“I look better sweaty,” said Jeff Pezzati, of local punk band Naked Raygun.  The lead singer was remarking on a rumor that heavy metal bands allow photographers to take pictures only during the first songs of concerts, before the artists begin to sweat.  Pezzati then invited the concert photographers to take pictures as long as they pleased.  They did not, however, take the singer up on his offer, noticing the mosh pit of young fans beginning to form around them.

Naked Raygun headlined the third night of the fifth annual Riot Fest punk festival at Metro on Friday.  Riot Fest was started in 2005, by Mike Petryshyn, a punk fan who set out to create a show that he would want to attend.  For its fifth year, the festival featured concerts at the Congress Theater, Metro, Subterranean, Beat Kitchen, Cobra Lounge and Liars Club from Wednesday to Sunday.

The show started slow, with opening acts Wax and No Empathy playing to a small crowd. This small crowd consisted of mostly fans over 30, but was sprinkled with the occasional young punk, complete with jean jacket and torn jeans.  The younger audience members looked like the older fans must have back in the ’80s and ’90s, before giving up the punk aesthetic for the middle-aged-professional look they chose now.  These punks of the past preferred the balcony and back of the main floor, while the new guard skanked, shoved, and crowd surfed their way to the front as Metro filled up.  By the time the third opening act, a reunited Rights of the Accused, took the stage, the sold-out show was packed.

Rights of the Accused can be best described as a punk rock party band.  Their music was fast, energetic and straight to the point, without much of anything else in between.  Lead singer Mike O’Connell, head shaved, wearing a shiny silver suit complete with blue fringe, was reminiscent of Gary Glitter (of Rock and Roll Part II fame).  O’Connell mentioned his fashion resemblance to Mr. Glitter a number of times during their set.  The band was also joined on stage by two men, one in a banana suit and the other dressed as a gorilla, who would occasionally hold up signs with “Hey!” written on them.

After the entertaining, but overall musically uninspiring set from ROTA, Naked Raygun took the stage.  Formed in 1980, it was one of the first bands to combine hardcore punk with melodic songwriting, a blend which was very present in their Riot Fest performance, which featured prominent lead guitar lines from guitarist Bill Stephens.  The performance had very few frills.  There were no costumes, and when the band wasn’t playing, Pezzati spoke casually with the crowd.  But they didn’t need costumes.  Naked Raygun simply played their well written, honest songs, including two new previously unreleased tracks, much to the audience’s delight.  Naked Raygun is highly regarded in the Chicago punk world, and singer Pezzati and original guitarist Santiago Durango were also members of Northwestern alum Steve Albini’s influential Chicago band, Big Black.  The band, after going through a number of lineup changes, broke up in 1992, but reunited for the 2006 Riotfest, and now employs festival founder Petryshyn as manager.

Naked Raygun’s performance on Friday not only proved the band’s strong influence on Chicago punk, but proved that it had not faded almost 30 years later.  Riot Fest too is only gaining in popularity.  This year’s festival featured national acts NOFX, Alkaline Trio and the Butthole Surfers.  Another Riot Fest was to be held in Los Angeles too, but was postponed until spring of 2010 due to Petryshyn’s health problems.

But the Naked Raygun was no doubt the star of the Metro’s concert on Friday.  Besides putting on a tight, well-performed show, they represented an often unseen side of punk rock.  The four members of Naked Raygun were not the intimidating, foul smelling stereotypes of the artists associated with the term “punk.”  They didn’t have green mohawks.  Their arms were not lined with track marks from Heroin abuse.  They just seemed like nice guys.  A young teenage girl and a young boy sat off to the side of the stage with their mother, obviously the family of one of the band members.  Singer Pezzati just seemed gracious to be on stage.  The Naked Raygun were just nice guys.  Nice guys that enjoyed playing their loud music.