Up until fairly recently, music-lovers in the Atlanta area had to pack up their campers and travel to Georgia’s neighboring states to see their favorite bands all together on one turf. But since the revival of Music Midtown in 2011, Atlanta has played host to dozens of other music festivals catering to a wide-reaching span of genres. At this, the hip-hop, EDM, country, pop, and rock lovers in Georgia’s biggest metropolitan city said “Thank you.”
Not to be outdone by their more civilized musical counterparts, Wrecking Ball Music Festival came into fruition…turns out Atlanta’s hardcore underground community was feeling a little under-represented. Cue the Masquerade, one of Atlanta’s trademark venues, which is conveniently celebrating their 25th anniversary this year (with most of the lineup nearing that milestone as well). What better place to raise hell than on a stage with the same name? Sixty of punk’s most raucous bands will perform on the Masquerade’s other aptly named stages Heaven and Purgatory, as well as their outdoor venue Masquerade Music Park, starting August 8th. If that’s not enough to tempt you, it’s important to note that this may be your last chance to get your mosh on (always particularly stressful in Heaven when you feel like the floorboards could collapse at any moment) at this iconic venue – looks like Masquerade will soon be demolished to make way for apartments and corporate offices. Looks like The Man won this round, punkers.
Wrecking Ball boasts an unprecedented lineup that will satisfy even the most angsty fans, ranging from the grand artistic scope of Coheed and Cambria to the highly-anticipated abrasive stylings of Conor Oberst’s Desaparecidos. The most exciting part of Wrecking Ball’s lineup is their focus on bands who either haven’t played in Atlanta recently or who haven’t been playing at all in quite some time. The Descendents, one of punk’s most significant and influential bands, will be returning to Atlanta after a near two-decade hiatus. Then there will be reunion shows of both American Nightmare and Get Up Kids to conjure up late 90’s/early 2000’s nostalgia in the crowd.
But if you’re looking for something a little more contemporary, Wrecking Ball has you covered. Chumped and Atlanta’s own Coathangers will make an appearance, among many others. Who says punk is dead?
Wrecking Ball will kick off with a Punk Rock Karaoke Night on Friday, August 7th with all-star guests like Greg Hetson of Bad Religion and Derek O’Brien from Social Distortion to name a few. Don’t miss out on the anarchy; you can still get your tickets here.
Margot is currently a rising senior at the University of Georgia in Athens where she is pursuing a degree in English, and eventually hopes to work as a writer in business or journalism. As you can probably guess due to her major, Margot loves to read all the books she can get her hands on. She enjoys enthusiastically discussing with anyone who will listen (usually just her dog) about her love/writer's envy for Hemingway, Vonnegut, and Orwell. **CAUTION: wine makes this worse. She also enjoys scouring record shops to find all her favorite oldies band’s records, with “Eat A Peach” by the Allman Brothers and Paul Simon’s self-titled album being her most triumphant finds. Although her favorite bands are mostly disbanded or too old to play, she still enjoys seeing the live shows of contemporary bands and Athens is definitely the place to be for that.