But while it's fantastic to see so many punks of all ages from all parts of the world, the true beauty of Punk Rock Bowling is that they get punk rock in all its wild and varied forms. With over 120 bands playing, the festival takes in everything from the doom-laden apocalypse of Killing Joke to the sing-a-long strut of The Hives -- and all points in between -- and it's as much of a joy discovering new bands as it is to see the legends. There are no stupid punk rules here, because there are no stupid punk rules.
The only downer is that with overlapping gigs, it's impossible to see all the bands, and you're forced to make some seriously difficult choices -- not to mention trying to stay sober enough that you actually remember all those choices. So... the highlights.
Things kick off with a free gig from TSOL at the Double Down Saloon on Thursday, but it's so rammed that there's a one out-one in policy. Instead, festivities truly begin on Friday at the aforementioned Killing Joke show, which, alas, means missing Pennywise, Sick Of It All, Infa Riot and more, but is nonetheless magnificent, leaning mostly on their self-titled debut of 1980. Granted, their main support, Flipper, with Jesus Lizard's David Yow on vocals, isn’t what anyone is here for, but Alternative Tentacles-signed World/Inferno Friendship Society are all manner of mental, an eight-piece jazz/soul/punk thing with songs like Zen And The Art Of Breaking Everything In This Room.