Riot Fest Announces Headliner — and Major Punk Reunion

Punk icons the Misfits come through Denver fairly often; it's just that the original members never appear on stage together. Frontman Glenn Danzig played the Boulder Theater last fall; Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein spoke with us about building his own guitars before a gig at the Marquis; and a version of the Misfits played the Summit featuring bassist Jerry Only, the band's "only" original member in that lineup.

Yet the scattered puzzle pieces of the Misfits will once again, well, get put together this fall. Danzig, Doyle and Only are reuniting to perform as "the Original Misfits" and headline the Riot Fest & Rodeo, happening Friday, September 2, through Sunday, September 4, at Denver's National Western Complex. The original Misfits lineup will also play the Chicago incarnation of Riot Fest later in September, though there is no word yet on whether this version of the band will continue to perform after those appearances.

Billed as the "first time in three decades" that the original Misfits combo takes the stage together, the performance will be a rare chance for many fans of the horror-punk progenitors — the legions inspired by the band's first activity in the late ’70s — to hear the music they love by the musicians who made it.

No word on who will take drummer duty. 

Tickets and passes for Riot Fest are on sale now, and full lineup announcements should be made soon.