More beachside fun by Luke ST / Piano Slug
Part two of our Punk Rock Holiday series covers the Thursday of the festival. If you’d like to read Part one, please click here.
After Thursday morning arrives and we shake off our hangovers with a dive in the freezing Punk Rock Holiday rivers under the already swelling Slovenian sun, we take a trip up to Tolmin’s fantastic gorge to check out the sights (a must see). We’re done in good time to watch some bands, but the weather has other ideas for us today and an afternoon Thunderstorm halts our process back to the Beach Stage in a big way.
Fortunately (for us), our process is hindered near a bar that served dirt cheap beers, so we “stocked up” and made it back to the campsite in time to get dry and get in the festival for Atlas Losing Grip, and they end up being a fine way to kick off our main stage fun for the day. The band’s raucous technical punk rock drags the punks out from under the trees, and they’re right up there with the best of the weekend.
Atlas Losing Grip by Luke ST / Piano Slug
We’re all fired up by the time Swingin’ Utters are on stage, and though it’s not the band’s best ever performance, it’s an enjoyable watch, and one that kept the energy high. Old songs and new joined forces in the Fat Wreck legends’ setlist, and you can’t help but feel the band should be a whole lot bigger than they are. At this point, we have to zip off and do a few interviews, so we miss out on Elvis Jackson – by all accounts they sound like great fun, so we’ll make sure we catch against when we get.
Up next was another of our highlights of the weekend, and we took a short break to experience the Slovenian shots that were available from a wooden hut in the area that was constructed especially for the event. We’re not sure which Slovenian schnapps we liked the best, but it all got us pumped up for Suicidal Tendencies. They were one of the bands on the bill that drew us to the festival in the first place, and they really did not disappoint for a second. Our photographer Luke got a bit over excited and lost his mind during their set (as did plenty of crowd), but the rest of us just sat back with massive smiles on our faces for the duration. A fantastic choice of sub headliner for the evening, a set that we won’t soon forget.
Millencolin by Tom Aylott
To (sort of) close down proceedings for the evening was Sweden’s Millencolin, another of the bands that drew us like moths to the flame of the Punk Rock Holiday line up. Last time we saw them was on their ‘Pennybridge Pioneers’ anniversary tour, but this time out it’s all about mixing it up. Though the stage invasions got over the top to the point of the band having to tell people that they’d like to see the rest of the crowd for a bit, everyone was in high spirits and Millencolin rattled through their finest in a solid hour and a half set. Sounding particularly brilliant was ‘Carry You’ from last year’s ‘Melancholy Collection’ and classics like ‘No Cigar’ and ‘Kemp’, and we can’t wait to see if the band make an appearance in the UK soon…
After Millencolin, we had a few more beers and waited for the post-headliners The Mahones to play. Though appearing pretty soon, Millencolin proved a tricky band to follow, and the Canadian paddy punk band didn’t quite keep our attention for as long as we’d have liked. We had a few more shots from the barand then stumbled back to our campsite to chat to our neighbours before going face down into our tents!
TOM AYLOTT