We heard about a new website called Riottt a while back. We couldn’t quite figure out exactly what the purpose was but we saw they were throwing a one-day festival in San Fran with a ton of great up-and-coming bands and knew we wanted to be a part of it.
Gregg and I drove up in Bessie from LA to meet up with crew members Dustin, Knife, and Jackie who came down from points north. The first night we headed to my favorite restaurant, House of Nanking, then over to Great American Music Hall for Islands. The next night we rocked Gil Mantera, 120 Days, and Grand Buffet while slinging cream in between sets and handing out flyers for BurnLounge who helped us buy all the ice cream on board.
Saturday came and we rolled up early to ensure prime placement right out front. We had close to 2000 treats on board and the estimated attendance was upwards of 10,000 revelers. It had rained in the morn but the clouds parted and the sun shown down on those waiting outside. It took a bit for people to catch on to the free cream but a handful were wise and gobbled down some goodies before heading in to catch Birdmonster.
Since I was working the truck most of the time, my only request was to see the Wrens. After emphasizing this numerous times to the crew, it worked out perfect and I got to catch their whole set. They said that this show was the largest they had ever played which was kinda cool. I was thinking of how to describe them and the best that came to mind was, “If Mission of Burma was born ten years later”. Most of their music sounds like it’s a predecessor to indie rock, even though most of it was made during Indie’s heyday.
By midday the word was out on the free ice cream and the smart folks were taking full advantage and stocking up. We had a near perfect amount on board and weren’t worried about running out so we’d stock up most of the city dwellers that would stop by with a few for their friends around the way. The rest of the gang kept making the rounds and everyone was living it up.
From our vantage point outside we could hear the main stage artists and occasionally I would side step a bit and could see who was playing. When Sage Francis (who used to sling the cream) took the stage, I kept peeping in to check him out. Eventually I had to go in and rock a couple tracks. He invited a couple breakdancers on stage to battle. The first did it proper and classic with some tight moves. Sage said the second guy only had 20 seconds so he started to do a whirlwind helicopter thingee on his hands. Usually a person drops into some sort of spin after a couple twirls but homeboy stayed on his hands the whole time. I’d never witnessed that before and even Sage was quite impressed. For his part he had to pull out the move where you go do a handstand then flip yourself over to your feet. I was quite impressed because I’m pretty limber and I can’t pull that off.
There was a very cute girl working the photo booth inside and we headed back in to get a couple pics when we heard Explosions in the Sky and were stopped in our tracks. There’s just something magical about this band. The fact that they can pack the house just playing all/mostly instrumental tunes is quite impressive.
Metric went on soon after and I was sad I missed seeing Emily. I had only rocked them once before and it was an off night in front of a small crowd who had no idea who they were. From the pics it looks like it was quite a good time.
All in All, Be the Riottt was a hell of a good time. The setup inside was top notch and the talent was all cutting edge and high quality. I’m down with having a bunch of bands, like Riottt, instead of spending it all on one big headliner. Check out www.riottt.com to see what they got going on. Check out the Just Blaze and John Mayer session as well, quite impressive.
Thanks to all the crew who made it out, to BurnLounge for helping with the cream, and all the great folks at Riottt who made it all happen. Here’s hoping they do it again.
