Downtown Las Vegas – May 23- 27 2019
Despatches and photos from the frontline by Gary Coleman.
After a journey taking up the best part of 23 hours and involving very little sleep, I finally checked into the Golden Nugget at 7.00 pm. A quick bite to eat and a good drink and I am raring to go to my first show, welcome to Punk Rock Bowling 2019!
Now entering its 21st year, PRB started out when a few like minded bands and record labels thought that it would be a fun idea to meet up over a couple of days for a bowling tournament and a few shows in Las Vegas. The event became an annual occurrence and is now a substantially different beast than how it started out and this year promised to be bigger and better than ever.
The music festival officially takes place over the Memorial Day Weekend 25th – 27th May but the festival now encompasses a lot more events. There is a poker tournament, late night club shows which start on the Thursday before the festival proper, pool parties, lounge shows, and of course there is still a bowling tournament! It is a great place to meet old friends and make some new ones.
This all takes place in and around the Fremont Street area of Downtown Las Vegas, an area that certainly has its fair share of shall we say eccentrics (think of grown men dressed as babies) providing “entertainment” for the tourists. Adding a few thousand punk rock fans into the mix certainly adds to the fun.
First up I attend the opening club show at the Fremont Country Club a decent sized club in the heart of the Downtown Strip. Caught about half of the set by 45 Graves a Californian horror/death rock band fronted by the imaginatively named Dinah Cancer. They were fun but as my friend (who knows Dinah) remarked “she has a better personality than singing voice”.
The band I had wanted to see, Mad Sin, had been denied visas and was replaced by The Quakes a psychobilly band from Buffalo, New York. Musically they were certainly a step up from 45 Graves and certainly got the crowd going. The Quakes were obviously the band that people had came to see as a lot left after their set which was a shame for British band Guana Batz who delivered a lively, polished performance that went down well with those remaining.
It was left to The Zeros ( American punk band formed 1976 in Chula Vista, California and considered West Coast punk pioneers)to close. People we spoke to enthused about this band and had travelled huge distances to see them. Unfortunately by the time they came on, 1.30am, most people had left.
The band turned in highly competent rocking set which sent everyone home to their beds happy.
Having the Friday to recover by the time the evening came around we were raring to go for the Pennywise gig which was held at the main PRB second stage. The gig was packed and the crowd were well up for this. Formed in 1988 the band is rightly acclaimed for their no nonsense straight ahead punk rock style.
Opening with ‘It’s Up To Me’ they have the crowd in the palms of were all well received alongside cover versions such as their hands straight from the off. The band, like the crowd, seems to be having a ball. They made a few mistakes and fluffed a couple of endings but nobody cared, this is punk rock!
Favourites like ‘Rules’, ‘ Fight Till You Die ‘, ‘ Pennywise ‘ and ‘ Fuck Authority ‘ were well received alongside such cover versions as ‘TNT ‘, ‘ Wild In The Streets ‘ and ‘ Stand By Me ‘. The night was brought to a glorious end by the anthemic ‘ Bro Hymn ‘ which saw about as many of the crowd on the stage as left in the audience.
Saturday, the official start of the festival proper turned out to be one of the most sublime days of my life.
After a measly 3 hours sleep I got up at 6.00am and headed uptown to sit alone in a sports bar in Planet Hollywood at 7 in the morning to watch my team Celtic win the Scottish Cup and complete a historic treble treble. Walking on air after the game I headed back downtown to the first of this year’s pool parties. As the name suggests the party is held around a pool (this year at the Downtown Grand Hotel) with live acts and a DJ, a good time is had by all.
Kicking off today’s proceedings were Sharp Shock from Los Angeles although 2 of the 3 members were English. They had a sound reminiscent of the early Jam and certainly got the crowd going. Pool Party headliners were H20 a hardcore band from New York who soon had a mosh pit going in front of the stage and even in the swimming pool itself!
The introduction of scores of promotional beach balls added to the general hilarity as they were soon whizzing about all over the place.
The pool parties finish at 2.00pm and the first bands hit the stage at the main festival around 2.30pm. The Festival is held at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Centre which is a stone’s throw from Fremont. All the venues are really close together so it is easy to move from one to another. The Events Centre is open air and quite large and is well set up with drinking areas, catering facilities and lots of merchandise stands from all sorts of retailers. It must also be said that the toilets are kept absolutely spotless!
I like to hit the Festival early as you can come across some interesting bands that you may never have heard of. Today I was well rewarded as the first 2 bands I saw were terrific. Appearing on the main stage were The Droogettes an all-girl band from Philadelphia. They had catchy tunes and were lively on stage. The next band I saw at the 2nd stage was Maid Of Ace from the UK. Another all girl band, I had heard of them but had never seen them before. This band was outstanding; they were utterly ferocious as they went full tilt through their set. The onslaught of noise was relentless and much appreciated by the surprisingly large (for the time of day) crowd.
Another interesting band on the 2nd stage were the Lower Class Brats hailing from Austin, Texas who mixed up some Clockwork Orange sartorial elegance, punk , oi, 70’s glam and straight ahead rock ‘n’ roll into a highly enjoyable noise! The band was very lively on stage and has a terrific front man in Bones who certainly puts his all into his performance.
The last time I saw the Damned was in 1982 so I was a bit unsure of what they would be like in 2019. I shouldn’t have worried as they were great. Dave Vanian still looks every bit the elegant vampire and like Dorian Grey I am sure he has a picture of himself in his attic that ages while he himself remains young.
The band played their entire 3rd album ‘Machine Gun Etiquette’ from beginning to end, so we get such gems as ‘Love Song’, ‘Melody Lee’, ‘I Just Can’t Be Happy Today’, ‘Noise Noise Noise’, ‘Liar’ and of course ‘Smash It Up’. Dave Vanian was in fine voice throughout.
The Captain could match Vanian in the looking like a lithe young thing stakes was on top form and kept the guitar excess to the minimum.
To finish the set we were treated to work outs of ‘New Rose’ and ‘Neat Neat Neat’ both of which still sounded as fresh and vital as the day they were written.
Flag were up next, boasting original members of Black Flag, singer Keith Morris, guitarist Dez Cadena, bassist Chuck Dukowski and drummer Bill Stevenson alongside Descendents guitarist Stephen Eggerton.
It must have been hard to follow the successful Damned set but Flag managed it superbly. They sounded great. Keith Morris handled most of the vocals with Dez stepping up for about half a dozen songs. Classic song followed classic song, Rancid were going to have a hard job topping this.
So at last the Saturday headliners hit the stage and it’s right into ‘Roots Radicals’ which immediately gets the crowd jumping, quickly followed by ‘Radio’ and ‘Journey To The East Bay’. What Rancid have is a great back catalogue which was well utilised tonight.
Lars prowled the stage looking every bit the great guitarist he is, Tim, well what can you say about Tim? That beard needs to go he looks like a hobo but he certainly looked like he was enjoying himself tonight.
The crowd know all the words and sing along with every song, soon it’s all over and they finish up with ‘Time Bomb’ and of course ‘Ruby Soho’ which of course sends everyone home from the first day happy!
Punk Rock Bowling is great a throwing you a curve ball and tonight I got mine. I had booked for a club show but was ambivalent about it. I had to get something to eat and drink and the later it got the more I thought about swerving the show.
In the end I decided not to and as a result of that had one of the greatest experiences of my life. I arrived at the club venue Backstage Bar and Billiards shortly before the band Las Skarnales hit the stage. Originating from Texas this band fuse together ska, reggae, rockabilly, danzon and cumbia all with a punk attitude.
Fronted by two sharp dressed, zoot suited Latino dudes, from the off this band rocked. The crowd went bananas, it didn’t matter I could hardly understand a word they were singing (mostly Spanish) the energy and passion overflowed from the band. They even threw in a cover of The Ramones ‘Rock And Roll Radio’ in honour of appearing at PRB.
I was so enjoying this band tonight that I made my first and probably last entry to that American punk rock institution the mosh pit. 3 minutes later I emerged absolutely battered senseless and covered in beer. Hell what did I care!
The horn section even found the time to enter the pit and were dancing around still playing trumpet, sax and trombone!
This was one of those magical nights where the crowd would not let the band leave the stage and the band were so happy with the reaction that they just kept playing and playing.
I finally hit my bed at 5.00am, tomorrow this all begins again.
I decided to be a bit choosier who I saw today and move at a slower pace. I started at stage 2 with another all girl group Auxilio from Los Angeles and then moved to the main stage to see The Darts (guess what? An all girl group!) out of Phoenix.
A mix of 60’s psychedelia, garage punk and horror punk made these girls stand out today. Vocalist Nicole Laurenne certainly knows how to abuse an organ. Rock solid drumming from Rikki Styxx drives the songs ably supported by Meliza Jackson on guitar and Christina Nunez on bass.
Staying at the main stage I was looking forward to seeing The Lillingtons but was somewhat disappointed by them, can’t really put my finger on it they just didn’t really inspire me at all.
It was back to stage 2 for Drug Church who delivered a short but very energetic set. Vocalist Patrick Kindlon has to be seen to be believed as the band deliver their hardcore style music concerning social issues. The set was very short and left you wanting more.
The Vandals put on a good show and seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, as were the audience. I had to leave their set early as I wanted to catch Sloppy Seconds on stage 2.
This whole 2 stage thing wasn’t quite working out. The theory was that you would have time to walk from one stage to another before the bands started. In practice this wasn’t really working out and some bands were overlapping so this meant you might have to miss the start or end of someone you wanted to see.
From Indianapolis, Sloppy Seconds had been recommended to be my friend Martin and I was not to be disappointed. The 2nd stage seemed to be the more energetic of the two and Sloppy Seconds just tore the place up. Fast, tuneful punk rock with humorous and sometimes questionable lyrics about sex, drinking, TV, porn and horror movies the band were hugely entertaining and have a great front man in B.A. who is somewhat obese and not afraid to show it! This band is proud to be fat, drunk and stupid.
Following Sloppy Seconds are Boston’s own working class heroes Street Dogs. Formed by former Dropkick Murphys vocalist Mike McColgan Street Dogs are a definite must see. From the off McColgan is totally animated and darting about the stage. He leaps from the stage to land on the barrier at the front, a distance of at least 8 – 10 feet, if this boys nor careful he will do himself a mischief.
The crowd lap it up, sing along with every song and are going absolutely wild. McColgan is a born entertainer, launching himself into the crowd on many occasions, if you get the chance see this band you won’t be disappointed as they have some mighty fine tunes.
Monday had a very English orientated feel to it and there was a sizeable British contingent in the crowd who had come to see the Undertones, Stranglers and The Specials.
The day had started brightly with another highly enjoyable Sloppy Seconds set at the Pool Party which was notable for the introduction of a giant inflatable whale into the mosh pit and more of those damn beach balls.
My discovery of the day was Made J who lives in Bali. What a performance this guy put on in front of not many people as he was on so early. Imagine a man had been locked in a room with nothing to listen to but vintage rockabilly, some Delta blues and the first two Cramps albums. When he emerges, he is given a guitar and told t play, that is what Made sounds like.
His songs throb and ooze of primeval rockabilly with a bit of fuzz thrown in for good measure. He did a version of the Dead Kennedys Police Truck that visibly puzzled some of those present as he manipulated his effects machine to conjure strange magical sounds. This was utterly brilliant and over so damn quick. This man deserved so much more than the handful of people who witnessed his performance.
Quite often PRB throws up a band that make the audience take a step back and think whoa! Are these guys for real? Last year it was Slaves this year it was Shame.
All the way from London (and still in their early twenties) Shame embodied the spirit of punk rock in their confrontational set. It was love us, hate us but you will not ignore us. Singer Charlie Steen was immediately in the faces of the audience and the bassist Josh Finnerty was literally performing cartwheels on stage as he careered about bumping into and jumping off everything in sight.
Musically I thought they were influenced by early Fall and Public Image and they sounded great. Charlie ended the set by walking erect on the hands of the audience a la Iggy. This was absolutely riveting stuff.
What a daunting task to follow a set like that yet the organisers pulled off a stroke of genius by putting the Undertones on next. The Undertones with their delightful brands of pop punk considerably lightened the mood and their banter when technical difficulties interrupted the set was hugely enjoyable.
I had never seen the Undertones before and had now seen them twice in two days as they had been special guests at The Dickies club show the night before. All the hits were present and correct ‘Jimmy Jimmy’, ‘Here Comes The Summer’, ‘You Got My Number’, ‘My Perfect Cousin’, ‘Get Over You’ and of course the mighty ‘Teenage Kicks’ all slices of perfect feel good music. The band also look like they still love playing this stuff so long may they continue.
I must admit that back in the day I never really liked the Stranglers that much. I thought they made some good singles but I couldn’t get on with their LP’s. So I was pleased to hear some of the British contingent around me say that it was a “crowd pleasing set” as they had a sneak preview of the set list.
They were not far wrong they opened with ‘5 Minutes’ and followed up with ‘(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)’ and ‘Nice And Sleazy’ before drawing breath.
Jean Jacques Burnel looked like he was having a ball and his bass was absolutely deafening. JJB shares the vocal duties with guitarist Baz Warne and a great job they make of it. I particularly enjoyed ‘Always The Sun’ but thought that ‘Golden Brown’ sounded thin and quite weak. They finished the set strongly with ‘Tank’ and ‘No More Heroes’ and received rapturous applause.
It was a quick dash to the 2nd stage to see Teenage Bottlerocket who had already started and had drawn a considerable crowd. It was apparently the largest crowd at the stage over the entire weekend and I was stuck at the back of it hardly able to see anything! But at least I could still hear them as they turned in a fast and furious show that culminated with a cover of ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’.
As people drifted away I decided to stay put and get to the front for the Dead Boys. The veteran Cleveland punkers had been my favourite band at last year’s PRB so I gave up watching The Hives on the main stage to see them again.
They may have only 2 remaining original members in Cheetah Chrome and Johnny Blitz but the new members have fitted in exceptionally well especially singer Jake Hout who acts like a man possessed (possibly by the spirit of Stiv Bators?) on (and off) the stage. Bassist Ricky Ratt and guitarist Jason Kottwitz have the 70’s punk sound nailed.
From the opener ‘Sonic Reducer’ to the closing number ‘Son Of Sam’ Hout tears around the stage, flings himself into the crowd on numerous occasions and to finish the set off climbs up the lighting rig and perches precariously at the top of it! This man certainly knows how to put on a show.
Musically the whole band are terrific and it was a very intense half hour set that sent the mosh pit into overdrive with a constant flow of crowd surfers flying overhead.
Only one band to go now and that is the mighty Specials. The Band that set the world alight with their two-tone ska 40 years ago. Recently Releasing their first new album in 37 years ‘Encore’ the band were making their PRB debut.
I had built my anticipation up for this moment, perhaps too much as I found the band strangely flat. Having seen the intense passion that some of the previous bands had exhibited today this seemed to be missing from the Specials performance. Don’t get me wrong they were good, but not as good as I had wanted them to be, they were (dare I say it) a bit cabaret. Maybe this was because they only have 3 remaining original members on stage (although missing / dead members didn’t seem to affect the Dead Boys).
The crowd still loved them though and danced along to their songs all night, ‘Blam Blam Fever’ from the new album was particularly good, ‘A Message To You Rudy’ and ‘Gangsters’ got the entire audience moving.
It was apt to finish with ‘You’re Wondering Now’ with Terry Hall intoning “You’re wondering now what to do now you know this is the end” and bringing PRB to an end for another year.
This year I thought had been a spectacular success. The two stages worked, although with slight hiccups and PRB did indeed seem bigger and better. I can’t wait for next year!
Punk Rock Bowling always takes place over the Memorial Day Weekend in May
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