If it looked like Halloween came a little early, that’s because Douglass Park just opened it’s gates for Riot Fest, the annual festival of all things alternative running from Friday, September 18 through Sunday, September 20.

Now in its 21st year of hosting nearly a hundred musical artists and a killer carnival on the side, the completely independent event retained its underground ethos with a diverse selection of delightful craziness, in spite of a few press-restricting headliners.

Irregardless, perhaps no one embodied the feeling of the fest more than the Sex Pistols, who included founding members Steve Jones on guitar, Glen Matlock on bass and Paul Cook on drums, alongside Frank Carter on vocals now that John Lydon/Johnny Rotten turned his sights back to Public Image Ltd, ironically performing at the very same field on Saturday, September 20.

In the meantime, they crammed “50 Years Of Punk” into an exhilarating hour of such classics as “Holidays In The Sun,” “Pretty Vacant,” “God Save The Queen,” “No Feelings” (featuring a ladies’ only mosh pit) and “Anarchy In The U.K.” with Carter crushing it as the fill-in front man and the rhythm section rumbling like anyone would remember.

Rapper Slick Rick stepped straight out of hip-hop’s very foundation to deliver “The Show” everyone was clamoring to see, dropping all “The Great Adventures” through his latest “Victory,” always coming across as the original master of the mic.

Taking cues from the rap/rock craze of the 1990s plus some “Punk Tactics,” Joey Valence & Brae remixed it for a fresh approach to the dance floor, especially when it came to the constant stream of bangers off their current long-player “Hyperyouth.”

Landing somewhere between trip hop, electronic and experimental hip-hip, England’s Tricky, who first rose to fame working with Massive Attack, brought three decades of chilled out and hypnotic grooves up to the recently released “Different When It’s Silent.”

Newcomer Violet Grohl may have a famous Foo Fighters-leading father, but she certainly made significant strides introducing herself as an assertive indie meets alt-rock singer/songwriter, thanks to the grungy strength of the breakthrough project “Be Sweet To Me.”

Chances are Mariachi El Bronx looked familiar considering it’s the alter ego of hardcore punk band The Bronx, though in this instance, they did indeed replicate the traditional mariachi experience with authenticity and attitude, suggesting absolutely anything could happen as Riot Fest sets its sights on the wonderfully wonky weekend.

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Riot Fest continues at Douglass Park through Sunday, September 20. For additional details, visit RiotFest.org.