![]() ![]() “And seriously, what else am I supposed to do? This isn’t my job, my hobby, my habit … . “I’m here because old habits die hard,” frontman Fat Mike sang on the tune, which started as a moody-sounding waltz before rocketing into a melodic blur. They were followed by fest regulars NOFX, who opened with “60 Percent,” a song that served as their mission statement but that applied to many of those in attendance, bands and fans alike. Their tunes registered as a series of punk rock lullabies, with choruses as big and bouncy as the beach balls that they tossed into the crowd at set’s end. The previous night, an even more wizened act, English pop punk troupe The Adicts, who dress like Droogs from “A Clockwork Orange,” proved themselves to be similarly unencumbered by years of activity on the main stage. “I’m gonna stay young until I die,” Seconds bellowed at song’s end, attempting to shout down adulthood. ![]() Shortly thereafter, the band raced through an adrenaline-infused, shout-along version of Sham 69’s “If the Kids are United,” playing the song in tribute of the British punks who penned it and who were supposed to play this year’s Punk Rock Bowling but had to cancel for family health issues. “You’re saying, ‘But my father’s 32 years old,’ ” he said with a chuckle at the band’s lengthy time line, speaking to the younger fans in attendance. On Sunday, at the festival main stage outdoors near the El Cortez, Kevin Seconds, the 51-year-old frontman for Reno’s positive hard-core mainstay 7 Seconds, marveled at the fact that he has been playing gigs for more than three decades. ![]() The Dwarves’ set Friday established the tone for the next three days, when punk veterans dominated the festival lineup, which numbered more than 60 acts. His band followed suit, firing off two-minute blasts of hooks and hormones like rounds shot from a machine gun. Though Dahlia is in his mid-40s, he tore across the stage (and off it) with the aorta-bursting energy levels of an over-caffeinated teenager. The gray-haired crowd surfer, leering like a boy who had just discovered his father’s Playboy stash, underscored an ever-present reality that was evident throughout the weekend festival: Punk rock is officially middle-aged.īut that doesn’t mean it has to act like it.įor four days at various venues downtown, the Punk Rock Bowling festival swarmed the area with lots of heavily tattooed moms and dads who acted more like unruly children, soundtracked by plenty of bands that they listened to in high school.Īmong these long-running groups was the Dwarves, whose pie-eyed, lightning bolt of a frontman, Blag Dahlia, lunged atop the outstretched arms of an adoring audience at the Las Vegas Country Saloon on Friday night. ![]()
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