Riot Fest books more than enough reunited bands every year to earn its reputation as a nostalgia trip—and for better or worse, they’re often among the highlights of the weekend. The reunions on the 2015 lineup include beloved metal oddballs (System of a Down, Faith No More), aughties Warped Tour crowd pleasers (Alexisonfire, the Academy Is . . . ), cult favorites from the punk and emo scenes (88 Fingers Louie, Desaparecidos), and the following half dozen Reader staff picks. —Leor Galil
When the Movielife released This Time Next Year in 2000, this influential melodic hardcore band blazed a trail that was soon followed by fellow Long Islanders Taking Back Sunday and Brand New (and then quickly trampled by the Warped Tour crowd). Movielife had brushes with the kind of fame those two groups achieved—their final releases, The Movielife Has a Gambling Problem (2001) and Forty Hour Train Back to Penn (2003), were released by pop-punk tastemakers Drive-Thru—but they retained the sort of aggressive, no-nonsense sound you still hear spilling out of packed VFW halls on chilly east-coast evenings. —Drew Hunt
CivSat 9/12, 5:30 PM, Radicals Stage
