As I was waiting in line to get in early to catch Break Even, my heart sank. All I could see for miles was young, teenage scene kids, with their horrible hair cuts, makeup and band shirts. After following them in and scoring a seat out of the rain, I proceeded to watch them make their way back and forth between the two stages, following the popular scene bands. From one stage to another they followed Confession, House vs Hurricane, We Came as Romans, Suicide Silence and August Burns Red.
We just sat in the stands waiting out the rain, staying dry and watching them herd like cattle on my grandad's property. Eventually the scene kids made it up into the stands and the metal crowds disappeared into the stages. Although the festival had fairly staggered bands and genres, it just seemed that it started scene and then split into metal and punk onto either stage. Not that it bothered me, I followed the split into the punk side.
The second tragedy of the day (the first being the consistent rain that just kept getting heavier) was during NOFX. With it being the last day of the tour, Fat Mike seemed to have almost lost his voice. He kept changing to songs that El Jefe could sing. Although his notes were off, he did manage to finish out a very good and fun festival set, where he spent the majority of the time slagging off the metal bands and crowds.
The third, the final, the greatest tragedy of the day came in the punk headliner: the Descendents. Anyone that knows me knows I have been obsessing about this day of seeing the Descendents ever since the tour was rumoured. Having already seen most of the lineup of this festival before, it was only the Descendents I was really there for. So when they came out to play, I was in heaven.
But oh no, something was wrong. The songs just didn't sound right and Milo stopped pretty much mid song. He had completely lost his voice. The band, on their first (and maybe only) tour to Brisbane had lost their main (and iconic) vocalist.
Now Milo, Steve, Karl and Bill, I don't think you will ever read this, but if you do, I would just like to applaud you for your professionalism and resolve. Most other bands would've stopped playing, but you decided to keep going and work your way around it. And it almost worked.
The set that followed was a one-off rarity that not many people will ever get to witness. Milo went off to get some tea or something similar for his throat, and the rest of the Descendents kept playing. On some songs they all sang the lyrics. On some songs one of the techies did. On other songs members of NOFX, Alkaline Trio, Frenzal Rhomb and Dropkick Murphys came out and did vocal duties. You could see all of the other punks running out to check the setlist and see what songs they knew the lyrics to so they could join in.
And best of all, Milo showed extreme bravery (or stupidity) and came out and sang a few random songs, spending most of the time throwing himself into the crowd and letting us sing. He could barely speak into the microphone to talk to the crowd, but he threw everything that he had left into singing his set.
Fat Mike and the rest of the punk crew were amazing as well, showing such concern and care for Milo, much like a kid to a father. They kept trying to help him out however they could, when they weren't singing the songs (or backflipping and rolling across stage while singing, ala Fat Mike).
Unfortunately Milo had to call it to a stop 5 or 10 minutes early, it was just too much. To me, it seemed like the set had only been 10 minutes long. I craved more.
Luckily, after persistant cheering and clapping from the crowd, they came out, but with a twist. Bill (the drummer) on guitar, Milo on bass, Stephen (guitarist) on drums and Karl (bassist) singing. It wasn't as clean (probably not even practiced) but they managed to play us one more song with Karl spending most of the time above me crowd surfing.
It wasn't the day I ever imagined it would be, but I was thankful enough to the Descendents for giving it their all today in such a tough situation, and also giving us something special.
EDITED to add this video. Obviously someone else thought the same as me:
