Recap Rise Against at Summerfest

While Rise Against is about as close to being a hardcore punk band as Minor Threat is to reuniting and opening for Kiss Saturday at Marcus Amphitheater, the Chicago band offers a passionate glimmer of hope amid the heap of innocuous trash currently dominating mainstream rock radio. Rise Against took its winning formula of political angst and tooth-rotting hooks to the Harley-Davidson Roadhouse stage on the opening day of Summerfest Thursday, proving to a crowd of thousands that its music can be just as relevant to guys with Mohawks and Dr. Martens, as it was to the 8-year-old boy who played air guitar next to me, screaming along with nearly every word.

Rise Against provoked a sea of furious headbanging during melodic blasts like “State Of The Union” and “Paper Wings,” though the mood was sullied somewhat by inconsiderate meatheads who slammed their fists into innocent bystanders. No Summerfest is complete without a handful of angry, sleeveless troglodytes ramming into bystanders and chucking half-full cups of beer into the audience. Despite the macho bullshit, the massive crowd seemed united by the raw energy that Rise Against pushed into its fist-pumping anthems. Guitarist Zach Blair ran all over the stage, flailing his guitar around as bassist Joe Principe locked tightly into the explosive drumming of Brandon Barnes.

Most impressive was singer-guitarist Tim McIlrath, who nailed his infectiously raspy vocals with ease as sweat quickly soaked his T-shirt. The set pulled heavily from 2008’s Appeal To Reason, while also grabbing generously from the animal-rights activists’ other two major-label records: 2004’s Siren Song Of The Counter Culture and 2006’s The Sufferer And The Witness. 

After closing with “Prayer Of The Refugee,” a man near a Miller stand implored the band to play an encore by swinging his prosthetic leg in the air—Rise Against was likely going to come back anyway, but you can’t deny a fake limb. Finally, McIlrath returned to the stage with an acoustic guitar and performed a soft rendition of “Everchanging” from 2001’s The Unraveling, which lead directly into the protesting “Hero Of War.” Rise Against sent the audience into a final frenzy with an overblown version of “Ready To Fall.”