If you like spending a weekend camping, dancing around in the mud, and moshing to some of the best punk bands in the scene, then Camp Anarchy is the destination for you. It’s a 3 day punk music festival near Columbus, OH. People from all over the world came to camp out for the weekend. The festival featured some big names in the punk world; The Offspring, NOFX, Bad Religion, Rancid, as well as many others.
Day one saw a great start to the weekend. It had rained earlier in the day which caused the pit to become a mud bath. It was so cool to watch the moshers embrace and enjoy it; you’d see people walk out of the pit covered in mud. The lineup for the day was: La Armada, Death by Stereo, Strung Out, Sick of it All, Fear, X, with The Offspring headlining the evening.
I have to give it up to Fear and specifically Lee Ving; that guy is still killing it after decades of performing. I honestly believe he’ll be doing this until the day he dies. It was so cool to see him still get amped up about his music after all these years. Having grown up a fan of The Offspring, I was really excited to be able to see and photograph them live. While their performance wasn’t the best I’ve seen, it was still really enjoyable. They gave it their all and seemed to enjoy being there, which is all anyone can ask for.
Day two featured a damn good lineup; the day started off with Voodoo Glow Skulls, followed by A Wilhelm Scream, Sucide Machines, Off!, The Damned, Suicidal Tendencies, Pennywise, and finally headlining the evening was Rancid. When I began writing this article I was going to shout-out the stand out performances of each day, but Day 2 was fantastic from start to finish; I would be droning on if I raved about each set of the day. I will, however, single out The Damned. Jesus Christ these guys are so good. For being in their 60s, these punk legends put on a killer show; I think it’s safe to say they were my favorite set of the whole weekend.
Day 3, the final day, was here. It was another stacked line-up. In the early afternoon we saw Spanish Love Songs, The Bombpops, Iron Chic, The Bronx, TSOL, Less Than Jake, Bad Religion, and NOFX closing down the whole weekend.
While all the bands on Day 3 were great, I particularly enjoyed The Bombpops, The Bronx, Less Than Jake, and NOFX. Less Than Jake was definitely my favorite performance of the day. Not only did I get a fist-bump from bassist Roger Lima, the entire band had an amazing energy about them. From the first to the last song, it was a party. They singled out a dude from the crowd that got to go on stage with them and dance to a song. They also grabbed leaf blowers with toilet paper attached to the end and blew it out into the crowd.
If you felt you needed a break from the music, the camp had tons of other activities for the attendees. There was a craft beer tasting section where breweries from all over were giving out samples of their selections; shoutout to Ace’s Cider. Right outside the beer tasting area featured a life-size version of beer pong and cornhole. There was also a dodgeball arena where you could form teams and compete in a tournament. It was also a blast to just sit back and watch the festival-goers; there were people from all walks of life out. Sure you had your stereotypical punks, but people created some interesting and memorable costumes to wear. The best part was no one judged anyone else, anyone could wear anything and people would comment how cool it was.
Watch for the return of the festival again in 2020!
