Riot Fest 2024: NOFX says goodbye with tracks from 40 years of hardcore history

It was high school all over again Sunday night as the Riot Fest finale came down to a clash of the punks and metalheads. "This is our smallest crowd all weekend. Slayer took away from our crowd," NOFX's Fat Mike joked at the start of his band's third and final farewell performance in Douglass Park. (The multi-night Chicago sendoff comes just ahead of the band's retirement this year.)

The mohawked singer had been talking smack about all the competing headliners the previous two nights as well, but looking around at the thinned-out masses near the NOFX World Stage on Sunday, you almost felt bad for the guy as he took it in. It was the set conflict of all the set conflicts this weekend, leaving attendees to make the tough decision: Do you see an iconic metal act's reunion or a long-haul punk band's goodbye?

Given that many chose the former, you can somewhat understand the bitterness as the singer-bassist jokingly chided, "Slayer are a terrible band ... name 13 songs you know by them."

Not that he cared about any backlash or cancel-culture threats for this latest position: "I can't get in trouble, there's only three shows after this."

Cheap shots aside, when the NOFX musicians got down to the business at hand, they let themselves enjoy the moment, and the dedicated congregation that showed up did the same by singing along and pogo dancing even as the rain picked up again. (That could be blamed on Slayer too).

The 18-song set list (unique from the previous two nights) was a great mashup of the band's material over the past 40 years. It was a much shorter list than the 25 songs on Friday and 34 on Saturday. But the band did whip out the 18-minute epoch "The Decline" to wrap things up Sunday, which is basically six songs in NOFX time.

Elsewhere in the set was the '80s-era "Day to Daze," the '90s-era "Please Play This Song on the Radio," the 2000s-era "Pharmacist's Daughter" and newer songs like 2020's "I Love You More Than I Hate Me." There were also a couple covers like Minor Threat's "Straight Edge" and "Les Champs-Élysées" (the French take on "Waterloo Road" by Jason Crest) as well as "I'm So Sorry Tony," their tribute to late No Use for a Name frontman Tony Sly.

NOFX wasn't at its sharpest for the Sunday night set, but the band saw that coming. "Friday night was alright, last night was awesome and tonight I have no idea," Fat Mike said to preface the performance.

Later, he referred to NOFX as the Three Stooges of punk rock shortly after guitarist Eric Melvin asked drummer Erik Sandin to have "less anxiety" on the kit as he sped up the tempo on an early song. But who expects NOFX to be perfect? Guitarist-trumpetist El Hefe did come close, with his live horns providing great definition to the band's quick-hit punk songs.

After a five-minute intermission, in which band members were seen giving hugs to the throngs of friends and family standing sidestage, NOFX came back for one final bow and proper goodbyes. "Thank you all so much, you have no idea the gratitude we have," Fat Mike said. "We'll never see you again, but thanks so much."