The Wrecking Ball ATL: Day 2 Recap

Photos by Nathan Riehl.

This past weekend (August 8-9) I attended the first-ever Wrecking Ball, a punk, hardcore, and emo festival held at one of the Southeast’s most reputable venues, The Masquerade in Downtown Atlanta. Here I am, two days later, after a total of 16 hours of driving and a hardly attached head from so much head banging still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I saw so many once-in-a-lifetime bands alongside some of my favorite hardcore and emo acts.

Full from Chipotle burrito bowls (buy one get one!) and coffee, we mustered the energy to go all out for Day 2. You can read my recap of Day 1 here.

The heat had not subsided in any way, but that didn’t stop us from getting to the Music Park field early to watch grunge-gaze (I just made that up) PA natives Superheaven. I was a little taken aback when the bass player put on a heavy-looking flannel after setting up in the scorching heat, but to each their own. Maybe there was A/C on stage (there totally wasn’t). The band played mostly material from their latest Ours Is Chrome, and the hardest hitting tracks from their debut Jar. Guitarist Taylor Madison entertained the crowd between songs with his light hearted witty banter before moving into each fuzz-ridden song. I admittedly hadn’t listened to Our Is Chrome enough beforehand to recognize the songs, but the band did close out with “Life In a Jar,” which had every head in the crowd bouncing.

Superheaven indeed killed it, but as soon as they finished I quickly refilled my water bottle and made my way to Heaven for one of the bands I was most excited to see— Sargent House three-piece Mutoid Man. A supergroup of sorts, the band consists of Stephen Brodsky of Cave In on guitar and vocals, Ben Koller of Converge on drums, and Nick Cageo on bass. They opened with “Bridgeburner,” the first track from their newest album Bleeder and proceeded to play most of the best songs from the new album, and a few songs from their first release Helium Head. The most impressive part of the set was when the drummers crash cymbal stand started to give, so they removed the crash cymbal for “Scrape The Walls,” and he didn’t miss a single beat. The stage crew scrambled to find a new stand and the band crushed the last song of the set “Gnarcissist.”

Emo twinkle daddies You Blew It! were next downstairs. The room was already full when I arrived, the most people I’ve ever seen for one of my favorite Florida bands. It’s weird- nearly every time I’ve seen You Blew It! in Orlando, their hometown, the shows were no where near as popped off as this set was. Front man Tanner Brown even stopped to make a comment when the lights came up: “Holy shit there are a lot of people in here.” The set consisted of material across their whole discography, the songs from their first LP Grow Up, Dude being the biggest crowd killers. I was extremely excited to hear “Lanai” for the first time, a track from their three song EP Pioneers of Nothing put out through Jade Tree earlier this year. This band is getting big, and fast— they recently returned from a tour with Coheed and Cambria, and recently announced a tour with The Wonder Years and Motion City Soundtrack. Big names indeed for a band I saw play shows in Park Ave CDs in Orlando. I’m excited to see what other things You Blew It! has up their sleeves in the coming months.

The room emptied swiftly for the Foundation set that was next upstairs. Implied by their name, Foundation has been a staple in the hardcore community in recent years, and their Wrecking Ball sets were some of their last before the band calls it quits. Regrettably the room reached capacity rather quickly and a fire marshal was on the scene letting people in as people came out of Heaven, which basically meant we weren’t going to see Foundation. Fair enough, scheduling conflicts are to be expected at a festival this awesome, and we were seeing Glassjaw next anyway. Yep, Glassjaw is playing shows again. Wrecking Ball ATL was a dream come true.

As soon as the Foundation show ended and Heaven cleared a little bit, we headed upstairs to claim a spot for the nearing Glassjaw set. You could just feel the anticipation in the room. Many fans, including myself, were too young to see the legendary post-hardcore band in their prime years, so it was many attendees’ first time seeing them. As soon as the snare was being sound checked, I knew this set was going to be one I’d never forget. I always knew the rhythm section of Glassjaw was one of the best in the business, but it didn’t really hit me until I heard the tom rhythm of “Mu Empire” kick in. The snare hit was so sharp you could almost feel the air in the room being displaced with every hit. Besides a having to restart “Ape Dos Mil,” the band played a flawless set that would have you think they never took a break. The last song of the set “Two Tabs of Mescaline” was played, Daryl Palumbo gave a “Thanks, Bye” and a thumbs up, and just like that one of the best sets I’ve ever witnessed was over, I can’t even imagine what seeing them was like in their prime. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.

By this point I was starving and had to leave the venue to go get some grub. Because of this, I missed the Thrice set. Admittedly though, I never cared for Thrice as much as most people did. Maybe now that they’re back from their three year hiatus playing shows again, maybe there will be a new album, and maybe I’ll dive in. Sorry not sorry.

Next to last was Conor Oberst’s emo project; this one being Desaparecidos specifically. Let’s be honest, all of his projects are more or less “expressive” in nature. And this set was nothing short of that. From a stylistic standpoint, Oberst arguably created the “hipster” culture. During the set he was wearing black and white bandanas over his knees, which, in the instance of anyone else, would make some scratch their heads. Maybe he had holes in his pants, maybe he was displaying his gang affiliation, or maybe he just didn’t give a f#$%. Most likely the last. The set consisted of mostly tracks from Desaparecidos’ latest Payola, which debuted in June of this year. Guitar effect swells and jokes from Oberst filled the space between songs. The weird thing about this festival was the fact that no one seemed to really know if The Masquerade was actually being torn down (it’s not); even Oberst made it a point to address the rumor during the set “…because condos are cool right?”. The band closed out with “Greater Omaha” from 2002’s Read Music/Speak Spanish.

I was able to catch a few minutes of highly influential hardcore band Give Up The Ghost’s (they were going by their original name American Nightmare for this festival) in Heaven. I wasn’t able to get anywhere near the front of the room for a better view, but I could tell that the pit was one to be reckoned with given the chaotic rhythms and heavy breakdowns. The venue staff and bouncers could hardly handle the crowdsurfers and stage divers; as they grabbed one two more fell on top of their heads. It was kind of funny to watch. I wanted to at least say I saw a little bit of American Nightmare, given that they hardly play shows anymore. We cut out early, because one of my favorite bands Coheed and Cambria was starting out on the Music Park and I could hardly contain my excitement.

The band opened with the title track from their second album In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, which any Coheed fan (dubbed “Child of the Fence”) goes batshit crazy for, myself included. There wasn’t an extended jam in the song this time, which was a little upsetting, but I understood they were crunched for time sticking to the festival schedule. I was surprised to hear “Devil in Jersey City” next; everytime I’ve seen Coheed they’ve never played anything from their first album. There was quite a bit of Second Stage Turbine Blade that was played, and I couldn’t have been happier. The band recently announced their eighth studio album The Color Before The Sun, which I was eager to hear more material from outside of the single “You Got Spirit, Kid”. Honestly, I wasn’t feeling this track when they debuted it—it wasn’t the Coheed I was used to—but that indeed changed after hearing it live. Drummer Josh Eppard totally powers through this song live, and you can feel it, especially at the “Nobody gives a fuck who you are” part of the chorus. The rest of the set consisted of the aforementioned Second Stage Turbine Blade songs, “Here We Are Juggernaut” from Year of the Black Rainbow, some more from In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, and of course, “Welcome Home,” which the band totally annihilated. I was severely hoping for an encore, but alas it was 10:00pm and the festival was over.

We left feeling a little sad that two of the best days of our lives had ended, a little optimistic about a Wrecking Ball 2016 festival knowing that the venue wasn’t going anywhere, and overall totally satisfied with the lineup and the bands that we were able to see. It was an unforgettable weekend that I won’t soon forget, and can’t thank The Masquerade enough for putting together such a fantastic event.