Earlier today, Punk Island held its third festival on Governor's Island. As I hadn't made it out to any of the prior Punk Island shows, I was somewhat mentally expecting the chaos of the 'Rock Against Reagan' shows from the 80's but was pleasantly surprised. The festival was very well run and had a relaxed vibe. Even the pile-on/shout-along moments of Negative Approach's set didn't have the violent overtones that seemed to be part of the scene in the 80's.



The only off-putting moment to the day was a guy on the ferry over to Governor's Island who was openly playing with a big 'pig-sticker' knife. When people started looking at him, he put on blackout glasses and pulled a bandana over the lower part of his face. At this point, I was planning on jumping over the side of the boat if the guy was a psycho. The ferry operators came over, the knife was put away and the cops grabbed the guy when the boat docked.

I probably only saw only half of the 18 stages as they were scattered across all points of the island. It was a real DIY style performance where all the bands were playing through PAs in locations that ranged from the porch of a house (until the Parks people asked them to move to the front of the house), in various parking lots, in front of the old movie theater and in the middle of a field.



Links:
Punk Island