Alles Kapot Fest Day 1

Oh, right, Crossbonefest... What happened?

The next day we arranged all the last things super last-minute. Pïcked up House Boat from the airport and everything was going wrong, so that sucked.
Anyway, definitely not everything went swell, but let's just keep the positive things in mind.

The Waiting Game started the fest. I didn't see 'em due to getting our shit over to Hengelhoef, where me and some friends and a bunch of other punx were staying. Karel Anker & De Joden cancelled last minute, bummer cause I was pretty stoked on seeing them.
The Dutch Rudders are a good band but often lousy/lazy when it comes to their live-shows. I remember hanging out with someone, hearing LJD and just saying "sorry gal, gotta go dance". Good tunes, sloppy performance, but not too bad so it was still enjoyable. It's almost become part of their shtick, haha. I'm excited for the new stuff.

Saw a couple of VVovnds songs and I really like to see them play cause they're very good, intense and a pleasure to watch, but after a couple songs I favoured meeting old and new friends and hanging out. This happened quite a lot throughout the festival actually. I love all my friends from the punkrock/hardcore scene and this is one of the occasions I see them all again. It's so much fun.
My brother, who's not into punkrock or hardcore, even came down to take some photographs, and the first thing he saw was Prince Beastly, a synth-driven garage power pop sorta band, with members of the Priceduifkes and XTuningX. All dressed up in animal and fruit costumes, this must've been quite a surprise for most people. Besides the gimmicky stuff, nothing to groundbreaking, but music-wise it was fun. I love it when Ferre plays synth and it really added a lot to the show.

Cheap Drugs destroyed it, and the audience destroyed stuff as well. One dude's shoulder got wrecked, which was a shame. But it was really awesome. Love the band, the songs, the attitude. Their mix of slow stomping riffs and fast 80s riffs really get a crowd going.
As for Arms Aloft, I loved it. Even more than the Leuven show 2 weeks ago. They played tight, things started getting wild and loose... until the electricity failed for about 10 minutes. Bummer, but the last few songs they played after that were just as fun as the ones before. I fell drunk in love with their bass player later that night and promised I'd go to Minneapolis. Also bought a Sawdust City tape and an old D4/TTK/Rivethead dvd cause I was stoked about seeing Rivethead live footage. Great band. Both Arms Aloft and Rivethead.

Didn't see We'rewolves. Not too big on 'em either way.
I have no idea what songs Mikey Erg played except for the obvious ones, but it was a fun show. Did he play Hey Jealousy? I don't know, I really hope he did though. The last song was Books..., obviously, I actually remembered that cause Mikey was crowdsurfing during that song. I think. God knows. Maybe he covered My Life Hurts? I have no fucking clue. Shit.

The songs I saw by Your Highness ruled of course, probably the loudest and most impressively talented band on the fest. They're not a punkrock or hardcore band so that might explain why they're actually good at what they do. Anyway more hangs and stuff ensued. I went on and off between hanging out and drinking and watching the band when Cornflames and Scheisse Minelli played, partly due to being tired and wanting to talk to people.

I did see Gnarwolves. Let me rephrase that. I experienced Gnarwolves. FUCK. I have no idea what happened, but in my mind, as far as I remember, this was the second-wildest crowd response of the whole fest. People went apeshit over this band, rightfully so of course. Gnarwolves are one of those bands that, to me, are doing something radically particular. They've developed a style that is incomparably comparable and it works. Shouty, fast songs, rough around the edges. With an attitude to party and get wild they got an insane crowd reaction and I was so happy to shout along with the punk cru.

As an afterparty band, Crossbonefest hired Off The Charts in a slightly different formation, so vocalist Nicolas could run around with the mic during their set of 90s punk rock classics. I remember Hot Water Music, Osker, Bad Religion, Good Charlotte for fuck's sake, and there was lots more that I may or may not have danced/sang along to. Fun way to end the night.

Wait, did I say "end the night"? I'm sorry, I meant start the night. Dick Cockadvices and Gert-Jan Braes took care of the afterparty jams and I managed to party til I died, or at least til me and 10-ish other party animals were sent home around 5:30. Slept like an angel for 3 or 4 hours.
Went swimming instead of taking a shower. Started drinking again. Went back to the swimming pool for the punx swim. Met up with my girlfriend who came down and continued drinking.

Ready to go.