We’re just shy of a month out. And I’ll pick up some band previews tomorrow. But today….conflicts. The great thing about festivals is getting to see a lot of bands. And the sucky thing is when some of your favorites are playing at the same time. And with the strength of the Friday lineup, I’m bracing for the schedule release knowing that many of the bands I want to see will be playing at the same time. Saturday and Sunday are still super stout; I’m really looking forward to them with some amazing acts and legacies (hello Die Antwoord and Bob Mould), but Friday is ridiculous. There are truly 18 bands that I would be happy seeing any day (if I didn’t have to miss others), including a couple of my all time favorite live acts with Rancid and Pennywise.
We’ll need to study up and be ready. Here are the acts in play for me (and not discounting any of the others except Lucero), from the small print to the headliner (linked to earlier preview posts when available):
Pkew, Pkew, Pkew, The Garden, Angel Du$t, IDKHOW, H2O, Anti-Flag, Hot Water Music, The Get Up Kids, Glassjaw, Hot Snakes, Neck Deep, Cock Sparrer, Pennywise, Descendents, Violent Femmes, Rancid, Jawbreaker, and Blink-182.
That’s a helluva a day.
Likely a few of the small prints will be playing early which puts them
in jeopardy. The rest get jumbled in
until the headliners. For the
headliners, I’d guess Jawbreaker plays the Roots stage before Blink on the Riot
stage (sidenote, let’s face it…Blink isn’t a great live band but they likely
won’t be up against anyone). It would
fit the profile for Rancid and Descendents to play in front of them. That would relegate the Femmes to the
Radicals or Rise stage. But who
knows. It really is a good problem to
have. Hot Snakes will get cut because we
have them at the Saturday night aftershow.
It’s also likely that one of the small prints gets slotted into an
opening slot for Hot Snakes at the aftershow, a la the late add of Slaves (UK)
with Buzzcocks in 2017. For me the two
must sees are Cock Sparrer (carrying the Pete Shelley banner of the weekend as
the elder statesmen of punk) and Descendents.
So I could be bouncing around from stage to stage, but will still need some
time for a Jay Reatard or Lemmy drink or two.
And let’s not sleep on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday is loaded also: Masked Intruder, Cherry Glazerr, The HU, Surfer Blood, The Selecter, Turnover, Anthrax, the Struts, Manchester Orchestra, Die Antwoord, Bloc Party. That’s eleven and ingredients for another epic day.
And Sunday: Skating Polly, The Beaches, Teenage Bottlerocket, White Reaper, The Ergs!, Save Ferris, Less Than Jake, Ride, Bob Mould (my #1 must see of the entire weekend), Streetlight Manifesto, Raconteurs, and maybe Bikini Kill. Twelve. Killer!
So that is a lot of music, and a lot of conflicts. If we’re lucky, the schedule is likely to be released soon. In 2017 it was released August 10th, 2016 was August 30th. Last year it didn’t drop until the Tuesday before (amid scrambling to replace Blink and rumors of visa issues for a Bauhaus reunion). Once it’s out I’ll have my answers and will be less anxious, but likely pissed (a good pissed). Fingers crossed.
