Punk in Drublic

Punk in Drublic was originally supposed to be in Concord, CA, on October 14th, but after all the fire in the North Bay, the air wasn’t safe to be in for that long. Instead it got moved to October 29th, and with the change in date came some line-up changes as well. Less Than Jake, Goldfinger, and Flogging Molly were no longer able to make the festival, but the Mr. T Experience, Strung Out, and Bad Religion got added in their place, which is fine with me. I love MTX.

However, I had a flight out of San Francisco the night of the 29th, so the change also made me unable to stay for the entire festival. Oh well, such is life I guess.

Upon walking in the Concord Pavilion, attendees were handed tiny beer glasses for three hours of unlimited beer tastings. Umm yes please? I started drinking as soon as I got there, but didn’t have enough beer to feel anything. There were lots of long lines.

I basically decided I really only wanted to see Bad Cop/Bad Cop and the Mr. T Experience before having to bounce for my flight. Some friends of mine, Bob and Megan, were already in the stadium by the time I got there, and Megan let me know when Bad Cop/Bad Cop was about to come on.

Bad Cop/Bad Cop

There was one guy with green hair singing and dancing along to all of their songs, which made me super happy. I love these ladies, and while they may not be super huge yet, their fans are pretty dedicated.

I realized I know less of their lyrics than I thought I did while attempting to sing along. Whoops.

The pit was super open… I danced as much as I could, but it was kinda weird. There were like two rows of people in the front, and then a huge open section of concrete, and then that was basically it. Megan linked arms with me to go around the circle pit for a minute. We tried.

They played a lot of new songs: “Retrograde,” “Womanarchist,” “Why Change a Thing,” “I’m Done,” “Amputations,” “Victoria,” and “Broken.” They played a few old ones as well, like “Cheers” and “Nightmare.” They also played one cover song that I probably should have known, but did not.

Megan got her tickets through work, which allowed her to go backstage as a VIP. She snagged a pick from frontwoman Stacey Dee and gave it to me, which was super sweet, but it was just a little piece of plastic with no markings on it whatsoever.

The struggle of loving a nobody band. Ugh. They’ll make it big one day. I know they will. They kick all of the ass and I love them so much. I have faith.

Mr. T Experience

So the worst injury I have ever sustained at a show would be during a 90’s pop punk band. Of course. Let’s ignore how many mosh pits I’ve been in in my life where big dudes are shoving like mad and the band onstage is all hardcore. No, it’s the fans in their 30s listening to the Mr. T Experience I have to worry about apparently.

It was during “Sackcloth and Ashes” that I got knocked down in that concrete pit. I busted a knee, and bruised the other, as well as a hip, and cut open my hand from catching myself. But it was the elbow I landed on that killed me.

When I was in college, I once hit my funny bone so hard I woke up on the bathroom floor I don’t even know how long after. But I legitimately passed out from hitting my funny bone. That’s almost what happened here. I could feel myself about to pass out, and I was conscious of it this time, so I breathed through it and kept myself upright. That didn’t change the fact that I completely lost vision for a few songs, though. It was only slightly terrifying. Ya know.

I stayed away from the “pit” for the rest of their set and watched (or at least listened when all I could see was black) from the third row.

They played “Naomi,” “Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba,” and “Cinthya (With a Y).” I’m not sure what else they played, because those are the only songs I can recall.

Frank: “This song’s about a girl.”
Me: “They’re all about a girl!”

He talked about the balbum but didn’t call it a balbum this time. Maybe because he didn’t have any books to sell here?

After their set, I had to down an entire bottle of water and sit for a while. I ended up sitting through the entire next band and hardly even watched them. Then I had to escape before Bad Religion unfortunately, because flight.