PUNK ROCK BOWLING 2017!

One of the longest standing Punk Rock Festivals in the country, the 19th annual Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival took over downtown Las Vegas for 3 days this past May.  PRB is unlike any other music festival, they feature some of the best punk bands from over the past 35+ years.  From punk rock veterans, to up and comers, breaking out onto the scene.  This year, PRB had a one of the biggest punk legends to grace their stage.  The one and only the Godfather of Punk Rock IGGY POP.

I was so excited for day one of the music festival because I was going to see IGGY POP.  When I got there, I was able to catch THE SPITS, OFF!, and ME FIRST AND THE GIMMIE GIMMIES. The crowd was excited and pumped to see IGGY POP next on stage.   As the lights went out the crowd screamed and chanted IGGY, IGGY, IGGY!  Then the band opened the night with “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” then IGGY took the stage and captivated the crowd just like the old videos I used to watch of him, and nothing had changed.  He still had the same energy and stage presence he always had.  They continued the night with “The Passenger,” “Lust for Life,” and many more. IGGY commanded the stage, turning around and yelling at his band to pick up the pace and play the next song.  “C’mon mother f&*kers, go! Play it! Play it!”  The band ended the night with “Real Wild Child (Wild One),” and “1969″ for their the encore, but the crowd didn’t want the night to end, and neither did I.

The last two days of the music festival had many more great bands such as CHOKING VICTIM, BAD RELIGION, THE ADICTS, PENNYWISE, COCK SPARRER, and Fat Mike of NOFX made a couple of appearances.  He played bass with BAD RELIGION in a little black dress and on day three, he brought out a statue of President Donald Trump on stage.  He began to beat the statue with a bat with fellow punk musicians. Fat Mike stated, “Some people might think punk rock is not about politics.  It is about politics and that’s who we are!  If you’re a Trump supporter, f you and get the f out of our scene!”  As the night came to an end on day 3, London’s very own COCK SPARRER closed the three day festival.  COCK SPARRER first formed back in 1972 they performed songs about working class people and equality.  To hear them live was such an amazing experience to watch.

2017 PRB Music Festival was phenomenal.  Each year, they bring in the best bands from around the world from the punk scene and put on one of the best music festivals in Las Vegas.  I cannot wait to see which bands they bring together for next years festival.

–Maria T. Shoals

Photos: Maria T. Shoals