In October 2017, the craft beer and music festival Punk in Drublic came through town and was well received by the Warped Tour generation. With the same model, the Sabroso Festival stopped at Papa Murphy’s Park to showcase punk rock from the early nineties with craft beer on April 8th. Sound good for a second round? What if they added tacos and luchador wrestling to the festivities? As the kids would say, “Shut up and take my money!”
To open the festival was Los Kung Fu Monkeys, a ska-punk outfit from Tijuana, Mexico. This seven-piece band has been around since 1997 and were the only performers to have a horn section. It was nice to have danceable music play before the rest of the punks bands came on. Next, Unwritten Law, who had a fair amount success with radio play back in the early 2000s and with songs such as “Seeing Red” and “Up All Night,” showcased their brand of hard power pop through their set.
The Vandals came up next with their style of jokester punk, which has given them momentum in their career. Even though they never had the commercial success of similar bands like Blink 182 or Green Day, classics like “I’ve Got An Ape Drape” and “Oi To The World” show the members of this group are not looking at retirement any time soon.
The Gimme Gimmes serenaded the crowd with covers redone in true punk fashion, covering artists ranging from John Denver, Cher, Gloria Gaynor, R. Kelly and many more. It’s not all the time you’ll see punkers screaming the words to Cher’s “Believe” in unison. The Gimmes were a riot with matching lounge outfits and punk attitudes.
Up next to start winding down the festival’s end was Hermosa Beach’s Pennywise. With thirty years under their belt, Pennywise are still angry and still potent with playing such tracks as “Same Old Story”, ”Fight For your Life” and “Society.” Igniting a chaotic mosh pit, the group went through a set of early classics with the same anti-authority attitude they have kept up their entire career.
The Offspring closed out the festival. The band has been around for as long as most of the bands on the tour, but to a commercial extent, they have been the most successful. Playing through a string of their best hits, lead singer/guitarist Dexter Holland went from fast driven punk songs to a reworked piano version of “Gone Away.” At the end of the festival people walked away with memories craft beer, live music, tacos and wrestling. Seems like a win-win all around.
Words and photos: Jake Monka