Riot Fest 2025 Day 3: The Effigies delivers spitfire performance of 'For Ever Grounded'

There are few things more Chicago than Malört, the Bears, dragged-through-the-garden hot dogs and Riot Fest. And on the final day of the event’s 20th anniversary year, organizers are keen to put the focus fully on its roots, starting with the music.

Sunday offers a team huddle of Chicago bands, beginning early with two legendary punk acts, The Effigies and Pegboy, that are the very fabric upon which Riot was built. Followed by Footballhead and Smoking Popes, indie darlings Dehd, cult classics Screeching Weasel and The Academy Is … take to the stages before the night wraps up.

The pride runs deep at Riot. But it’s not just the soundtrack that’s homegrown — the entire atmosphere at Douglass Park oozes with local flavor. Every tented bar is named after one of Chicago’s institutions from EZ Inn to Delilah’s and Cobra Lounge. Video screens have been running promos of Madame Zuzu’s — Billy Corgan’s suburban tea shop — which also has a remote presence at the festival this year. In Riotland, pop-ups bear facades of Fireside Bowl, Logan Arcade and the Field Museum. The fest even got Tom Skilling to do the forecast this year — and the meteorology legend got us some great weather for the weekend, so far staving off a lingering threat of severe storms.

In an era where corporate takeovers have changed the landscape of most pockets of life, including festivals, marking 20 years of Riot Fest is a huge celebration of not only the independent spirit but also being proud of where you come from.

Here are a few highlights Sunday from Riot Fest's stages.

The Effigies

Riot Fest really knows how to dig up the ghosts of Chicago’s punk past.

Last year, Verboten was unearthed after a 40-year absence. This year that same stage was given to The Effigies, one of Chicago’s original punk bands, who graced the stage with such spitfire energy, it’s hard to believe the band got its start in 1980.

For this career-high moment, the band dug deep into the vault to offer a full album play of its 1984 debut “For Ever Grounded” with its nonconformist elegies feeling incredibly relevant for this day and age. Bassist Paul Zamost’s chugging lines, drummer Steve Economou’s pulverizing beats and the heavy-handed guitars of Andy Gerber (originally the band’s producer) were a playground for vocalist Geoff Sabin to frolic through.

Sabin was incredibly animated for the noon call time, ditching the mic at times to run down the catwalk, throwing high knees and fists in the air. The singer takes his role quite seriously — since early 2024, he’s taken over the very big shoes of original vocalist, the late John Kezdy, after his untimely passing in a biking accident in 2023, just as the band was finalizing its first new album in 17 years, “Burned.” It’s the final record to feature his vocals. 

“A big thank you and memorial to John … without whom none of this would be possible,” Sabin said toward the end of the set, a bittersweet reminder of how much Kezdy would have loved to have been part of this moment. So would Steve Albini, who was a very vocal fan of The Effigies. But, alas, the big punk wheel keeps turning, and as The Effigies themselves say, “We’ll Be Here Tomorrow,” knowing it’s the only way to keep those legacies alive.