After a low-key "preview" on Thursday, Riot Fest 2021 got underway in earnest on Friday, with five stages of acts. Hometown heros Smashing Pumpkins and Lupe Fiasco headlined, alongside NOFX, and Friday also included performances from Circle Jerks, Coheed and Cambria, Motion City Soundtrack, The Lawrence Arms, Thrice, Living Colour, Circa Survive, Anti-Flag, Eyedress, Fishbone, Kississippi, Radkey, girlpuppy, The Sounds, Meet Me @ the Altar, Pinegrove and lots more. Pictures from Friday are in this post.

Billy Corgan, draped in a long jacket, wondered aloud if he should indulge his "artsy fuckside," but Smashing Pumpkins stuck mainly to the hits, giving the Douglass Park crowd "1979," "Cherub Rock," "Zero," "Tonight, Tonish," "Bullet With Butterfly Wings," "Drown," "Disarm," "Ava Adore," the first performance of Siamese Dream's "Quiet" since 1994, and more, over the course of nearly two hours. They also brought out Meg Myers, who played her own Riot Fest set earlier in the day, for "Eye" from the Lost Highway soundtrack, and Nitro guitarist Michael Angelo Batio joined them to close the night with "United States." Setlist and video of "Eye" are below.

It wouldn't be a Chicago festival without a thunderstorm, and the rain poured during Circle Jerks set, which was the second show of their reunion tour (their last was 10 years ago). Thankfully, the downpours were brief and Douglas Park did not need to be evacuated. The rain didn't stop the pit, either:

Video from Circle Jerks' drenched set, along with pics from the whole day by James Richards IV, are below.

Riot Fest continues Saturday with sets from Run the Jewels, Taking Back Sunday, Dropkick Murphys, Andrew WK, Rancid, Fucked Up, Vic Mensa, Gogol Bordello, Best Coast, Hepcat, Les Savy Fav, Gwar, Big Freedia, Citizen, The Bronx, and more.

Check out pics from Thursday, including Patti Smith, Alkaline Trio, Joyce Manor and more, here.

SETLIST: Smashing Pumpkins @ Riot Fest 2021 (via)
The Colour of Love (Live debut)
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
Today
Crush
Drown
Quiet (first live performance since 1994)
Cyr
Wyttch (Live debut)
Solara
Eye (with Meg Myers)
Ava Adore
Tonight, Tonight
Stand Inside Your Love
Cherub Rock
Zero
Ramona (Live debut)
1979
Disarm
Shame
United States (with Michael Angelo Batio)