Last month, Chicago’s Riotfest — a three-day hootenanny already highlighted by great sets from The Selecter, the Violent Femmes, and many others — presented the return of the Replacements. Well, Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson, at least. In short, it was everything you could have hoped for, a mere 22 years after they broke up.

Here’s part of my review from PopMatters:

A few minutes after the Pixies finished up a listless, Kim Deal-less set nearby, the Replacements stormed the stage. They cranked into their set like they were already a half-dozen shows into their latest tour, not like a group of guys who had only previously played together at Riot Fest Toronto in late August. That’s to say, things were a little raggedy at times, but only in the way that an outfit both tightly coiled and explosively loose-limbed like this could pull off.

Paul sported bright red short pants, a spiky jumble of hair, and a snarling smile that made him look like some moonlighting circus performer who hadn’t quite left his day job behind. There was no preamble to mop up the grateful applause from the gathered throng. They just slammed right into things…