Skate And Surf Festival (Day 2)

Live At Asbury Park (2015)

Jon

Day two of Skate and Surf was a tad easier to navigate after knowing the festival grounds from day one. The bands were strategically spread out for both days to appeal fans to come both days and it was totally worth it. The second day completed the weekend with great reunions, up and comers, and established acts.

After a late start, I got to go in and run to Modern Baseball’s early afternoon performance. The band were extremely excited to hit the stage and expressed their enthusiasm by not only being around everywhere at the festival, but also giving their all as per usual.

The crowd was packed and it was only 2:45, proving that Modern Baseball have more than grown in popularity within the past year or so. Their set was filled with plenty of sing-alongs as well as a few surprises. The band’s cover of The Killers, “When You Were Young” has become a staple in the band’s set and is an interesting yet fitting choice for the band to play.

I quickly headed to the side stage of Acceptance to watch the band wholeheartedly go through their classic songs from 2005’s, Phantoms. Acceptance may have been one of the most anticipated reunions and the band brought high energy to the stage. The band played a set to a large crowd of screaming fans with smiles on their faces because the band was playing again.

Beach Slang is one of those up and coming bands you should be listening to. With a recent signing to Polydor Records and two solid EPs, seeing them was mandatory. The lead singer has an incredibly poetic way of speaking and the band’s songs completely compliment the mood of that poetic mind frame. At one point the power cut out for the entire stage and was revived as soon as a sound guy walked on stage. The lead singer was continuously tried to hit flying beach balls with his guitar and succeeded a few times, it was extremely entertaining and didn’t take away from the effect of their show as it added spontaneity.

After Beach Slang, I had some time to kill. After quickly picking up the Beach Slang shirt and 7 inch, I found out that Modern Baseball was playing an acoustic set. The crowd was already surrounded by a ton of people. I’ve seen modern baseball a ton of times since last year so I was interested to see them acoustic. The only downside is the band was battling From Autumn To Ashes play loudly on the main stage, as they played nearby on the grass. It was impressive to see the band be able to maintain their concentration during such a catastrophic interference. At times, the softest songs were drowned out by loud, heavy breakdowns making for an interesting set. The band at one point called the event a showdown.

I had a fear of my Beach Slang 7 inch getting messed up in the crowds. Luckily the large array of merch included a very special unmarked tent with countless hardcore records, CDs, and cassettes. The best part: they held onto my records till the end of the night. I found some great hardcore albums and the guy even threw in a free 7 inch. Mission complete.

The best set of the night was by far The Front Bottoms. These New Jersey natives are incredibly infectious and played to a huge crowd with a ton of surprises. The band played a heap of their classics songs from their past two albums. With wacky waving inflatable tube men, throwing out about 50 tambourines into the crowd, and Brian Sella smashing his acoustic guitar, The Front bottoms delivered a remarkable set that was incredibly memorable. Sella even said, “We played The Break Contest to play here three times and lost every time, look at us now!” Don’t sleep on this band like I did for so long.

One of my new favorite bands is Runaway Brother. Ever since I got a pre-release of Mother, I’ve been obsessed. The band played the smallest stage of the festival but packed some of the best musical chemistry of the night. With infectious progressive emo/pop rock, Runaway Brother jammed through a dancey set that made me love them even more, they were everything I would hope they would be and were downright fantastic.

After Runaway Brother, the night was a tad open ended. I walked to see Pianos Become The Teeth but the stages were behind and another band was playing. I decided to walk over and check out The Gaslight Anthem for a little. The band had a perfect backdrop of the Asbury Park moonlight behind cloudy skies. I had already seen Brian Fallon perform acoustic earlier in the day to a handful of people. The band had some major surprises and interesting stage presence.

When I ended up walking back to the other stages, I could hear the echoes of the new sound of Pianos Become The Teeth. After shifting their sound from post-hardcore to a much more melodic indie/hardcore sound, I was interested to see what the band would sound like live. The band delivered as heavily as Defeater did the night before. Playing songs from mostly their new record, Keep You, the band was impressive live and had some intense moments. The lead singer jumped the barricade and squirmed through the audience, sharing the mic with countless fans.

I can’t express how great day one and day two of the festival were. There were so many great bands, great people, and great messages all in great spirits working together to put on the festival. Skate & Surf had just about everything to offer to its fan base: a convenient set up, great bands, and an aesthetic that perfectly embodied what I imagine the early festivals were like.

The best thing about Skate & Surf is that the festival really did go back to its roots. After years of The Bamboozle booking mainstream acts in order to attract larger crowds and raising ticket prices, the festival has finally figured out that they can be successful by sticking to the bands fans love, and bands that fans can be introduced to throughout the day.