The End of Masquerades : Wrecking Ball ATL
Wrecking Ball 2016: Purgatory, PBR, and Punk Rock Milo
By Sarah Kelley
The infamous and soon-to-be destroyed Masquerade held its second annual music festival, Wrecking Ball, on August 13 and 14. After an impressive lineup in 2015, celebrating The Masquerade’s 25th year, the event this year boasted headliners like Dinosaur Jr., L7, Quicksand, Drive Like Jehu, and Thursday. This year also included a stop from Motion City Soundtrack on their farewell tour (RIP my emo middle school heart), a reunion from hardcore band American Nightmare, and a rare performance from Gorilla Biscuits. The event also showcased those classic punk bands that I’m pretty sure are always on tour, like Joyce Manor, Tigers Jaw, and The Menzingers. Here are my highlights from the very sweaty weekend:
Highlights:
Culture Abuse:Notable moment: The frontman’s “if you get a chance, kill a cop” rant.I was pretty impressed by my first time seeing Culture Abuse, which seemingly embodies all aspects of a quintessential punk show. The prime example of this was seeing the frontman shotgun a beer literally two minutes before going onstage.Lemuria: 
Notable moment: Seeing frontwoman Sheena’s guitar case plastered with an enormous picture of Leonardo Dicaprio's face on it.Ok, called me biased but this Brooklyn based band can do no wrong. With a dreamy vocalist and constant sick guitar riffs, I will forever be Lemuria’s #1 fan. They always end up playing shows in hardcore lineups, which isn’t really their aesthetic, but for real check them out and thank me later.
Jeff Rosenstock: 
Notable moment: Jeff throwing a Minions pinata into the crowd, and Chris Farren’s white pants.The former front man of Bomb the Music Industry! always manages to put on a sick show. Rosenstock is the epitome of DIY punk with those fundamental “screw corporate culture” ideals that I do so enjoy. Chris Farren also joined along in singing “Nausea” off the album “We Cool?”American Nightmare:
Notable moment: I kid you not, I saw an 8 year old crowd surf this show.Revoke any street cred I’ve ever managed to collect, because that was perhaps the most insane moment of my entire life. I don’t know what’s more impressive, American Nightmare’s set, or the fact that some dad allowed his kid to do that.Punk Rock Milo:Notable moment: Caressing his floppy head in my armsThe Most Adorable Corgi In Atlanta made an appearance during the weekend!! Let me tell you what, he did NOT disappoint. Perhaps the most photogenic pupper in the universe, Milo was able to rack in 1K in donations to Paws Atlanta with every picture he took. I love his pure and noble heart.Overall, I can’t complain about Atlanta’s version of Gainesville’s The Fest. The bands didn’t disappoint, there weren’t too many scary crust punks, I got to listen to some sick music, and there was a cute dog. A weekend well-spent.
Listen here to WMRE’s Wrecking Ball playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/user/1298311850/playlist/4fV6lAp50mvjFN6TRkwIil
Wrecking Ball Art Review
Check out this awesome Art Review by Greta Goldbart.Greta Goldbart is a junior in the college and WMRE DJ, she represented us at Wrecking Ball and created a physical/digital zine to illustrate her experience seeing various acts.[embed]http://wmre.fm/zine/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Greta-Goldbart-Zine_Art-Review-WMRE-DJ-college-Junior.pdf[/embed]