Nostalgia: A sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. Nostalgia has been shown to counteract loneliness, boredom, and anxiety. It makes people more generous to strangers and more tolerant of outsiders. A quick way to induce nostalgia is through music.
Things have changed a lot since Punk began; instead of clubs with a capacity of under 200 people, long established bands share lineups that fill venues like Sculpture Park; which offers a capacity of more than 5,000. Gone are the stinky, graffiti covered bathrooms with floors so soft you feel like you might fall through when you use the urinals, replaced by a long line of porta-potties. Ok I guess not everything is necessarily better, but I think most people (those who weren’t preoccupied with proving they they’re punker than thou) both young and old enjoyed being brought together by music and good beer to hang out with the dancing sculptures for a day.
Many types of Punk Rock were represented Saturday night at the Gothic Theatre, starting with Melodic Rock/Punk Rock, followed by Pop Punk, then Melodic Hardcore, and ending with Skate Punk. The crowd was as varied as the lineup, there were lots of middle-agers, bros, cool kids, and even a few Screamo fans that showed up for the sold-out event. Many fans showed support for one of the biggest names in Punk Rock by wearing Pennywise t-shirts.