Rise Against (Chicago, Ill), Destroy Boys (Sacramento, CA), Koyo (Stony Brook, NY)
March 18th, 2026
Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake, MN
I’m gonna try to keep this one short. A lot of what I’ve said about Rise Against can be found as recent as last summer when I saw them on the Rise of the Roach tour, but I will still do some reiterating.
The big things I can continue to put out there is how good the people in the band are, and how much of a privilege it is to be able, and continue to be able to see, cover, and advocate for them in whatever small way it is that I can.
I feel blessed in my one degree of separation, both personally and professionally, with frontman Tim McIlrath. For the last four years, I’ve been donating my photography efforts to a Cat rescue/arcade in Chicago called the Catcade. Co-owner Chris Gutierrez and Tim go way back and were in a hardcore band together before Fall Out Boy and Rise Against existed. The Catcade has been putting on these fundraising galas called Cat Prom each March (year #4 just a few weeks ago), in which for the first year Tim and Zach from Rise Against played a short five or six song acoustic set. I may or may not have been freaking out on the inside the majority of that time, who’s to say? Every year since then, I’ve donated photos to the Catcade to put up for auction to help raise funds for the following year to go towards saving more and more cats. Tim and the band are also always generous in donating a few highly sought after signed items. The photos I donate have been mostly from Rise Against shows, but I have thrown in some Chicago landscapes and The Academy Is shots. I try to keep it local.
To continue to vouch for an institution like the Catcade year after year, speaks volumes as to the type of people the band is, even if it may seem like something small. A hand written lyric sheet by Tim raised $2700 a few weeks ago, puts real tangible good into the world, covering emergency care for a cat, or filling the six isolation rooms with supplies for an emergency intake. And this isn’t even talking much about the surprise visit up here with Tom Morello to do a Ice Out benefit show and then walking the street to protest with the people all the bullshit going on in my state.
A few weeks after Cat Prom, now a week ago today, I got to be a part of another Rise Against show, this time 30 minutes south of the Twin Cities at Mystic Lake Casino. I’ve come to believe that shows at this casino will just feel weird to me. Not in a bad weird way, but when you’re used to shows at First Ave, or Varsity Theater, smaller rooms that just have their single floor and a balcony without seat, going to a show where it’s all seats are weird. Was weird for a metal band like Trivium, weird for a rock band like Rise Against. The dichotomy of being in a place of gambling to see a politically activist type of band like Rise Against was not lost on me. But considering who owns these casinos, maybe the two aren’t that far off from each other.
I said it last time and I’ll say it again: the band just sounds so good these days. Ever since the pandemic they’ve stepped up and kept their game at such a high level. Tim’s vocals sound healthy and impressive.
I was lucky and able to nab a seat up close after my first three songs shooting, and had a grand time being so close to the action. Something I haven’t been able to do at a Rise Against show up til this point. For all the weirdness that was surrounding the place for me, I did appreciate how chill (not sure if that’s the right word) yet passionate and intimate Rise Againsts set ended up feeling.
I’ll be the first to admit that the newest album Ricochet wasn’t my favorite of the band’s. I listened to it on release and rare have gone back to it, but I do and have appreciated hearing the songs live. They have a different energy to them that makes them stand out more and feel like they deserve to be in the setlist. For that reason I’m a little bit bummed that more weren’t played, but I can’t complain too much more about the setlist we did get. Closing the night with a run of Survivor Guilt, Tragedy + Time, and Prayer of the Refugee was one of my favorites of my times seeing the band live.
Rise Against forever. Already looking ahead to this newly announced fall tour.
