I saw the light! a Review of the West Coast Riot

Find pictures from WCR here.

Bruce Springsteen checked out Against Me and Rancid

What did the Boss think of Rancids concert?

The Event

West Coast Riot is by any comparison Sweden´s biggest punk festival. Not the biggest rock festival, but the biggest just for punk. Fat Wreck record have dubbed it the best punk festival in the world….hm, I haven’t been to them all so, well…but anyway, it was one of the best festival I been to. Just the location this year, just at the sea side with the open sea in sight was stunning. And this year´s line-up was something extra. I havn´t bothered to go there the years before, but when I saw that Rancid was headlining, it was a must to go. And then one good band after another was added to the bill, I would say it was mandatory to attend. Good that people didn´t do that. It was enough with people as it was in the rather narrow festival area not really dimensioned for the size of the crowd. Normally it is just an empty spot next to the art museum Röda Sten. This sunny Thursday in July it was Heaven and Hell at the same time, at least hot as Hell.

The Crowd, the Museum and the Bridge


The Location

I have already been on about the marvelous placement by the seashore. The smell of the salty sea water made me in a good mood. It smelled like vacation, the Baltic Sea at Stockholm doesn´t smell as good.
The concert area was easily reached with the tram. According to some WCR veterans logistics was much better this year. It was surreal to spend the festival right under the huge bridge, Älvsborgsbron.
The only thing to complain about was that there was too few food tents so the lines was long, too long for me. I went outside the festival area for a Bratwurst. While eating it a Mohawk drunk decided to take a dump next to me, squatting down a few meters from me taking a shit. Well, that´s punk…or? It reminded me on a song we wrote in my band Streetwalking Jesus about the “Braune Bratwurst”. Enough of filth now.

The Crowd

There´s an expression about Gothenburg fellows, “Goa Gubbar” (Nice Lads), and that was a fact. The west coasters are so much friendlier and easy accessible that the east coast Stockholmers. It was like everybody was my best friend, or something. Not a meat head in sight. The bands was in for the same treat. Singalongs, mosh pitting, dancing, cheering from the first chord to the last. Rancid, Asta Kask, Street Dogs and Anti Flag pointed out that. The Swedish Punk veteran Alonzo took a photo of us in the crowd because he wanted to keep this moment in his photo book. Over all everyone was in a good mood, helping each other up when someone tripped in the sometimes rather wild mosh pits.


The Bands

Gatans Lag  
and Dystra Li

Both bands opened the festival in a tent each. The Oi! Skinhead band Gatans Lag didn´t take any prisoners. It was full aggression from the first chord. And the crowd was there. Dystra Li did show some hesitation. Maybe because their tent was much less attended then Gatans Lag´s. The playing time for all bands was rather tight so why waste it on doubts and “excuse us mentality” like Dystra Li did, The only disappointment this day. I ran back to Gatans Lag´s stage again to catch the last of it. Gatans Lag proved that their best song was "Skalla, sparka sluta aldrig slå". Not only because the Lyrics is venting some serious anger against the middle class that modern society is designed to please, the tune is catchy as well. This is the working class town of Gothenburg, welcome!

Asta Kask opening the main stage, Photo talen from Micke Blomqvist´s facebook

Asta Kask

Swedish punk legends Asta Kast got the honour to open at the main stage. It was as usual full throttle from the start. It took them only three chords to have me in the mosh pit. I am close to my 50ies now, beer bellied and with a strong refusal to both play Golf, get a Labrador or got to the gym. This was my exercise.
Best song? All of them, it´s hard to choose one.
The sound wasn’t perfect but fair enough. And Asta proved them self again, they are NOT any lame ass punk revival band, they got the punk in the blood and their hearts beating as fast as their drums.

Street Dogs

I was prepared to be a bit disappointed in Street Dogs after seeing them doing one of the best shows I ever seen, in Stockholm a few week ago. But I wasn´t let down. The Massachusetts lads showed that they master the fine art of Punk Rock. Best song? “Tobey´s got a drinking problem”, but all of they were as good. Rancid might be better because better tunes, but Street Dogs are terribly hard working leaving nothing to ask for.

Beer pause and some bands I didn’t cared for too much about.

After that I was onto a serious beer pause. A chat with both new found friends and some Stockholm people that’s in the Stockholm scene. Mr Kjell Hell, one of Sweden´s best punk bloggers told me sad news, that he didn´t update his blog any more. To bad.

In the background I hear Anti Flag, The sound is good, but they doesn´t have as good songs at the opening bands. I catch a bit of the end of their set and saw they were working as hard as the rest of the bands. And some thought they were great. I wasn´t expecting to much so there wasn´t any disappointment. The same goes for some of the other bands that I wasn´t too interested in or impressed by. And some bands was missed because they was playing at the same time as someone else. Gallows I should have seen, however, but you can´t have it all, can you?

Beer, sunlight, more beer, chatting, saying hello, just feeling fine I the heat. This is all what a vacation should be like.

Alonzo & fas 3

Next band was Alonzo & fas 3, the punk veteran Micke Alonzo was a singer in classic Swedish bands like KSMB and Stockholms Negrer, Micke´s vocals dominated the set or should I write his punk,top of the lung screaming. At the same time Against me played with The Boss, Bruce Springsteen and the E street Band in the audience. The Boss then stayed to watch Rancid´s excellent performance. At facebook, I later noticed, The Boss and Alonzo had a chat. About what? How to yell as a madman onstage? I´ll ask him next time I meet Micke.

Micke Alonzo entered the stage with barly any voice telling us to help him sing his songs. That he didn´t had to ask twice. Then the 50+ gentleman started to scream his lung out in a way that could scare even the most hardcore growler. The band seems a bit shellshocked at first and didn´t match the aggression Micke poured on stage. But they catched up and found themself and did a decent job in the end. OK, it was not like KSMB or Stockholms Negrer was back in the days. But fair enough. The new songs that I wasn´t too fond of on record, was excellent live. Best song? Tonight it was Atom Reggae, even if almost all his songs are a part of our proud Swedish punk history.

Picture taken from Rancids Facebook


Rancid

Then there was an end of a long wait. Not only that Rancid havn´t been here for ten years, and as one punk at the festival put it, the band we been following and liked for a long time but havn´t seen live. Also a long wait for the concert we were all there for. To be honest, this wasn´t a festival, it was a Rancid concert with a long list of great support acts. Almost all I spoke to was there for Rancid.

And then we met God. Divided into four entities
Tim, minus his iconc hat with his skull tattoo on display (shaved head) and a beard that made him look like he gonna join ZZ Top. Lars, with his new skin head look and with his constant pissed off look. Even when he expressed apreachiations he looked like he really ment to smash our faces in. Matt, the man who looks like he came directly out of the bowling alley, who´s fingers out speed most bass players around. And in the back Branden that took over Brett role in the band in an excellent way.


The four of them, with their different stage presents melt together to one big punk love that includes the crowd. I got the feeling that the security barriers annoys the band. Tim tries several times to build a bridge over it. And in the end they call up a guy from the front row to sing a song with them. Tim Armstrong just played his Gretch and let the boy sing it. Possible the moment of his life.


Me, the rest of the crowd, including Bruce Springsteen, the Swedish punk legends was in it for a holy moment. There was something beyond the music, their world class tunes that got me. I was in the mosh pit and singing along for the most part of the nearly two hours show. But there was something extra added to it just see them live, feel their mental enery. With the risk to sound like a hippy (like if I cared?), this was just what I in my wildest dream wished for but wasn´t expecting. How could I doubt in God? Best song? Well, I repeat myself here. All of them. but there was one line that refused to leave me after. “When I got the music, I got a place to go” from the Let´s Go CD. I looked at the face of God realizing that Tim not just sang it, he delivered the ultimate truth. The God incarnated in the bodies and music of Tim, Lars, Matt and Branden.


Turbonegro

After I was struck of a feeling of fulfillment, perfection and emptiness. Deadly tired, the beer was sold out, so a glass of wine had to do. Then one look into the tent where Turbonegro was up next as the closing band. a most unpleasant task if you ask me, was enough. Then I was on it a gain, when I got the music I got a place to go. The Turbojugend logo, the leather cap in Neon as a backdrop just made me wanna go and see them. The new singer that was to replace the egocentric Hank von Helvete, did an excellent job. Not as crazy and unpredictable as the good old Hank. But with a certain edge in the voice that was refreshing. Initially the sound was very good, at the end it was just loud. "All my friends are dead was the best song". The Turbo´s did steer the ship to the destination. They managed to do the impossible to match Rancid´s holy punk quest. If Rancid was the Light, Turbonegro brought us back to hell where you give them worms.

Finally

I was in heaven in a field hotter than hell. I saw the light it was great.

Worth the money? What a question! Just Rancid been worth the travel, the room, the expenses and the ticket of the ca 80 Euros. And I got all the other bands as well.