The Punk Rock Bowling 14 midway point was upon us and the weather decided to do a little rebelling of its own, replacing the calm breeze of the previous day with oven-baked hotness. The crowd was undeterred, however, as the only day show to sell out boasted British oi! pioneers Cockney Rejects (filling in for a canceled Sham 69), the always fun yet seldom touring Hepcat, and of course headliners Rancid! In what is surely a quest to make me feel old, my favorite band from middle school is celebrating their 20th year together this year and frontman Tim Armstrong used the occasion to wax nostalgia, about both Rancid’s tour history as well as Operation Ivy (whom he said played Vegas in the late 80s at a desert show, something I would have killed to see if only I was out of grade school at the time). ...

Another year, another Punk Rock Bowling, and this year kicked off with a night headlined by semi-Vegas residents NOFX! The Southern California skatepunk legends are no strangers to our city, ringing in the New Year with us at the House of Blues and already announcing a July poolside gig at the Hard Rock. So how would the quartet make this show stand out and reward fans who spent all day baking on the blacktop? By playing the bulk of their classic album Punk in Drublic! The band sounded tighter than ever, a huge 180 from their somewhat sloppy performance at PRB 2010, and it was a real treat to finally hear “The Brews,” my personal favorite from the NOFX catalogue, played live. ...