Punk Rock Bowling and Music Festival is easily the most unique music festival to hit downtown Las Vegas, and this year’s lineup just keeps getting better and better. To kick off the new year, the festival announced additions to the 2018 lineup for PRB! For the FIRST TIME EVER in the history of Punk Rock Bowling, X, Suicidal Tendencies, and the Svetlanas will be performing at the festival! X is one of the indisputable trailblazers and innovators of the first wave of LA punk bands. After 40 years of dedication to the punk rock scene, it’s been long overdue that they make their PRB debut! Joining the fray, PRB is excited to welcome Suicidal Tendencies who’ll perform their “Cyco Punk Set” along with all the classics! The final addition to the already impressive lineup and hailing from Russia is the Svetlanas!
The twentieth Punk Rock Bowling and Music Festival will take place from Friday, May 25th through Monday, May 28th at Downtown Las Vegas Event Center. VIP tickets are sold out, but three-day passes are still available! Visit PunkRockBowling.com for complete ticketing details and payment options. Check out the full lineup below!
For the past 20 years, no music festival has carved out as distinct a niche as Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival. Started in 1999 by Shawn and Mark Stern, the brothers behind BYO Records, as well as founding members of the legendary Los Angeles punk band Youth Brigade, Punk Rock Bowling is one of the few events where the music is just as important as camaraderie—and a little friendly competition. And for its 20th anniversary celebration, Punk Rock Bowling is going for broke.
“We never even thought about it going two years,” says Mark Stern about the festival’s longevity. “We just set up a party for all our friends in bands and labels, and since everyone had such a great time the first year, more people wanted to come out, so we did it again next year.” That spirit has been carried into each year of Punk Rock Bowling, and the 2018 iteration, which takes place in Las Vegas from May 25-28, shows that it’ll be bigger, better, and a bit more eccentric than years past. Starting on Friday, May 25th, Punk Rock Bowling kicks off the weekend with intimate late night club shows that also run all weekend long after the festival stage lets out which runs Sat. May 26th through Monday May 28th.
But what would Punk Rock Bowling be without its adopted sport of choice? In addition to all the bands, there will be an amateur bowling tournament with over 800 participants on Saturday, May 26th, offering a series of cash prizes and other assorted goodies before the finals on Sunday, May 27th. And if bowling isn’t your thing, on Friday, May 25th, there will be a winner-take-all Texas Hold ‘em poker tournament at the Golden Nugget. Never mind the fact there will be pool parties, free comedy shows, punk rock movie screenings, and punk rock lounge acts all scattered throughout the four-day weekend. “I think a lot of the reason that it has continued to grow is because it’s a lot different from a normal festival,” says Mark. “Plus, it’s in Vegas, where there is no curfew. So it just never ends if you don’t want it to.”
The 20th anniversary of Punk Rock Bowling will feature a who’s who of punk bands from all eras of the genre’s storied history. Headlining this year will be Chicago’s Rise Against, a band that’s taken melodic hardcore to new heights with every one of their albums. This is the band’s first time at Punk Rock Bowling, but they’re not the only band new to the festival. In 2018, a an entire wave of first-timers will be taking the stage at Punk Rock Bowling, with a very rare appearance from the elusive At The Drive In, L7, Steve Ignorant performing early CRASS songs, the definitive Los Angeles punks X, and Suicidal Tendencies performing their Cyco Punk Set, The Marked Men, The Partisans, and British sensation, Slaves (UK) all getting in on the action. “I’m constantly looking for new bands to add to the older reunion type lineups to give young bands a chance and introduce them to our audience,” says Mark. And while Punk Rock Bowling does a bang-up job in that regard, they’ve invited some old friends back to Vegas, with bands such as one of PRB’s main staples, NOFX, along with Against Me!, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Turbonegro returning this year.
It’s a cavalcade that’s befitting of the Sterns’ initial vision, which was to make an event that was less of a music festival and more of a social gathering. Built on the DIY ethos that has informed every part of the Stern brothers’ careers, Punk Rock Bowling is pulling out all the stops for its 20th anniversary, making it the kind of punk rock cornucopia that has a little something for everyone. “Our goal is to make people want to come back. We want them to have a great time and not feel like they’ve been had,” says Stern. “After all, if it wasn’t for the fans, this weekend would never exist.”
20TH ANNUAL PUNK ROCK BOWLING & MUSIC FESTIVAL
MAY 25-28, 2018
Downtown Las Vegas Event Center
200 S 3rd St. Las Vegas, NV 89101
Current Full Artist Lineup for Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival (with new additions in bold):
Rise Against
At The Drive In
NOFX
Mighty Mighty Bosstones
X
Suicidal Tendencies: Cyco Punk Set
Against Me!
Turbonegro
L7
Steve Ignorant & Paranoid Visions (performing CRASS)
GBH
The Partisans
Angelic Upstarts
The Marked Men
The Briefs
Slaves (UK)
Swingin’ Utters
DOA
Larry And His Flask
Noi!se
Resistance ‘77
Buster Shuffle
Crazy & The Brains
The Birth Defects
Svetlanas
The Father Figures
The Atom Age
CLUB SHOWS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!
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Single Day Tickets On Sale – 01.23.18 – 10am PST
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LAST DAY to buy 3 Day Passes with Club Show Presale Access Codes – 02.02.18
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You will still be able to buy 3 Day Passes after 02.02.18, but they will not come with the presale access codes
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Bowling Tournament Team Registration is open and the lanes are filling up! Sign your team of four up today!
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The Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament is almost at capacity, but we have room for a few more players! $100 Buy In + $30 Registration & Processing Fee.
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Poolside Suites at the Oasis at Gold Spike are SOLD OUT!