Music

Some of your favourite punk bands are reuniting at the Wrecking Ball festival

by Richard Howard

We’ve seen some pretty nuts festival lineups of late. Quebec’s Festival d’été may take the cake with names such as Sting, Peter Gabriel, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Selena Gomez, Rammstein, Ice Cube, and Duran Duran amongst the headliners. Montebello’s Amnesia Rockfest, meanwhile, can always be counted upon to bring out some of your favourite heavy acts.

If you’re a punk fan, though, you might want to save up your duckets for a ticket to Atlanta, Georgia. That city’s Wrecking Ball festival has taken the much lauded lineup from last year’s installment and raised it to the next level for 2016.

The big news for Wrecking Ball 2016, which takes place on August 13th and 14th, is their coup of reunions and ultra-rare appearances by a number of punk and hardcore legends. Influential post-hardcore band Thursday will be playing their first show since disbanding in 2011 – and as big of a story as that is, it’s not even the one most likely to drive fans to the pawn shop to get to Atlanta.

Quicksand, considered one of the most influential hardcore bands period, has played intermittently since their second reunion in 2012: so the opportunity not just to see them but in this setting is a pretty big score. One of my personal favourites, Piebald, has been broken up since 2008 and hasn’t been seen other than a single set in 2010 (I may need to hide my guitars from myself and the aforementioned pawn shops until after August).

Meanwhile, the festival managed to score three of the scene’s biggest recently reunited acts (American Football, L7 and Drive Like Jehu) as well as one of its most beloved bands that is currently saying farewell, Motion City Soundtrack.

Add to that more legends in the form of Gorilla Biscuits, CIV, The Bouncing Souls, Dinosaur Jr. and Anti Flag paired with contemporary favorites like The Menzingers, Bayside, Deafheaven, and more, and you can see why this is pretty much a punk fan’s dream. In addition, the fact that a number of these bands actually share or have shared members throughout the years suggests that it’s going to be one big love fest (OK, as lovey as a punk/hardcore festival can be) jam-packed with guest appearances.

So who’s driving? I’ve got one-fifth of the gas and all the beef jerky.