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Punk Rock Bowling report: Sunday at the festival

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Descendents perform during the 18th annual Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival in downtown Las Vegas, May 29, 2016.
Photo: Steve Marcus

The most pressing question surrounding this year’s Punk Rock Bowling was whether the Downtown-based event could maintain its unique charm with the festival scheduled for two more cities, Denver and Asbury Park, N.J., for the first time.

With the Mohawked music marathon stretching well past two-thirds completed early Monday morning, the answer had already come with typical punk-rock rebellion: hell no, Punk Rock Bowling hasn’t lost anything. The 18th annual event fostered crowds as large as ever, a sense of community as strong as ever and, most importantly, performances as memorable as ever.

Those memorable performances started early on Sunday, the second full day of the festival and fourth overall since the start of PRB’s club shows. Frequent Vegas visitors Success rewarded anyone who fought through a Flag-induced hangover from Saturday night—or, for me, Flag-induced leg cramps—to show up at the Beauty Bar pre-show.

It was 92 degrees on the ground, and even hotter on Beauty Bar’s blacktop patio stage when the melodic punks from Seattle commenced a rare matinee show. They bemoaned the heat, but didn’t let it affect them during a 40-minute set that touched on the best of last year’s Radio Recovery and included a punked-up cover of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “American Girl”.

2016 Punk Rock Bowling: Day 2

Success advocated positivity, kindness and diligence both through their punchy songs and messages to the crowd. “The jaded punk attitude is f*cked and boring,” vocalist Aaron Rev said in his final salute.

Although there are bands at Punk Rock Bowling every year that exude that mentality—*cough* The Exploited on Saturday *cough*—Sunday’s lineup contained none of them. It’s important to note a distinction between jadedness and boastfulness. Festival veterans Dwarves have none of the former, but the latter is part of its appeal. Dwarves frontman and self-anointed “rock legend” Blag Dahlia swaggered to the main stage later in the day and informed the crowd they were “privileged” for what they were about to witness.

And he was absolutely right. Although the first four bands on the main stage Sunday were all entertaining—particularly local ska mainstays Be Like Max, who played with a confidence usually not characteristic of an act scheduled so early—Dwarves provided the Success-like wake-up to the masses.

With the jockstrapped and lucha libre-masked guitarist HeWhoCannotBeNamed pinballing across the stage and bassist Nick Oliveri headbanging himself into whiplash, Dwarves powered through the entirety of 1990 breakthrough album Blood, Guts & Pussy in 15 minutes. That left time for 10 more songs, and Dwarves employed a trio of special guests in Stacey Dee from Bad Cop/Bad Cop, Stza from Leftover Crack and Eddie Spaghetti from Supersuckers to keep the crowd mesmerized. Anyone proclaiming Dwarves’ set the best of the fest won’t get much of a protest.

Midwestern legends Dillinger Four maintained the high-energy level next with its blend of anthemic songs and irreverent banter in a long overdue PRB debut. Millencolin transitioned into the headliner portion of the main stage, and fell within the majority of festivalgoers’ sweet spot for speedy pop/punk. The Swedes provoked one of the weekend’s loudest sing-alongs by closing with 2000 hit “No Cigar.”

Afterwards, it was a time for a restroom break, where I inadvertently cut in front of a one-man line while answering a text message. “Take your eyes off of your phone and into your life,” he sniped. So there’s at least one staunch devotee of the jaded punks club. After exchanging a few words but before truly comprehending what I missed by not experiencing entering a porta-potty, festival organizer Shawn Stern took the stage to a birthday serenade and introduced the Buzzcocks.

No other band received such treatment, and the Buzzcocks proved worthy with a stirring 40th anniversary set. The inventors of pop/punk, as Stern introduced them, wasted no time in never taking as much as a five-second break during an earsplitting 50-minute performance.

Songs like “What Do I Get?” and “Ever Fallen In Love (With Some You Shouldn’t)” would have been stuck in fans’ heads for hours if any band other than the Descendents were slated to close the night. But punk’s catchiest group wasn’t bound to let down the packed parking lot in its third PRB appearance.

It was double-headlining duty for drummer Bill Stevenson and guitarist Stephen Egerton, who both played in Flag the night before. While Descendents sounded tighter than its brother band, it also garnered a smidgen less of a reaction. That largely had to do with Descendents playing a slew of new songs off of forthcoming Hypercaffium Spazzinate, the band’s first new record in 12 years, which left the crowd unsure of how to respond. But a taste of the new material was welcomed, as it differentiated the performance from past Descendents shows and meant the band played four decades worth of material.

The best moments from each earlier period included “Hope” and “Suburban Home” from the band’s classic 1980’s catalogue, “I’m the One” and “Thank You” from its 1990’s comeback and “Nothing with You” from exceedingly underrated 2004 album Cool to be You.

Beauty Bar felt like the place to finish the night with Hot Water Music frontman Chuck Ragan and Hüsker Dü drummer Grant Hart performing solo some 10 hours after Success started the day. Hart’s storytelling Americana fare was a nice way to cool off from a day spent at the fest, though he somewhat sabotaged the mood. He chastised the crowd for walking out, talking, hating his songs and, “being stuck in 1984,” to birth some uneasiness at the venue. Ragan proved more poised behind his guitar, eradicating any tension from the moment he emerged and opened with “Nothing Left to Prove.”

No one can match Ragan’s gruff and soulful voice, but that doesn’t mean they won’t try. Fans with outstretched arms and beverages in hand from the barricade to the back wall shouted along to favorites like “You Get What You Give” and “California Burritos.” Even someone like Ragan, who could have an excuse for weariness after decades on tour including handfuls of Las Vegas stops, marveled at the scene. He called the festival “something beautiful.”

Punk Rock Bowling is still special, in large part because with only a few exceptions, jaded mindsets are at a minimum.

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Case Keefer

Case Keefer has spent more than a decade covering his passions at Greenspun Media Group. He's written about and supervised ...

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