Sorry Denver, Riot Fest will sadly not be returning to your fine city. After the passing of longtime Riot Fest leader Sean McKeough last year, the massive gathering has been deemed too difficult to accomplish without him.

McKeough died in late 2016 after suffering a stroke, which has been attributed to the after effects of radiation treatment. The Riot Fest organizer had successfully fought throat cancer in 2013. Riot Fest began in 2005 in Chicago and expanded in 2012 with events in Brooklyn, Toronto and Dallas and eventually including Denver as well. The 2016 Riot Fest featured the exclusive reformation of the legendary Misfits.

Riot Fest wrote about their decision to discontinue the event in Denver:

To all of our Fans and Patrons,
First and foremost, thank you for your support, loyalty, and enthusiasm regarding Riot Fest’s endeavors – you are the lifeblood that keeps us going!
As many of you know, the Riot Fest family lost one of its leaders late last year: our beloved Sean McKeough. Riot Mike’s partner, Sean, was a fearless leader who worked tirelessly to plan, organize and execute the production of our festivals each year.
This September will see our 13th Riot Fest in Chicago and we are very excited to share another year here with you. It saddens us to say, however, that we will not be able to return to Denver in 2017. Without Sean’s massive contributions, taking on more than one festival this year is, unfortunately, simply not possible. That said, we hope our absence from Denver is only temporary.
To all of our friends in Denver, we love you and we appreciate you making us feel at home in your amazing city. We can never thank you enough for embracing us as you did, and we hope to see as many of you as possible in Chicago this September!
To our Chicago perennials and all who have or will travel to the fest – we owe it to Sean to throw the absolute best festival we can and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.
We appreciate your continued support & can’t wait to unveil the Riot Fest 2017 lineup, so stay tuned. Hope to see you in Chicago.

As stated, Riot Fest will continue in Chicago this year. A lineup has yet to be announced, but stay tuned to Loudwire for when the official announcement hits the internet!

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