The First Annual Bash Music & Craft Beer Festival brings Punk and Ska to Phoenix

Rancid headlines the first annual Bash Music & Craft Beer Festival and they brought it along with all of the the other bands. I've personally seen them all in past shows and this one was the best yet.

H2O opened the music part of the event with a stellar and energetic set, setting the pace for the reset of the afternoon and evening.

L7 followed with a smoke filled stage and a very loud crowd at the opening of their set. Pushing out some of their fan favorites like "Pretend You're Dead" and "Deathwish", they also included a few new jams from their latest album 'Scatter The Rats'. "Burn Baby" & "Stadium West" were among the new songs as bassist Jennifer Finch called for the crowd to sing along to their new single "Dispatch At Mar-a-Lago"

Next to hit the stage were The Almighty Suicidal Tendencies. What more can I say? Always more full of energy than any other band I've seen live and always fun to shoot. Some of the photos come out looking like screen shots from Street Fighter. You'll see it in the gallery below.

With everything from jumping from speakers stacked 20 feet high to encouraging the crowd to think for themselves and not believe the politicians who offer free shit, their set included classics such as "Institutionalized," "I Shot Reagan," (which was changed to 'I Shot The Devil" thanks to the F.B.I.) and others. We're definitely looking forward to seeing ST stop in the Valley Of The Sun. And personally, I think they should tour with Body Count. ICE T are you out there? Let's do this!

For a little break in the craziness, next up were The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and they did not disappoint. The Bosstones set included the ever popular "Royal Oil," "Someday I Suppose," and ended with what we all thought would be their #1 fan fav "The Impression That I get." But the band continued into Devil's Night Out" to close the set. The energy stayed true through out their entire show and once again "The Best Horn Section In All Of Music" were amazing to watch. As was everyone else.

"Oh, the Italian bird. No, baby. She's rancid." -Austin Powers

Rancid are just fucking Rancid! That's the best way I can put it. I've never seen a bad Rancid outing and this one was definitely the best. Other than the annoying and overpowered spotlights on the band (I could tell at one point that Tim Armstrong was a bit annoyed with them) but none the less, put on one kick ass show.

The Bash has events June 2nd, June 8th, June 9th, June 15th and June 16th and Rancid headlines em all. We suggest you get your asses to one of these shows and get your drink on and get your mosh on. I've been to a lot of punk shows and festivals and this one goes on the top of my list of best shows. Hands down.

Check out the show galleries from all of the bands at The Bash Music & Craft Beer Festival, Phoenix AZ

H2O

L7

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES

RANCID