It’s hard to believe that more than a decade has gone by since I attended the first Extreme Thing, and looking around, I can’t deny that there were moments at this year’s festival when I felt a little old and confused. Admittedly, I don’t understand the appeal of dubstep and some of the electronic elements that have seeped into pop punk and hardcore over the years, but at the same time, there was more to love than ever at this year’s festival.
I spent the majority of my day at the Hard Rock Café on the Strip stage, which is where the Glamour Kills Tour, featuring The Wonder Years, Polar Bear Club, Transit and A Loss For Words (sans The Story So Far), was combined with the Sleeping With Sirens/Abandon All Ships tour.
The Wonder Years are far and away one of my favorite bands right now, so of course I was excited to see them again. Last time they played Vegas was for the Pop Punk’s Not Dead tour and their already short set was made shorter by electrical problems on stage. This show went off without a hitch and they were able to use their extra time to dig deep into their catalog and play The Upsides b-side “I Was Scared and I’m Sorry” along with fan favorites including “Keystone State Dude-Core,” “Logan Circle” and “Local Man Ruins Everything.”A Loss for Words’ vocalist Matt Arsenault took the stage for set closer “All My Friends Are in Bar Bands” while Wonder Years frontman Dan “Soupy” Campbell sang from within the excited crowd.
Polar Bear Club is another of my favorite bands and I was very excited to get a chance to see them for the first time since releasing their excellent Clash Battle Guilt Pride LP. Tracks from that record including “Killin’ It” and “Screams in Caves” sound just as good, and maybe even better than they do on the Brian McTernan-produced album. The band made sure to represent each of their three full lengths during the shortened festival time frame, with “Burned Out in a Jar” from debut LP Sometimes Things Just Disappear being a particularly awesome highlight. The most memorable moment in their set though was during the lead up to Chasing Hamburg single “Living Saints.” Vocalist Jimmy Stadt encouraged the crowd to stand in complete silence with fists in the air for no other reason than to make those passing us by for hot dogs and Unwritten Law wonder why we are “so weird.”
Transit is an amazing band and they’ve only gotten better since the release of Listen & Forgive in 2011. Last time I saw them they were opening for Saves the Day and Bayside at the House of Blues and the band, especially frontman Joe Boynton, seemed a little uncomfortable in the transition from intimate basements and VFW halls to distancing barriers and high club stages. All of that was gone this time, with the band seemingly at home to the gathering crowd, making up for the distance with a performance that was intense and heartfelt. I’d go as far to say that Transit exceeded my already high expectations enough to have my favorite set of the festival.
When I did venture from the Hard Rock Café stage it was to watch local band-turned-national-act Ministry of Love on the Vitamin Water Main Stage and Less Than Jake, one of my longtime and consistently favorite bands, on the Verizon Main Stage (coincidently coinciding with my own Verizon phone breaking and dying for good). With Ministry of Love it was great seeing local kids make it to a place where they could play on the main stage through pure hard work and dedication. Especially bassist and recent interview subject Patrick “Pulsar” Trout, who has given so much of himself to the music scene in Vegas over the years. Frequent Vegas visitors, Less Than Jake always put on a great show. They are currently touring for their 20 year anniversary and dug deep into their huge catalog for classics such as “Sugar in Your Gas Tank,” “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads,” and “My Very Own Flag.”
Unfortunately the aforementioned phone issues cut my time at the festival short so I didn’t get to see the entirety of Anti-Flag’s set but luckily, they will be back in town for Warped Tour on June 20.
-Emily Matview
Photos by Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/
and Tyler Newton | http://500px.com/spottedlens
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