Descendents + Hot Water Music Rock Tiny Club After Rain Halts Brooklyn Riot Fest

This September, Riot Fest will be invading cities around North America, with the fest making its first stop at Williamsburg Park in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Sept. 8. With Gogol Bordello, Descendents, Hot Water Music, the Bronx, the Menzingers and more lining the bill, good times were certain to be had by all … until the storm came.

The Menzingers were one of the first acts to grace the festival stage, and even though the band is from Pennsylvania, the band brought some sunny-day SoCal punk to Brooklyn.

The Bronx raided the stage to a thunderous applause, delivering a hard-hitting set of hardcore punk, with singer Matt Caughthran spending much of his performance with the crowd in the pit.

Brooklyn's Riot Fest was going swimmingly, but massive, black storm clouds began to bring incredibly strong wind and buckets of rain to the crowd, with a tornado warning having already been sent out to Brooklyn residents earlier in the day. So before Hot Water Music, Descendents or Gogol Bordello were even able to take the stage, an announcement was made asking the entire audience to leave the venue.

As we ventured to get the scoop on whether or not the show was to be rescheduled, we bumped into legendary Descendents vocalist Milo Aukerman, who informed the few lingering fans that Brooklyn's Saint Vitus bar, which holds about 100 people, might be the sweet spot to continue the fest.

While Gogol Bordello's set was outright canceled, Hot Water Music and Descendents did indeed announce that that they were playing a free show at Saint Vitus club, and within minutes hundreds of fans were already lined up around the block. Only the few and the lucky were able to gain entrance into the tiny club, but those who did were given one of the greatest live experiences imaginable.

Hot Water Music delivered a passion-filled set to open the impromptu indoor show, as dual singer-guitarists Chuck Ragan and Chris Wollard ignited the crowd with a powerful set of rock anthems.

Shortly thereafter, the legendary Descendents, who haven't embarked on a full-on tour in 15 years, cooked up the room to what felt like 110 degrees, while the band blazed through a blitzkrieg of classics such as 'Clean Sheets,' 'Myage' and 'I'm the One.' The Descendents probably haven't played at a tiny bar in decades, and with Milo Aukerman crowd surfing throughout the entire room (see photo above) while the most hardcore Descendents fans in New York went berserk for their punk rock heroes, the night proved to be an incredibly memorable show.

Stay tuned for our exclusive and in-depth interview with the Descendents coming very soon, and a special thanks goes out to the greatest bar in Brooklyn, Saint Vitus, for allowing us into the gig.

Riot Fest will be making stops in Chicago and Dallas in the coming days. Find out more here, and check out pictures from the Brooklyn edition below: