There’s an irony in the fact that a music fest is kind of a terrible place if you’re a music fan. It’s not because of the crowds or setting or things of that nature. If your interests are narrow or indiscriminate, you can have an easy breezy time. But if you like more than one thing, God help you. Having a longer day to explore Humboldt Park, the site of Riot Fest, one thing is clear: it’s not an easy space to get around. While some of the seven stages are situated right next to each other, making it easy to go from one to another, some are spread so far apart that the only course for some fans are hard choices. If you’re interested in random samplings, Riot Fest may not be for you.

Yet, the geographic confusion opens up some interesting possibilities. On the way to see other bands—or at least attempt to—you can stumble upon things that weren’t on your radar. Such was the case with the first band of the day, The Bots. The two brothers, in both sense of the word, were possibly the youngest act of the entirety of Riot Fest. Their first record was released last year when they were 15 and 12. While their voices and stature clearly transmit the youth factor, their playing was light years beyond what one would expect or assume. If your eyes were closed, you would assume that their 12 and 15 years is the amount time they’ve been playing and not just been alive.

Next was about seven seconds of 7 Seconds (musical puns are a gift that keep on giving) before I made my way over to see Buzzcocks. Buzzcocks occupy an interesting space in that they’re one of the early pioneers of punk who reunited before it was the thing to do. And they’ve put out consistently great records, including The Way, which came out earlier this year. Yet what most people want is Singles Going Steady. Luckily, the band is more than game to play the hits, ripping through their set as if it was still 1979. Again closing your eyes, it would be easy to believe that the band has been held in suspended animation since then. They tore through a mix of new and old that blended seamlessly just because the band is so damn consistent. Hopefully, their set turned the assembled masses onto the rest of their quite excellent catalog.

Next up, and on the opposite side of the energy spectrum, was Television. The band reunited in 2001 and has been a sporadic presence on the concert trail, fitting that the band’s studio catalog is a slim three albums that haven’t been added to since 1992. Thus by default every set is going to be the greatest hits. If the Buzzcocks were an example of time not passing, Television was a case of time doing its thing. Between all of the grey beards in the crowd and Tom Verlaine’s old man voice, this was a moment that felt steeped in age. Yet that didn’t extend to the band’s playing. While they never matched the energy of Buzzcocks, the tasteful and nimble playing by everyone involved showed that while there was snow on the roof, it was springtime in the speakers. And when they ended with the inevitable “Marquee Moon,” it felt like standing in a space without time.

Next on the agenda was Face To Face. While I didn’t catch a bunch of their set (had to make it to another stage), it was good to see that they’re still delivering their melodic punk to the people. Instead, the destination was Die Antwoord (pictured top) and their techno-electro brand of… let’s call it hip-hop. After “Fuck you in the ass!” was blasted over the PA repeatedly, what proceeded was essentially the same set that they’ve been doing ever since they caught the imagination of the internet. Yo-Landi Vi$$er’s voice continues to be a two-steps-above-helium acquired taste as the pair runs around stage as if they ingested five pounds of Pixie Stix a piece. The hilarious post-Technotronic and slightly tweaked updated rave tunes are deadly effective if you’re in the right mind space. They played as hard as any of the bands over the weekend with only two turntables and two microphones.

In every festival goers schedule there comes a point where hard choices need to be made. You must have a sense of peace made with the fact that you’re going to miss something you really want to see. Or you can try to do it all. With those marching orders in mind, a quick haul was made over to the check out the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Well, quick until coming upon thousands of people and a field that had been transformed into an industrial strength mud trap—hardly the ideal spot for the type of dance party that the Bosstones have been known to inspire. So, there was more head bobbing and shaking than skanking, but the assembled throng didn’t seem to mind. And for a band that only tours sporadically, due to lead singer’s Dickey Barrett’s day job as announcer for Jimmy Kimmel Live (seriously), they were as tight as any point during their heyday. And while the Bosstones’ dancer/hypeman Ben Carr may not have the energy he used to, he was still giving it his all. The Bosstones also continued the trend of happily and cheerfully cranking out their hits. While some bands may balk, they and many other bands during the weekend were fine with giving the people what they wanted.

But the journey in the wayback machine had to be cut short to catch The Afghan Whigs. They’re currently in the middle of a tour so the band is theoretically firing on all cylinders, and this theory was proven correct. Tearing through their set with an almost scary intensity, the band treated new songs as old classics and classic songs as if they were brand new songs. And Greg Dulli was as Dulli as ever, taking the time to inject one of Diamond David Lee Roth’s monologues into a song breakdown and stalking the stage as if he were the spokesman for Sex Panther cologne. And apparently they did a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Tusk,” which I missed.

But there to soothe the pain was the once and future “Modfather” Paul Weller (pictured right). Between The Jam, The Style Council and his own solo work, Weller has an absurdly large and varied catalog, so a better person than I could tell you how far he and how deep he went. But what was clear is that he’s an undeniable pro, effortlessly going from one song to the next with energy and vigor. So it was a bit ironic that the one flat point of the set (even though he clearly got a kick from playing it) was the closing song, “A Town Called Malice.” The one undeniable hit and it never really popped off like it should have. It could also be attributed to the sound issues that have plagued the fest thus far or maybe it was a misstep, but either way was it was the first letdown of the day.

But with Riot Fest’s tight schedule, there was no time to wallow before moving onto the next stage. And on that stage was the mighty Wu-Tang Clan, performing the classic Enter The 36 Chambers. But as with all things Wu-Tang, it couldn’t be that simple. They were missing U-God and, most crucially, Method Man. They did most of the album, but it wasn’t quite the front-to-back run for which some may have hoped. And with the absence of Method Man, there’s a huge energy hole. Luckily, both The RZA and Ghostface Killah stepped up to fill that hole, while every one of the other members took turns filling in for the missing member. Pretty much everything that one might have wanted to hear was performed—or at least was touched upon—including a mini tribute to Ol’ Dirty Bastard and a truncated version of “Triumph.” While the full power of the Wu would have been fantastic, the resulting show wasn’t lacking at all.

The plan was to then check out Metric and some of the Flaming Lips before heading to another stage. But sound issues popped up again, and after three songs, it became so frustrating I moved on to queue up for Descendents (pictured below), which turned out to be the better choice because before their set, Cock Sparrer was playing on the opposite stage. I knew nothing about the band other than they were one of the early but minor British punk bands. From the set they put on, it seems like time to do some research.

It was the perfect lead in to the Descendents’ set, a full run through the Milo Goes to College album. It began with Milo onstage, complete with backpack, asking “Is this Punk Rock 101?” It was actually the band’s second show of the weekend, with ALL playing the previous day, a warm up that perhaps led to the ferocity of today’s performance. Tighter than a shrunken pair of leggings, melodic but tough, hard but sweet—if you’d never seen them before, this was a show that would convert you. And if you had seen them play before, it reaffirmed your love 10,000 fold. And the bonus was many of the band’s other key songs and crowd favorites. Since Milo Goes to College is a short record, it was almost as if the band got to play two sets in one—that’s how many songs they played.

Finally the last stop for the night was Glen Danzig’s reconfigured Samhain. Samhain was always treated as the unloved step child of his career because it came after the Misfits, but before Danzig. But the project’s influence has increased exponentially over the years, and it’s fitting that the 30th anniversary of Samhain’s debut, Initium, comes at a time when Danzig has finally begun to embrace his legacy. Also, a tip of the cap to Danzig for explaining the trend behind the full album runs at Riot Fest: for Riot Fest’s 10th anniversary, they picked 10 essential records in their minds and asked the bands to perform them. And Danzig was more than game, coming out covered in Samhain’s trademark fake blood and getting straight to business. If you haven’t heard the record in awhile, it’s almost shocking how different his voice sounds on it. An even bigger shock was that he performed the songs in that voice and not what has become his trademark bellow. While his body may not be as lithe as it once was, Danzig’s voice was transported back to 1984. It was striking that contrary to his persona, he seemed to be having a ball running through Initium, even while grumpily explaining that he hates playing guitar after “Archangel.”Randy Blythe, lead singer of Lamb of God, came onstage to sing a song and both he and Danzig seemed so stoked to be performing that it was infectious. It was a hell of a way to end day two.