The Replacements To Play Riot Fests

How long has it been since The Replacements have played?  The band’s last show was in 1991 at Chicago’s Grant Park on the Fourth Of July, a time when George Herbert Walker Bush was in the White House, people still purchased CDs, and going online meant you subscribed to Prodigy, Compuserve or AOL.

But the band never actually broke up. At least, that’s what bassist Tommy Stinson says.  Instead, The Replacements just walked off the stage and never performed again.

Evidently the reunion idea began to take shape when Stinson and Paul Westerberg got together earlier this year to help out former guitarist Slim Dunlap who suffered a stroke in February.  Turns out they enjoyed working in the studio once again and decided to return to the stage.

But there are some unanswered questions regarding The Replacements reuniting for three Riot Fest gigs.

At this time only one of the  actual play dates for the band has been announced – Riot Fest Toronto Aug. 25 – with  The Replacements joining the event’s second day lineup featuring Iggy And The Stooges, The Weakerthans, Rocket From the Crypt,Dinosaur Jr., and others. 

Riot Fests in Chicago and Denver have not announced their daily lineups. Chicago takes place Sept. 13-14 with Fall Out Boy, Blink 182, The Violent Femmes, Motorhead, Blondie, Bob Mould and Sublime With Rome among the lineup standouts.

Scheduled for Sept. 21-22, Riot Fest’s Denver lineup includes Iggy And The Stooges along with Blink 182, Rancid, Public Enemy, AFI, and others.

The band’s lineup for the upcoming Riot Fest gigs is also an unanswered question.  A posting on Westerberg’s website says “the only details are that Paul and Tommy are playing – no word on who else will be playing with them for these shows.”

As to whether there will be more Replacement gigs, the same posting says there’s “nothing on that yet,” so keep your fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, the band has launched an official website, appropriately named TheReplacmentsOfficial.com. While it’s just a place to sign onto an email list, it does promise a “full site coming soon.”  Could that be an indication that band is planning to stick around for more than three shows?  Let’s hope so.