For the 24th time, punk rock bowlers gathered to share their love of music and heavy rolling balls. This year was my first time at Punk Rock Bowling, and there was so much going on it was all a little overwhelming, but in the best possible way.
For one thing, the event is held in Las Vegas, which is a loud, bawdy place even without the punk rock. So there’s that. There is the bowling tournament itself, which I did not attend, and the music festival, which I did. There was a pool party every morning with live music starting at ten AM, and dozens of late night club shows. Plus a whole lot more, like the Agnostic Front Art Exhibit and the showing of the film The Art Of Protest. There is only so much one person can do, so I focused entirely on the music festival and its 35 bands.
The music festival portion of the festivities happened across the street from The Golden Nugget at The Downtown Las Vegas Event Center, which is essentially one square block of open space that can be arranged in virtually any configuration as needed or desired. In addition to the square space, streets were closed on two sides (3rd Street and East Bridger Avenue) to house the merchants and the second stage. Add some spillover area for food vendors, and you have yourself an ideal environment for open air music.
I was staying a couple blocks away at the Downtown Grand, which is where the Citrus Grand Pool Deck is, the location of the pool parties. I did not actually go to the pool, but I did have a good view of it while waiting for the elevator on the sixth floor. There was a small stage directly opposite the pool itself, and the water was surrounded by many cabanas and chairs for sunning, drinking, and listening to the tunes. It was hopping every time I looked down that way in the morning, brimming with pool-goers on a groove. Home Front played on Saturday, Zeke on Sunday, and Snõõper had the Monday slot.
The music festival ran from 2:30 in the afternoon to about 10:30 in the evening all three days of the holiday weekend. It was a short walk for me every day down third and then around the block via Fremont Street, which was overflowing with people no matter what time I traversed it. There is a stage set up at Fremont and Third for live music unrelated to Punk Rock Bowling, but it did not provide much competition other than the Seether concert one evening that drew a notable crowd and clogged the walkways under the animated arch that covers the storied street.
It was sunny every day, as expected. On Saturday, the first day ofthe festival the temperature climbed only up into the high eighties, which wasn’t bad at all. In fact, even though it did get hotter each day (topping out at 102 on Monday), the climate was more favorable than unfavorable for two important reasons. First, the festival provided free water in a gigantic cooler that was about four feet high and six feet across. Whenever it would become depleted, they filled it back up again, so anybody who wanted water always had it, even the empty-pocketed. The other important climate element was the fact that we were downtown in amongst reasonably tall buildings that provided shade most of the day. Sure, from opening until four or five o’clock there was a lot of direct sun, but the shadows came early and provided much-appreciated shelter. In addition, there was an enormous marquee in the GA area, with humidifying fans, offering shade all day. I guess that’s three things. So, it was hot, but in the end it was much more comfortable than, say, a festival in the south where the temperature would be similar and the humidity would drain your will to live. Oh, and one more thing, there was artificial turf on the main grounds so that you didn’t have to tread on asphalt all day, and it wasn’t dusty at all, as it often is at other festivals (e. g., Aftershock Festival).
Twelve bands played on each of the first two days, and eleven played on the last day. There were two stages between which the music alternated with no overlap so you could hear the entire set of every band. Compare that to the four-day monstrosity festivals with 150+ bands. When you go to one of those big fests, how many bands do you actually see? I bet the number is between thirty and forty at the most. At Punk Rock Bowling, you could have easily, comfortably seen thirty-five bands. I have come around to favoring one- or two-day (3-day in the case of PRB) festivals over the bigger ones because you end up seeing and hearing as much or more music with far less pain and expense. So there it is then.
The headliners for the festival were Descendents, Devo, and Madness. The other thirty-two bands were divided between classic acts like Bratmobile, Stiff Little Fingers, Subhumans, and 999, and newer groups like Scowl, Niis, The Chats, and Catbite. There were even a couple of metal bands in there. The entire weekend was well balanced, and every day was a day not to miss.
Day 1 – Saturday:
Saturday. The sky was a peerless blue at two-fifteen when I strolled toward Fremont Street in the comfortable eighty-five-degree weather. Having dreaded the prospect of withering heat for weeks, I was thinking at the time that this wasn’t so bad after all. The last time I was in Las Vegas was for the now (apparently) defunct Psycho Las Vegas, which used to be held in August and where it was pretty hot at the outdoor stage at that festival. No such troubles on day one at Punk Rock Bowling.
The music started on the second stage with Katie Overbey & The Backlash. After a concise and cosey set, I was headed to the main stage for Twist Off! Early in the day as it was, the stroll took about three minutes in the absence of a crowd. As the afternoon wore on and the population at the venue spiked, there was a bit of a bottleneck at the street stage, which posed a problem for press photographers because we had to fight from the front to the back in the middle of each band’s performance, but it was never really any impediment for fans between sets. The site was very well organized.
The lineup was incredible on the lead-off day, with contemporaries Bad Cop / Bad Cop and the mighty Gorilla Biscuits breaking the calm waters into mist. Legendary punk band 999 and history-steeped ska band Skatalites were incredible to see and hear. Even more importantly, Billy Bragg was a bucket list tick, and a great show. He stood by himself on the stage with an electric guitar, singing and telling stories. His appearance was a highlight of the weekend.
The headliner was the hard working Descendents, who also headlined a day at Punk In The Park last November in Orange County. Their set was sharp and hearty, similar to what I had heard in Oak Canyon Park six months before. Saturday turned out to be a portent for the days to come, as each one of them had a similar mix of bands old and new, including punk luminaries.
Day 2 – Sunday:
Sunday. God’s day was Devo day at Punk Rock Bowling; truly, the main reason I wanted to go to the festival this year. Rocket From The Crypt was a big draw, too, plus, for me, Subhumans were a band I could not afford to miss and who delivered the goods – their set was fascinating. I was happy to see Niis again, a band I am becoming increasingly familiar with after catching their act last year. On Memorial Day weekend, they had a bigger stage to work with than when I’d seen them last, and work it they did. Keep both eyes on this band.
I was surprised in a very positive way by Starcrawler, Destroy Boys, and Catbite, three bands I did not know much about but who blew me away when I saw them perform. All very different from each other, but equally captivating. It is worth a drive to see them if they show up anywhere near you.
So, Devo. I’m going to keep this short because otherwise I’ll start free associating. I have been a Devo fan since they started out, when they were a mainstay on MTV and one of the important bands that helped that network actually succeed. They are an odd bunch, with peculiar music, and that turns some folks off. The punks love them, though, and so do I. They played a longish video up front, and had mesmerizing images running behind most of the set. Of course they played the hits (you know which ones I am talking about), along with deeper cuts and later work as well. They did don the flower pot hats, but I didn’t get any pictures of that because they brought them out after the three-from-the-pit time limit had expired. I tried not to have any expectations about Devo’s performance before I saw it, but it turned out that they were so good I couldn’t have diminished the experience by any manner of pre-imagining.
Day 3 Monday:
Monday. The last day was the hottest, noticeably so. I still stand by my earlier claim that the heat was not oppressive due to the layout, water, and shade. But yeah, it was hot, and if you were standing out directly in the blazing sun, you would cook. Highlights for me on Monday included Scowl, a band I am increasingly enamored with, and the classic band Stiff Little Fingers. Damn they were good, the both of them. I had looked forward to Bratmobile and The English Beat as well because I had never seen them before, and they did their thing the way they do it. The biggest surprise was Gogol Bordello. Wow. Seeing them is an experience. There is so much activity on stage it is hard to keep track of it all, from the violin to the accordion to the guitars, all running around and singing and generally kicking up a fuss. They were amazing.
Madness closed things out. There were some technical difficulties which delayed the band’s performance, and that is a drag at the very end of the festival, but, you know, what can you do. They went on about a half hour late, and did not bury the lead, opening with “One Step Beyond,” their most famous song (in the US) and a cover of the Prince Buster tune from the sixties. Heavy on the saxophone and repetitive in the title phrase, they worked it like a rented mule to the absolute delight of the crowd. I recognized another song or two they played, but this one was clearly the leader of the pack. Here endeth the festival proper.
I didn’t make it to any of the club shows, but like I said at the top, there were tons of them. Many of the bands performing on the regular schedule also had club sets. In addition, there were a lot of great bands who weren’t on the festival bill who appeared on the late night slate, like The Dwarves, The Queers, Guttermouth, Plague Vendor, and on and on. I’m telling you, Punk Rock Bowling has entertainment for everybody and it runs about twenty hours a day. It ranks among my favorite festivals.
Oh, and hey, if you were wondering about the bowling tournament at Punk Rock Bowling, it was held at Sam’s Town Bowling Center. The winning team (out of 118) was Dad Religion. There you go. Next year I think Ghost Cult Magazine should field (or lane?) a team and go for the trophy. If you think that sounds like great idea, start DMing the editor now. Let’s make it happen.
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WORDS AND PHOTOS BY WAYNE EDWARDS:
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