Images: Punk Rock Bowling day three feat. NOFX, Against Me! and more May 26, 2014 at Fremont East

While waiting the unusually long time for NOFX to take the stage as the headlining band on the final day of Punk Rock Bowling, I had to laugh, seeing a stage hand come out every three minutes or so and cross another song off the band’s originally lengthy setlist. I would have laughed harder if I wasn’t in desperate need of a bottle of water, and to get off my feet after seven hours in the sun. When the California skatepunks finally strolled on stage – about 20 minutes late – frontman Fat Mike joked that PRB co-founder Shawn Stern was forcing them to cut their set short, which caused Stern to come out from side stage and announce that NOFX could play for 3 hours if they so pleased. In true NOFX fashion, Mike responded with a series of racial jokes and then the band finally kicked off their now 40 minute set with “60%.” When they played, they sounded great and I was particularly fond of their PRB themed “Who’s Going To Be the First to OD at PRB” song (answer: probably Fat Mike). I’d just always like to see a little more playing and a little less dicking around. Call me crazy.

Another thing I’d really like to see more of at PRB is collaboration between bands. How cool would it have been to see Laura Jane Grace come out a few minutes early and sing a song with Leftover Crack? Or have Fat Mike, who played bass on Against Me!’s latest album, join the group on stage for a song. And the fact that we didn’t get to see Masked Intruder’s Officer Bradford join Bad Cop Bad Cop on stage is just criminal (see what I did there?). But speaking of Against Me!, they were the second of two bands that I had to be right up in front for. So after shooting the first three songs and marveling at the energy new bass player Inge Johansson (of International Noise Conspiracy fame) brought to the stage, I packed up my gear and squeezed my way up front to dance and sing with my favorite band. Classics like “Sink Florida Sink” and “We Laugh at Danger” got the biggest crowd responses while “Don’t Lose Touch” had everyone clapping along and new tracks “Black Me Out” and set starter “FUCKMYLIFE666” seem to have already earned crowd favorite status just months after the release of the band’s Transgender Dysphoria Blues LP. The band’s songs are tailor-made for group sing alongs, and they just sound so good with a bunch of sweaty, off key punk fans belting out the lyrics with Laura Jane Grace and crew.

The award for most crowd surfers went to Leftover Crack, who also picked up the award for most confrontational. Frontman Stza admitted that he was legally prohibited from spray painting over the festival’s sponsor banners this year, a prank he pulled off during the band’s last PRB appearance. That didn’t stop him from dedicating a whole lot of songs to killing cops, which maybe accounts for why Officer Bradford didn’t show his face on the third day. That anti-authority attitude was reciprocated by the band’s fans, who after the third song vied for spots up against the barrier where Stza stayed perched, crowd surfing right up to the security officers and flipping them off before being escorted back out into the pit. I’ll admit that I’m not a huge fan of Leftover Crack and their associated bands but I was pretty impressed with their set this time around. Stza was really on point and I have to back him up on his rant about people who preach anti-racism but are still homophobic and sexist, a speech he delivered before diving into the rollicking “Gay Rude Boys Unite.” A new song played only for the second time and a Choking Victim cover rounded out the nihilistic punk band’s set.

Hardcore punk icon Keith Morris returned to PRB this year, this time fronting his more recent Off! project. Off!, one of two bands repping the exclamation point in their name, thus informing us that we need to shout it, had a setlist about three pages long, and with each song clocking in at about a minute, the crowd had ample time to continue the epic circle pit started during California melodic hardcore band Good Riddance’s set, who made their first appearance on the mainstage this year after playing a club show with No Use for a Name last year. And when it came to energy, no band was more spastic than Brooklyn punks Cerebral Ballzy, a band that spent more time in the air and scaling the sound system than with two feet planted on the ground.

A trio of bands from California got the third day off to an early start, trying to win over the few dozen people sober enough to make the trek over to the blacktop. Rats in the Wall played with an almost unbelievable level of intensity for a band that early in the day. They reminded me of a more punk tinged Punch, explosive and angry. The only band I didn’t really care for was Clepto, who mixed metallic guitar solos with hardcore breakdowns. Bad Cop Bad Cop looked to be having more fun than any other band this day, huge grins adorning each of the four ladies’ faces. They did their part to stave off heatstroke for us early birds by tossing water filled condoms into the crowd. I’ve never seen so many people look so happy to be smacked in the face by a condom, and the humor of it all helped quell my slight anger at getting my lens wet (luckily I avoided any damage).

Random thoughts:

• “It’s good to be back in Vegas. How many of you here are from… Los Angeles!” shouted NOFX frontman Fat Mike during the band’s closing set. This festival really does have a very large California presence, from the bands playing, to the fans in attendance – partially due to that being where the Stern Brothers are from. But I think us locals made our presence known this year with two locals on the mainstage and a smattering throughout the club shows.

-Emily Matview and Ashleigh Thompson

Photos by Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/