Bad Religion, Turbonegro, Lagwagon, Bouncing Souls, US Bombs, Pour Habit, Sean and Zander, Piss N’ Blood, Surrounded by Thieves
The second full day of Punk Rock Bowling was the one I was most looking forward to this year. Headliners Bad Religion are one of the bands that got me into punk, they’re coming off one of their best albums in a while with True North and it’s been about 7 years since I last saw them live. On top of that, I’m a huge Bouncing Souls fan (I do run a blog named after one of their songs) and I never tire of seeing Lagwagon.
Luckily the line problems from the first day weren’t repeated and I got to see Squidhat Records skatepunks Surrounded by Thieves tear it up on the big stage. Vocalist Brandon Buck spent much of the time perched atop the PRB sound system, getting as close as possible to the sparse crowd. Even though I understand why people show up so late – being in the bowling tournament, catching up on sleep from the club shows or maybe recovering from a night of drunken debauchery – I do wish more people made an effort to check out the local support. With a sound rooted in 90s era Epitaph and Fat, Surrounded by Thieves would very much appeal to fans of Bad Religion and Lagwagon, and it was cool to see them get a chance to represent our city.
There were a lot of surprises for me this day. Sean Wheeler & Zander Schloss, an acoustic duo whose punk pedigree includes time in Throw Rag, The Weirdos and Circle Jerks, sounded fantastic with Wheeler’s bluesy voice keeping our minds off the dreadful midday heat. Turbonegro, who I’ve surprisingly only listened to in passing over the years, put on a dramatic live show with bright colors and fun costumes. Current vocalist Tony Sylvester aka “The Duke of Nothing” has such a cool, raspy growl and with quite a few people in the audience obviously there just to see them, the atmosphere was pretty fantastic.
But the biggest surprise was California-based Pour Habit. They have a ton of energy, bouncing around to a sound reminiscent of Offspring and No Trigger, with an occasional, Sublime-esque reggae-tinged part thrown in here and there. In fact, if you’re like me and miss the recently-disbanded Holding Onto Sound, these guys do a good job at a similar style. I always appreciate bands more when it looks like they’re enjoying themselves and these guys were definitely having fun, looking out on the raucous, dusty pit with huge smiles on their faces.
The crowd was amped when it came time for the Souls to take the stage, with the chants of “ole” starting as soon as U.S. Bombs finished their rousing set. Being a festival, I figured we wouldn’t be getting too many deep cuts so I was surprised that the New Jersey foursome kicked off their set with “Argyle.” The rest of their set was much of what you’d expect, with “Here We Go,” “Kate is Great” and especially “True Believers” getting huge responses from the crowd. “Punks in Vegas,” written about the fans at a past PRB, is always a highlight for me for obvious reasons and I’ll never get tired of hearing undoubtedly one of the best cover songs of all time, “Lean on Sheena” live. Frontman Greg Attonito was his usual jovial self, always right up against the barrier. One of the stage antic highlights of the day was when he pulled a piñata seemingly out of nowhere and stage dove right into the crowd with it.
Up against the barrier, as the hardcore Bouncing Souls fans were replaced with skatepunks, Lagwagon took to the stage. They’re one of my favorite bands to see live because these guys put on such an amazing, energetic live show, jumping into the air and running back and forth across the stage while churning out favorites like “May 16” and “Violins.” Expectedly and deservedly, the crowd went nuts for them.
And then finaly, it was time for bad Religion. It’s kind of amazing how ageless Greg Graffin’s voice is. Maybe it’s because his singing voice isn’t really in a different register than his talking voice but the professor sounds just as good as he did when I first saw the band 15 years ago. Bad Religion’s 20+ song setlist did a fairly good job of mixing the new with the old, though I’ll always lament the way they ignore a big chunk of their major label stuff (I’m a bigger early-Epitaph person when it comes to their albums as a whole, but “Sowing the Seeds of Utopia” from the much-hated No Substance is a great song, dammit!). True North was well represented, including my two favorites “Robin Hood in Reverse” and the title track. NOFX vocalist Fat Mike, who spent a big portion of his career signed to Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz’s Epitaph Records, come out on stage to help the band sing the ever popular “21st Century Digital Boy” to thunderous applause. “American Jesus” and “Sorrow” got huge reactions from the packed crowd of thousands, and the latter is always impressive to hear live with that awesome Brooks Wackerman drum intro. I have to give the band credit for choosing to end their set with new track “Dept. of False Hope.” With such a huge catalog it’s nice to see them betting on a future classic rather than reaching back. They’ve made it over 30 years without slowing down, why start now?
Check back tomorrow for coverage of the third and final day of the 2013 Punk Rock Bowling Music Festival, featuring Flag, DRI, Subhumans and more.
-Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/
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