LIVE REVIEW: INNERVIEW AT RIOT FEST 2018, DAY TWO

Three songs into Wolfmother’s set and frontman Andrew Stockade has screamed three “Chicagos!” (thank you, I know where I am). It’s cool to see Chicago’s Bruce Lamont wail away on his saxophone on the opener “Lazy.” My biggest fear hearing Twin Peaks at a festival have come true as the nuances of the band’s music are lost. It sounds muddy, and it’s such a bummer because it appears the band is performing well. Killing Joke is tearing through a set of their greatest hits. Drummer Paul Ferguson, at age 60, is destroying the kit with his fills and cymbal work and basically stealing the show. It’s fun to stumble upon Elvis Costello & the Imposters playing one of their biggest hits. They’re stampeding through “Peace, Love and Understanding,” and Costello himself is ripping it up on his guitar. I figure Jerry Lee Lewis is here and I’m here, so I might as well catch a glimpse of the rock ’n’ roll pioneer. After winding around a huge crowd to see the stage, Lewis is not up there but his backup band is smoking through standards. Four songs later, Lewis himself ambles onto the stage, sits at the piano and works hard to get through a couple of songs before I leave. Meanwhile, The Jesus Lizard is in top form. They sound great, they’re playing well and they look like they’re having a ton of fun delivering what could be the set of the night. Finally, can a band really be as slick as Beck’s backing band? It seems antiseptic from the sounds coming from the stage combined with the intense light show. It’s good, but it also screams “Super Bowl Halftime” show. BY CASEY MOFFITT–PHOTO BY ANTHONY NGUYEN
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