. Fans too were wearing their own uniform of sorts, with bright ponchos and Slayer shirts the go-to apparel for the day (even the Cobra beer tent outfitted staff in custom Slayer logo shirts).
Mastodon
On Sunday’s holy day of metal, Riot Fest brought in the most reverent acts to fill out the lineup leading up to the reunion of the gods Slayer. In particular, Mastodon was a heavy treat for the late afternoon as the band filled the final spot for the full-album plays during Riot Fest weekend.
The Atlanta natives chose their 2004 album “Leviathan” for the occasion, in honor of the record’s 20th anniversary. Two decades later, it is widely acknowledged as one of the best metal albums this side of the century.
In an Instagram post to mark the album’s actual birthday in August, Mastodon shared, “It’s wild to look back at how far we’ve come in the past two decades. In the ‘Leviathan’ days, we were grinding it out in a van, dreaming of something bigger,” adding how its success led to Grammy nominations, Billboard charting and a “Game of Thrones” cameo.
The album, inspired loosely by the saga of “Moby Dick,” was also apropos after the deluge that fell upon Douglass Park earlier in the day. (Stepping around mud puddles is its own kind of sea voyage.) By the time Mastodon took the stage, the skies had cleared, yet large swells of water could be seen falling from the roof of the adjacent stage, providing the perfect backdrop for the metal band’s wayfarer performance.
“We’re so proud of this album and happy to be here playing it from top to bottom,” said bassist-singer Troy Sanders. Next to him was guitarist Bill Kelliherm wearing a Big Black T-shirt in honor of the late Steve Albini.
Hearing “Leviathan” in full was a master class in showmanship with the billowing compositions coming off like a brutal orchestra, no more so than on the instrumental segue from the long outro of “Hearts Alive” into album closer “Joseph Merrick.”
Once the full album mission was accomplished, Mastodon also had time for its epic hit “Steambreather” before ending with the promise of more to come soon. “We’re going to be writing new music and hopefully have an album out next year,” Sanders added. “We’ll see you again sooner than later.”
GWAR
Forget CNN or Fox News; if you want unfiltered commentary on the news of the day, there’s always the trusted source GWAR. The intergalactic space warriors by way of Richmond, Virginia, were really out for blood during their Riot performance — and not just the buckets of fake stuff they spewed on the audience in trademark form from song one. For this hourlong set, they took aim at Sean “Diddy” Combs, Benjamin Netanyahu and Taylor Swift.
SawBorg Destructo got the insults started, saying he had a beef to pick with bandmate Balsac the Jaws o’ Death over running up his credit card bill buying enough bottles of lube to put “P Diddy to shame.” Anyone who clutched their pearls at that one needed a much better grip for what was to come next.
After finding a doll under the drum riser, a character dressed as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu entered stage left to berate the band for holding a child of Israel hostage. “We’re trying to solve the problem,” the band said before devolving into a debaucherous skit joining two babies in matrimony, to end the conflict “once and for all.” The whole shtick was to preface the song “Hail, Genocide!”
“That’s what’s happening,” Balsac declared in the moment.
The Taylor Swift bit was a bit tamer — if that’s even possible with a band like GWAR. The character came out dressed in Kelce’s #87 jersey, visibly pregnant, claiming Balsac fathered the spawn. “For all we know he could be Dave Grohl’s kid,” he retorted. Yikes. In the end, “Taylor” birthed a football, delivered by John Goblikon from Nekrogoblikon.
Profane as it may be, you at least can’t say the band isn’t topical. Essentially the mayors of Riot Fest, the warriors have played nearly every year of the festival, presenting a new bit every time. And every time, it’s just as cringe, if not also shining a light on highly political issues that other bands wouldn’t dare touch. Nor would other bands touch the amount of anatomically correct appendages GWAR brings to the stage. But there can only be one — and we just had to go to outer space to find them.
Saxsquatch
The vibe at Riot Fest was already a bit weird Sunday, but trying to process Bigfoot playing covers of “Careless Whisper” on saxophone just added to the mind trip. Add in a guy dressed as Jesus crowd-surfing by walking on the hands of the people below him and it became a total dream scenario.
“Thanks for believing in me, I believe in you too,” the giant furry figure cheekily told the crowd that had gathered in small masse to take in the spectacle. Honestly, it’s hard to believe this shtick is actually someone’s career; Saxsquatch has nearly a half-million followers on socials, has played events like The Big Stomp and Solshine Reverie and has even hosted his own Bigfoot Rave.
Any more than the 30-minute set he offered at Riot might’ve been overkill. He’s the kind of attraction that might be best suited to weddings or bat mitzvahs, but the thing is the legendary creature is actually really good on sax. (To be fair, the man behind the costume is a real musician, having logged time in the Marcus King Band.)
Throughout the performance, Saxsquatch delivered slow-jazz takes on songs like Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” Earth Wind & Fire’s “September” and Pitbull’s “Hotel Room Service,” adding in some programmed EDM beats for extra pizzazz.
If seeing Bigfoot in the flesh wasn’t enough to write home about, he added to the effect with fans blowing his fur in the wind all the while donning a bandana and rainbow sport sunglasses. If he wasn’t so tall and hairy, he might actually fit in with the crowd.
Nekrogoblikon
The creature feature continued with California power metal band Nekrogoblikon taking the AAA Stage Sunday afternoon. Donning his best green face (which stayed put even in the rain), pointy ears and alien fingers, frontman John Goblikon was a force to be reckoned with.
Not only is he an attention-grabbing band leader who can play air guitar like no one else and offers a great clean vocal foil to compadre Dickie Allen’s harsh growls, but he’s a funny whip too. The character has published a book, “John Goblikon’s Guide to Living Your Best Life,” and has his own popular YouTube talk series, “Right Now,” which he plugged at the end of Nekrogoblikon’s set.
But playing the AAA Stage also gave him a chance to joke about the “free towing and roadside assistance” that fans could redeem with their ticket purchases and gave him the chance to discuss hometown baseball. “Let’s hear it for the White Sox. Hey this could be their year … maybe Michael Jordan can come back to help them. He’s like the Nekrogoblikon of baseball,” he said, poking fun at the basketball great’s short stint on the diamond while poking fun at the band too.
The six-piece actually deserves a bit more credit than that. The speed with which they unleash their melodic death metal bangers (the latest from 2022’s “The Fundamental Slimes and Humours”) is an impressive feat in itself, enhanced by the vocal sparring from the two singers and the ongoing onstage gimmicks. Positioning them just after Saxsquatch and just before GWAR was the perfect setup for the afternoon.