May 11

May 11 Show Review: Punk In Drublic Festival Brings Craft Beer and Great Punk Rock Music to Sacramento

NOFX’s Punk In Drublic Festival
w/ NOFX, Pennywise, Face To Face, T.S.O.L., The Bombpops, Get Dead, Knocked Down
Heart Health Park
Sacramento, CA
May 7th, 2022

Photos and Review by Jared Stossel

As someone who spent nearly a decade attending the Vans Warped Tour every summer, nothing signifies the beginning of the season for me like an outdoor punk rock music festival. While NOFX’s Punk in Drublic Festival isn’t on the same scale (one stage rather than seven), the concept is still similar: a day out in the sun filled with great music, craft beer tastings, and good times.

We covered the festival once before when it came to Concord in 2017 with the four-piece punk act, who rounded out a lineup that featured the likes of Bad Religion and Strung Out. The festival was a lot of fun then, and it’s still a great time now. The gates opened around noon, when fans could walk around the festival grounds and sample a large number of craft beers from various breweries that were in attendance that day, with the music itself kicking off at 1:45 PM.

Knocked Down, a melodic punk act from Stockton, kicked things off with a fun opening set. It provided exactly the right atmosphere as people began to filter away from the craft beer tents and towards the stage. San Francisco’s Get Dead followed with an exemplary set, in my opinion even better than their last Punk In Drublic performance in 2017. Get Dead’s set was followed by The Bombpops, an excellent punk rock act from San Diego kicked things up a notch, with a fierce brand of fast-moving pop punk that got the crowd moving. The Bombpops will also be on the European dates of the Punk In Drublic tour, so show up early and check them out if you get a chance.

Originally, The Bouncing Souls were supposed to perform at this year’s festival but had to drop off. For whatever reason, I hadn’t seen the flyer with the updated lineup, so it was to my surprise that I witness legendary punk act T.S.O.L. take the stage. I had never seen T.S.O.L. before, and they were simply awesome. Vocalist Jack Grisham is an engaging and lively front man, and his stage presence only further accentuated the power of the hardcore punk act’s music. They’re a hard act to follow, but Face to Face kicked the energy up even further with one of the best performances of the day. It was impossible not to sing along as they played through a pitch-perfect set list.

Pennywise put on one of the most chaotic and electrifying sets of the day. Much like T.S.O.L., they are a band that prove why they’ve been able to succeed and perform to packed crowds for so many years. Crowdsurfers fly over the barricade, drinks fly through the air, Fletcher Dragge’s wall of amplifiers and guitar tone could envy that of any metal act out there. Witnessing the performance of “Bro Hymn” is practically a rite of passage if you attend punk shows long enough; there’s nothing like it.

Closer to 9 PM, NOFX take the stage for a fast-paced, humor filled punk rock set. While the band may perform as a tight unit, it’s a very loose atmosphere on stage. The band joke with the audience and with each other, journeying through a collection of songs that have become staples in the band’s catalogue over the last several decades like “Franco Un-American”, “The Brews”, and “72 Hookers”. I was thrilled to finally see “The Separation of Church and Skate”, one of my all-time favorite NOFX songs, played live. For a band that often talk about how bad they think they are (even going as far as to name their live albums I Heard They Suck Live!! And They’ve Actually Gotten Worse Live!), it feels like NOFX have really hit their stride as a live unit. After a couple of false starts, NOFX brought Punk In Drublic 2022 to a close with “Don’t Call Me White”, a track from the album of the festival’s namesake. I really do hope they keep running with this festival. There’s still a lot of punk bands out there to hear, and a lot more beer to be consumed. Until then, cheers.

Punk In Drublic Festival will head overseas to Europe this month, before coming to Cleveland, OH’s Jacobs Pavilion on July 8th, Detroit, MI’s Masonic Temple Outdoors on July 9th and Greenwood Village, CO’s Fiddler’s Green on August 20th. Click here to find out more information surrounding ticketing information and lineups.

NOFX Set List
Backstage Passport
Day To Daze
Bob
Perfect Government (Mark Curry cover)
Murder The Government
The Brews
72 Hookers
Idiots Are Taking Over
Eat The Meek
Six Years on Dope
The Quitter
Leaving Jesusland
I Love You More Than I Hate Me
Seeing Double at the Triple Rock
Falling In Love
Dinosaurs Will Die
Franco Un-American
The Separation of Church and Skate
Whoops, I OD’d
Kill All The White Man
Don’t Call Me White