Chicago Open Air, 2017.

Trust me, I was happier about the event than I looked.

Tonight, I want to roll back the clock to last year. Since Woodstock, music festivals have been under the spotlight in American alternative culture. Big names like Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Riot Fest and Summerfest come to mind for summer music festivals. When our side of the Earth tilts a few degrees towards the sun, many young adults, older fans and dreadlocked gutter punks flock to mud-covered fields and watch gaggles of middle-aged men play songs they wrote in high school.
The summer I turned 20 was probably my least productive summer in my college life. I didn't get a job and I was either on my computer all day or going out with friends and blowing all my money. Before that, my friend Aaron convinced me that the best way to drain my savings was to spend almost 85 dollars for a Friday night at Chicago Open Air 2017. Though it was for one day, Open Air was a mix of the best and worst of the summer music festival experience that I've had for years.

I'll go in chronological order for this post, but you'll get a dose of my opinions on what happened that day. Here's the good, the bad and the ugly of Open Air 2017.

On July 14th, we drove from wonderful Milwaukee, Wisconsin to glamorous Bridgeview, Illinois where Open Air took place. We stopped in the parking lot outside of Toyota Park and joined a long line of patched vests, tour t-shirts and denim shorts to get into the fest. We took our place in line behind a nice Indiana family. The dad wore an Ozzfest shirt and trip pants. A woman who could either be mom or grandma said nice things to us, but we noticed she didn't have a tooth in her mouth. I remember telling my friend Aaron jokingly, "This is the America they don't want you to see."

Toyota Park, empty at noon. Photo by Aaron Gross

We arrived super early that morning, clocking in at 11 a.m. The actual lineup started in the afternoon, and the headliners we were there to see played at 6 p.m. Our first couple of hours at Open Air was roasting in the sun and making childish jokes back and forth before the opening acts played.

Opening acts at big name festivals will often have a hard time to get the crowd going, especially if they're a smaller band opening for a popular band. This is amplified tenfold when Friday night's headliners were Anthrax, Megadeth, Rob Zombie and Kiss.

The opening bands were definitely part of the bad category here - though they're granted a handicap because of the bands they're compared to. The songs weren't catchy and they didn't really leave a significant impact in my memory. I couldn't even remember any of the names of the opening bands, because frankly at the time I didn't care.

One thing I noticed about the opening bands is they were a lot younger than the headliners I was there to see. There's definitely a generational gap in music; younger bands want to sound like older bands, but just try to copy the style without bringing anything new to the table. When you listen to hair metal from decades ago, you can probably tell Def Leppard apart from Twisted Sister, even if their music sounds similar. The approach younger bands take is to not try to be labelled to just one genre, but their music sounds bland when this happens.

Though I didn't really enjoy the opening acts, they managed to hold their own and not be a total pain to the ears. When Falling In Reverse played the final opening, they really gave the other bands a run for their money at sucking. Maybe it's because I was never into post-hardcore/metalcore, but their awfulness really stood out in my memory. Here was the ugly part of the show.

Metalcore is an interesting genre because most songs will soar through intense shredding and angelic vocals, and then suddenly break into a ferocious YOU CAN'T FIX MY HEAD ANGST ANGST ANGST ROAR MY PARENTS DIDN'T PAY ATTENTION TO ME AS A CHILD. If you cross this formula with skinny jeans, tattoos and shitty, in-your-face attitudes, that's what Falling In Reverse's set was like.

I didn't particularly enjoy their set, but I sort of understood FIR's message. The method Falling In Reverse uses is by being so flamboyant that they would leave an impression, regardless of anyone's opinion on their music. They wanted to let you know that even if you thought they sucked, they were okay with that. Towards the end of the set, Ronnie Radke announced that the band would 'Just Like You' for their final song after saying he was aware that the crowd didn't like his band very much. The lyrics said something like, "Yes, I'm an asshole, just like you."

Anthrax on stage. Credits to Thomas Woroniak Photography.

Finally, we get to the good part. The headline bands gave it their all and seeing them was worth the agony of sitting through the blazing sun and mediocre music. Friday night's ensemble started out with Anthrax, the old school thrash icon. A circle pit had formed at the front of Toyota Park as the band ripped out recognizable classics like 'Indian', 'Caught in a Mosh' and 'Madhouse'. Megadeth, being such a similar band, pulled off a similar set. By this time the crowd finally gathered to the stage and went into a frenzy of moshing and skanking in spilled beer and sweat. Middle aged stepdads and wild music frat boys slammed together in chaotic harmony to the thrash metal music.

As the sun went down, Rob Zombie and his crew stepped up to the stage. Zombie's gritty humor and macabre performance bounced off the crowd. Zombie's electrifying, industrial-esque music was easily my favorite set of the night. Footage of old horror films flashed behind the band as they played, the light reflecting off their zany outfits. Girlfriends sat on the shoulders of their boyfriends, bouncing up and down in the air to 'Living Dead Girl' as concert security told them to get down.

The Hillbilly from Hell on stage. Credit to Thomas Woroniak Photography.

Rob Zombie's set had killed it, and now it was time for Kiss to revive it so they could kill it again. Kiss already has enough praise for putting on incredible performances and playing great music, but since this was my first - and it could be the only - time seeing them, I was left amazed by their set. To match the hard rock theme of the night, they opened up with their song 'Deuce'.

Gene Simmons tearing it up. Credit to Aaron Gross.

One of my favorite things about Kiss is their age. It's not uncommon to see old rockers play concerts into their 60s and 70s nowadays. Seeing older musicians isn't just a way to step into the past, but it gives some inspiration for when you get older. I don't picture myself slipping into leather when I'm Paul Stanley's age, but it does inspire me to not let down on doing things I love when I'm older.

On the other hand, merchandising and record deals has made Kiss millions, and they'll probably still make that kind of money even when they're six feet under. Playing at 60 years old is just a luxury for them.

Gene Simmons spat out fire while Paul Stanley floated above the audience while hanging on a circus ring. The mosh pit that Anthrax and Megadeth stirred mellowed out by the time Rob Zombie was up, and now almost 30,000 people were singing along to 'Deuce' and jamming to 'God of Thunder' and 'War Machine'.

At the end of their set, Kiss faked out walking off stage and played 'Detroit Rock City' as their final song. After a night of shitty opening bands, moshing, pyrotechnics and Paul Stanley's high voice, the show wrapped up around 1 a.m. and 30,000 people started flooding out of Toyota Park. As the crowd dispersed, a recording of 'God Gave Rock and Roll To You' echoed through the stage loudspeakers.

That night we drove home through the Skokie Highway, satisfied that we saw our favorite bands and enjoyed some fast food afterward. Though my summer was slow both before and after the festival, Chicago Open Air was easily my best highlight of 2017.