- Show Reviews
- Asbury Park Skate & Surf Fest
w/ DESCENDENTS / BOUNCING SOULS / FACE TO FACE / many more...
April 21, 2002
Convention Hall - Asbury Park, NJ
This was the last day of the three-day-long festival in Asbury Park, and I would say it was the best day. The bands that played on the 4 stages included: Descendents, Face to Face, Bouncing Souls, Alkaline Trio, The Movielife, Element 101, Coheed and Cambria, and a shitload more.
I went up to this show all by myself, a 3 1/2 hour drive from my house mind you. I was hoping to meet up with my friend Amy once i got there, but that didnt end up happening so I had myself to keep me company the whole day. It was cold and rainy all day and of course I had dressed for hot weather, so I was freezing. Element 101 played outside on this little ghetto stage in the sprinkling rain, but it was all good cause they fucking rock hard. I kept running back and forth from my car to the convention hall b/c I could, which was really cool, it wasnt like any other concert where you couldn't re-enter and shit. They had a stage and a bunch of merch booths set up in the main hall where you walk in, but the sound was really bad because of the reverberations off the wall. I was ok cause no good bands played in there anyways, haha. There was another stage in the old Paramount theatre, but I didn't stay in there for more than 5 minutes. And the main stage was in the acutal convention hall, which was pretty huge. I think The Boss played there a few times, infact. The entire place looked so ancient though, like it had previouslly been abandoned for years before the show. Not to mention how fucking deserted Asbury Park was altogether, it was very eerie. But for that one day, it was the coolest place ever.
Alk 3 was great, the drummer is fucking brillant I must say, very good chops and improvs, a definate inspiration for me. The Souls were cool as usual, and gave shout outs to K8 is Great and their other friends from the area. During Face 2 Face I was standing 5 feet away from Crissie Verhagen from E 101, she is so hot.... oh my god i almost jumped her right there. But instead I just stood back and stared at her everytime she wasnt looking in my direction. Then her boyfriend came up and they left. And it was only after I saw E 101 in Philadelphia that I found out her boyfriend is non other than Jason Gleason from Further Seems Forever, so I felt bad about wanting to bone his girl all day long, haha. The Descendents took awhile getting on the stage and played their whole set with the house lights. I thought they did that because something was wrong with the electricity, but I found out the real reason is because they don't like sending out a rock star attitude when they're on stage. They sounded great, but the crowd was god awful, and everyone just stood there the whole time, which pissed the shit out of me cause I was ALL ready for a good moshing. I figure most of the kids had never heard them before and just thought they should be there to experience them. I did however run into a few people in the pit that were hardcore fans, one guy said to me, "Dude, they are the greatest band ever" and I totally agreed with him.
I picked up some nice E101 and Descendents attire though, spending less than I had anticipated, which is good cause I needed it all for other costs, like the $15 on tolls for one thing. Driving home was lame, and I was so tired I had to pull off on the NJ turn pike to rest cause I would have fell asleep at the wheel. So I layed in the car for 30 mins, then realized I didn't want to wake up there the next morning, got up, beared through the next 50+ miles, and got home round 4:30am. It was a big ass trip, especially by myself, but it was fucking incredible, and the Skate & Surf Fest will definatlly be on my yearly agenda from now on.
DESCENDENTS SETLIST:
Descendents
Hope
Sour Grapes
Coffee Mug
Clean Sheets
Pervert
Blast Off (NEW SONG !)
I Wanna Be a Bear
I'm the One
My Dad Sux
Van
Get the Time
Myage
All-O-Gistics
Talking ( ?? )
Suburban Home
I Like Food
Enjoy / Knocked ( NEW SONG !)
Silly Girl
I Don't Wann Grow Up
Rotting Out
Weinerschnitzel
Bikeage
Everything Sux
