BAD INFLUENCE MAGAZINE

This post was originally written in May of 2023, but mysteriously disappeared from WordPress. What follows is a reupload of the original article.

MoonRunners is an annual folk punk festival that happens annually in Chicago, Illinois.

Personally, I had a great time at MoonRunners, though it could have been better for various extremely important reasons. This festival was a plethora of firsts: my first time driving into the United States solo, my first time in Chicago, my first time seeing folk punk music live, and my first time meeting a lot of people I’d been talking to online for months.

I found out about MoonRunners through a folk punk discord server I joined in September 2022. During a late-night voice chat in February, someone suggested I go, and at $90 USD for the weekend and only an eight-hour drive away, it would have been dumb not to. I bought my ticket that night and began counting down the days with everyone else.

I arrived in Chicago two days before the festival formally began so I could see FIDLAR on Thursday (see my review of the experience here) and go to the MoonRunners pre-show on Friday, which was a four-band lineup on a separate bill. By getting those extra days in, I also had ample time to explore the city and not feel like I had to cram so much of Chicago into just two days.

Because the FIDLAR ticket was a last-minute decision, I hadn’t gotten an AirBnB for Thursday night. I had fully planned on finding a nice parking spot and sleeping in my Jeep, but nobody, my parents especially, seemed to think this was a good idea. When I mentioned my (lack of) sleeping arrangement to the folks in the Discord, they were not okay with it either. This is how I first met Amanda Jean, who was sweet enough to open her hotel room to me for the night.

In Canada, and I think throughout the US as well, Chicago has a bad rep for crime, but I felt just as safe in Chicago as I do at home in Toronto. Not once did I ever feel threatened during my countless interactions with strangers over the four days I was in the city. Everyone I told that I planned on sleeping in my car warned me I would get stabbed, but I don’t think I would have had anything to worry about. I always have a very sharp pocket knife in my vehicle for both personal safety and utility use, and I’m not unfamiliar with what a dangerous area or person looks like. I believe I would have been fine, and I am not helpless or naive, but sleeping in a hotel bed was far more comfortable than my back seat would have been, and I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with Amanda, who is one of the sweetest, most generous people I have ever met.

The pre-show was good, but I’ll admit I felt out of place. I watched the sets alone in a booth, which someone new occupied every time I got up to use the washroom or go outside for some air. I didn’t stick out like a sore thumb, but I was not dressed the same as others in attendance, and this would be the case for the whole weekend. Folk punk fashion consists of colourful hair, leather or denim jackets and vests personalized with patches, pins, studs, and sometimes stuffed animals. Black band tees and distressed jeans are also staples. I was wearing a military fatigue jacket over a beige tank top and shorts. I had put purple temporary colour spray in the ends of my hair, but I did not feel as edgy as the rest of the crowd. Nobody seemed to notice me, but I was still spooked about not blending in. This wasn’t an issue at all, but only social anxiety. Regardless, I stayed for the whole lineup and stumbled back to my AirBnB around midnight.

The next two days are something of a blur. Shows started each day at 11am, but since I wasn’t familiar with most of the earlier acts, I spent the beginning of each day exploring downtown Chicago on foot and doing all of the Chicago things. I saw the formidable Bean in Millennium Park, went to Navy Pier, admired the architecture, read a book in a different park, and enjoyed a Chicago deep-dish pizza (which tasted like lasagna) and a Chicago-style vegan hot dog (which was very messy to eat). After my exploring was done for the day and I had walked around 10 kilometres, I would skedaddle to the venue for the bigger shows of the day.

The lineup was incredible. I finally got to see artists perform who I had long loved and even interviewed before. It was impossible to go to every set as there were always two bands playing at the same time, and when that was the case but I wanted to see both, I’d scurry between stages and wriggle my way to the front to get some good pictures. Everyone was fantastic live, and the energy in the audience was always electric. One of my favourite things about the folk punk crowd is that even if the saddest, slowest, most depressing acoustic song is playing, there will be a mosh pit.

While I don’t want to discredit the amazing talent of the performers, I would be lying if I said it didn’t have the most fun sitting outside with my friends. The folk punk scene is a very inclusive and diverse space. When I asked people what folk punk means to them, the overwhelming answer I received was community, and this was visible in the village that had developed outside of Reggie’s. It is a scene full of the kindest, most amazing people. Our group of about 30-or-so claimed the south-most portion of the sidewalk patio and spent the evenings drinking, smoking, talking, singing, dancing and playing music. When there were no chairs left, we would sit on the curb. People brought their guitars, banjos and washboards, so even if you couldn’t hear the music inside the venue, there was always someone playing outside. Amanda Jean liberally applied glitter to the faces of strangers and friends alike. Another person had a cream makeup kit and painted designs on our faces. People were selling and trading their crafts and services. It was like a tiny village on the sidewalk of rainbow-headed kids in studded vests. It was beautiful.

The weekend started off as a paradise for so many of us, but there were unsavoury events that left a sour taste in our mouths for both the venue and the festival itself. MoonRunners and folk punk, in general, garner an audience that has a large percentage of trans and queer individuals, and this was reflected in the crowds outside the venue and in front of the stage. While for myself, it was a beautiful sight to see so many different people being themselves, this wasn’t the case for some people, and unfortunately, this included venue staff and some attendees.

The first incident occurred the evening of Saturday, May 6th, when a middle-aged white guy showed up on the sidewalk wearing a Confederate flag t-shirt. Nobody was okay with this, but Belladonna Ciao, a member of our group, made it apparent that his vibe wasn’t welcome. Bella defiantly stared the man down and yelled, “Nazi punks fuck off!” but the man seemed unphased.

The next day, he sieg heiled her.

When venue staff were approached about the incident and how this man was making not only Bella but other attendees feel unsafe, their response was simply that it was her word against his. They assured us they would watch to see if he caused any more trouble, but they wouldn’t remove him from the venue otherwise. There was another guy Bella took issue with who was wearing an iron cross t-shirt. Because of the hateful nature of the iron cross, Audrey Plath confronted him about it which resulted in her being kicked out of the festival. As it turned, out the man wearing a well-known Nazi symbol was venue SHARP security. Audrey spent the rest of the weekend on the sidewalk with us though, playing both original songs and covers.

Some people were asked to show their wristbands every time the entered the building over the weekend, especially if they were visibly queer. I was asked once. One attendee in our group, Chloe Defector, was denied re-entry after losing her wristband and not carrying ID. Sabrena of Apes of the State, Saturday’s headliner, was almost denied entry on Sunday due to wristband issues as well. I want to highlight how dumb this is because not only did everyone have a ticket, but the venue also had a list of names of everyone who had purchased a ticket.

Venue security was overheard numerous times bragging about kicking out trans kids. They would specify that they didn’t kick them out because they were transgender, but always made sure to note that the kid they kicked out was, in fact, trans. Other staff members complained about ticket holders’ non-traditional gender identities and that they didn’t see why they had to care about people’s pronouns. One person was assaulted on Saturday during Apes of the State’s set. When the venue staff were alerted of the assaulter the next day, they did nothing about it. The same person attempted to assault the original victim and their partner once again during the Daze N Days set on Sunday.

Pigeon Pit made a strong effort to call out the bigotry happening at the event, but there would be more to follow. The band had written their set list on a brick. Prominent figure in the scene and friend of the band, Luke, The Folk Punk Archivist, grabbed the brick off the stage (with their permission). Reggie’s staff later tried to confiscate the brick because they had allegedly heard rumour that “a trans woman was going to attack someone with a brick”. Luke is a not a trans woman, but I guess the venue was very anti-brick, because they made them leave it with them until the end of the day. When Luke collected it after Sunday’s shows came to a close, they told Luke not to come back and that if they saw them again “it would be very bad for him”. You can read Luke’s write up of MoonRunners and account of the confrontation here.

Apparently, Reggie’s is not a good bar for this kind of audience. It has a local reputation for flirting with white supremacist crowds and propagating bigotry. After the drama of the weekend, many people who had been to MoonRunners in years prior said they didn’t want to ever return to Reggie’s again, and maybe even the festival itself.

After a falling out with the venue owner before the festival began, event organizer Josh cut ties with Reggie’s. Josh wasn’t at the event at all over the weekend, and it is speculated by many that the unsavoury events of the weekend would not have happened if he were in attendance. He hopes to continue MoonRunners as a festival next year, but somewhere else. The venue has not paid and will not be paying Josh for the event.

It is unfortunate that what was a wonderful time for me and so many others is tainted by so many bad experiences. I had a great time at the festival because I was with the people I love and seeing bands I love; but it sucked knowing there were people in the crowd who might take issue with my friends for simply existing. While I identify as part of the rainbow mafia, I received no discrimination because I am a white, cisgender woman who looked like a normie compared to the majority of festival goers. Though I am privileged in my appearance to avoid hatred because I look like a straight person, I shouldn’t be. Everyone at the festival had the right to feel safe, and we shouldn’t have been made to feel on edge the whole weekend worrying about the safety of our trans chosen family. The lack of action taken by Reggie’s staff to prevent hate-driven violence was appalling. I hope for the sake of the scene that the festival can continue in a safer environment, but unless that happens, I know many people will be skipping out and going to Compost Heap, Muddy Roots, Stoopfest or other festivals across the country instead.

I know I certainly won’t be returning to Reggie’s ever again. If I go back to Chicago, it’ll be for Lollapalooza. For me, MoonRunners was full of many memories I will cherish forever, but I will never be able to look back on the event with complete fondness. There was magic in that crowd and the music we came to see, but the overall bad vibe of Reggie’s certainly dampened its power. I will always remember singing New Mexico Song on the sidewalk with Audrey, Bella and Chloe, but I’m saddened the reason that beautiful moment happened is because Audrey was not allowed back inside to watch the shows with the rest of us.