Riot Fest Day 4 reviews: Fever 333, Health, Melkbelly

Fever 333 frontman Aalon Butler performs Sunday at Riot Fest in Douglass Park. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Sunday at Riot Fest brought the closing ceremonies to one of Chicago’s best independent homegrown events as well as the true end to festival season. Already Riot is thinking of next year with banner ads running all weekend to get fans to sign the petition to bring ABBA to the grounds in 2022 and other promos for the other announced headliners, the original Misfits and My Chemical Romance. If the past four days are any indication, many are already counting down the days until the day Riot returns.

Fever 333

The award for most riotous band to play Riot Fest this weekend easily goes to Fever 333. The trio from Los Angeles came dressed in camouflage coveralls and were ready to start a war: on gun violence, on racism, on the patriarchy and on the ears of the willing who were ready to drink in the society punch.

The only thing wrong with the set was being pitted against Body Count in one of the biggest conflicts of the weekend. Like Body Count, Rage Against the Machine and Public Enemy, Fever 333 finds its heart amplifying the angst felt by marginalized communities looking for a greater voice — and for the allies that are there to listen and support.

Frontman Jason Aalon Butler paid tribute to the festival organizers for “making a space for POC people in their genre,” which for Fever 333 toes the line of metal, rap, rock, and punk, and then dedicated the song “Hunting Season” to fellow POC punks. He also prefaced the band’s Grammy nominated-track “Made in America” by admonishing that collectively we’ve so easily forgotten about the revolution that was started in 2020 at the time of the George Floyd/BLM protests: “I want to remind you that 19 months ago we were talking about changing s- - -. … This song goes out to those that want to see something different than what we are seeing right now.”

Fever 333 performances are likewise self-described as demonstrations, and this midday appearance showed why. The trio remains one of the most passionate, physical, life-on-the-line acts you can see grace a stage, intent on getting the message out at all costs. Butler spent the entire set moving, whether it was climbing scaffolding to the top rung, traversing the stage like a slip-and-slide without water or ending the set by running through the crowd in his underwear to then crowdsurf all the way back to stage.

His partners in the project, guitarist Stephen Harrison and drummer Aric Improta, were equally brute, Improta particularly a maniacal display on the drums while also doing backflips. The aggro, anti-establishment air cleared shortly after the performance wrapped, as one of the stage’s lighting directors proposed to his girlfriend on the same stage to the cheers of the crowd. Perhaps their next stop will be the Riot Fest Wedding Chapel.

Health

Health performs Sunday at Riot Fest in Douglass Park.

We might never know if Health and Nine Inch Nails had planned to join forces on Sunday at Riot Fest for their collaborative track “Isn’t Everyone,” originally released in May to critical applause. The two acts also previously toured together. But of course NIN canceled its upcoming concert schedule and Riot Fest appearance that was slated for Sunday out of concerns over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In the wake, Health emerged, giving the summer goths in the crowd a hearty dose of the industrial-tinged noise rock that many were still craving. The experimental trio out of L.A. creates a real mood with its voluminous sound, a passive-aggressive mix of frontman Jake Duzsik’s ethereal vocals finding nooks within the brutal beats of drummer BJ Miller and bassist/noise tinkerer John Famiglietti’s feverish assault. In a flash, they can flip the switch from chilling cinematic scenescape to harsh existential dread while always sounding cohesive. They are a prime example of why it’s always good to get to the festival grounds early to catch the rising stars and unexpected gems.

Melkbelly

Miranda Winters sings during the Melkbelly performance Sunday at Riot Fest.

Chicago’s fuzzy noise rockers Melkbelly took a minute to acknowledge another one of the big gaps on Sunday’s lineup with a tribute to the Pixies (who canceled their appearance a few weeks back), effortlessly covering their song “Gigantic” by bringing on stage a trio of friends only known as Wendy, Linda and Liz to help frontwoman Miranda Winters on the backup vocals. The strong female force was something Winters was quick to point out by the end of the short set as the rockers ripped through “Kissing Under Some Bats” from their April 2020 album “PITH.” Winters introduced the song by dedicating it to the ladies in the crowd or “anyone who wants to play music but is afraid.” Melkbelly — also featuring Bart Winters on guitar, Liam Winters on bass and James Wetzel on drums — upholds the lineage of noise-blaring rock acts from Chicago, showcased well in the performance. The Rebel Stage where they played was a frontrunner for some great local talent over the weekend, and also featured Chicago act Airstream Futures earlier in the day. Though Melkbelly claimed to have “dropped the ball” on merch for the festival, the band members did encourage the crowd to meet them by their van in the alley to pick up T-shirts and copies of the new album, and hopefully people were brave enough to do so.