Images: Punk Rock Bowling Day Three feat. Dropkick Murphys, Conflict & more May 25, 2015 at Fremont East

The final day of Punk Rock Bowling 2015 was a bit of a mirror of its first. While the second day show was dominated by a few bands slightly outside of PRB’s usual wheelhouse (Refused and Murder City Devils), day three was headlined by returning favorites Dropkick Murphys. And like the day one headliners (Rancid), the Murphys would be playing one of their classic albums from front to back.

Unfortunately, the crowd wasn’t a close a copy of the first night. This time around, the Fremont East lot was not sold out, and the people that made it out seemed tired from the long weekend. Fans dressed in their finest green apparel were leaning on each other while the stage crew made their last adjustments of the weekend. But by the time the Murphys’ green spotlights went on and we heard the first notes from “Cadence to Arms,” the instrumental intro to the band’s debut Do or Die, everyone in attendance seemed to get their second wind. That album was the subject of the show’s front-to-back feature and that’s fine by me, as it’s far and away my favorite album by the Murphys.

The audience seemed to approve as well, one last circle pit opened on the festival’s blacktop lot  and fists were held high in the air while singing “We must rise” and “It’s do or die” with frontman Al Barr and crew. And while Barr didn’t actually sing on the recorded album, he’s been singing the songs for over 18 years and does a great job recreating the intensity of former Dropkick and current Street Dogs vocalist Mike McColgan on tracks like “Caught in a Jar,” “Get Up” and “Barroom Hero,” though on this night Barr’s voice did sound a little muffled in the mix.

Kind of surprisingly, despite the bands being on good terms and Street Dogs playing a club show the first night of the festival, there was no guest spot from McColgan during the band’s set. Even more surprisingly, the band’s encore did not include the one Dropkick song everyone knows – “I’m Shipping Up to Boston.” Instead, they used their encore to pay tribute to the bands that inspire them, with covers of Gang Green (“Alcohol”) and Bachman-Turner Overdrive (“Takin’ Care of Business”) as well as a cover of “Iron Chin,” which is by Barr’s old band The Bruisers and on this night featured a guest spot from Agnostic Front’s Vinnie Stigma.

The day was also set to mirror the first with its direct support, drawing from the ska scene with Bad Manners, and hardcore with Conflict. Conflict was here representing the British side of hardcore, with a heavy dose of anarcho punk on the side. With tracks like brash “The Positive Junk” and “Piss in the Ocean,” frontman Colin Jerwood sounds just as pissed off and volatile as he did 30 years ago.

Bad Manners, unfortunately, didn’t get to sound like anything, as they had to cancel their appearance and were replaced with another hardcore band, New York’s Agnostic Front. Last time Agnostic Front played PRB they played 1984’s Victim in Pain straight through. This time, they drew from their entire catalog,  but the highlight was a pretty spot-on cover of “Blitzkrieg Bop,” which no one in attendance could resist singing along to.

The Swingin’ Utters also made their return to PRB, but this show was special, since it was drummer Greg Utters final show with the band. Change has been a constant in the Utters for quite a while now, which has helped the band stay fresh while many of their peers have long since plateaued. Frontman Johnny Peebucks joked that the PRB crowd would rather hear older tracks but I was way more excited to hear “Kick it Over” and “The Librarians are Hiding Something.” Good luck in your future endeavors, Greg!

The undercard was really strong on this day, but the humid air and debauchery of the weekend left the earlier parts of the day feeling a little barren, as many of the festival’s attendees were still asleep. The biggest pit in the early hours came when The Business fans dusted off their boots and sang along to tracks from their first 7”.

The Mahones’ entertained the early birds with stage antics including frontman Finny McConnell and accordionist Katie Kaboom competing for who could limbo the lowest. Veteran Colombian hardcore band I.R.A. got quite a few fists in the air, and non-native-speakers in the crowd stretching the limits of their Spanish language skills.

Corpus Christi’s Avenue Rockers got the crowd moving early with their blend of ska and punk, and locals Battle Born shredded to the 20 or so people that made it out of bed by 2:30 p.m. like they were playing a packed house, eliciting the only all-wheelchair pit of the weekend.

This week: We’ll wrap things up with a list, some videos and an after-show!

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