Wrecking Ball
Atlanta, GA
The Masquerade
August 9th
Round two of Wrecking Ball for us started with watching Superheaven on the Masquerade Music Park stage. I had seen them earlier this year on a much smaller stage indoors, so catching them play an outdoor set was something new for me. This time, they were the opening band for day two. It was a bit strange to me that they were the first band to play– I would have thought that they drew a large enough crowd to play later in the day. Taylor was super appreciative of everyone that was there to watch them play, saying that he had expected “three or four people” to watch. Playing new material from their latest album, Ours Is Chrome, their set was entertaining and definitely an excellent way to start the day. Read about the rest of our day after the jump!
Text by Kayla Lee & Nick Zimmer
Photos by Nick Zimmer
I caught LVL UP playing on the Purgatory stage. Hailing from Purchase, NY, LVL UP mixes jam session esque guitar with strong vocals, making it difficult to classify them as one specific genre because each song has a very different sound. They’re a band worth checking out—I know I’ll be listening to them more after seeing them live. (KL)
Make Do and Mend are one of the most underrated bands out there. It was good to see how crowded Heaven had become for their set as they played fairly early in the day. Make Do have never let me down and this performance was no exception to that. They played in support of their new album Don’t Wait Long while still playing older crowd favorites. (NZ)
Basement, performing on the Masquerade Music Park stage, had such a clean live sound and lively audience that their performance was impressive from the start. I was excited to see them live since I hadn’t been able to in the past, and I definitely wasn’t disappointed. Opening with “Whole”, people were crowd surfing and singing along. Their set included an untitled new song, “Covet”, and “Crickets Throw Their Voice”, just to name a few. I’m looking forward to seeing them again later this year when they stop in Nashville. (KL)
glassjaw are a band that I hadn’t seen in over 12 years so needless to say I was quite excited for their set. the band came out and bursted right into “(You Think You’re) John Fucking Lennon” and the crowd absolutely lost it. There were times when you could hardly hear Daryl because of the crowd participation. The rest of their set came from their two full lengths and that was a problem with absolutely no one. For a band who doesn’t play a whole lot, they killed it. (NZ)
It was pretty cool to watch a band from where I live in a different state. Free Throw played on the Purgatory stage. Their fans were having a great time– almost everyone watching them were singing along and pushing forward to get close to the stage. There were a handful of people watching their set from a nearby overpass bridge—throughout the entire day people were watching bands play from there. Stopping for a few minutes to talk to the crowd, their vocalist, Cory, said “Holy shit, thank you guys so much for watching us!” Although it was uncomfortably hot outside, that didn’t stop people from seeing the bands that were playing on the outdoor stages. (KL)
Music Park seems to have been the stage that I frequented the most during the second day—I watched Desaparecidos play there in the early evening. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I had never seen them before but I thoroughly enjoyed their performance and I consider myself lucky to have been able to see them since they don’t tour often. Conor Oberst is exceptionally talented because he plays so many different genres and is successful with all of his projects. In between songs audio clips played, some talking about “how to identify a communist” and some describing two toed sloths at a zoo— it was a bit random but added to the overall performance. “Te Amo Camila Vallejo”, “Manana”, and “”Greater Omaha” were included in their set list, as well as Conor saying that everyone needs to, “get it together and start treating everybody like fucking human beings.” I couldn’t agree more. (KL)
American Nightmare are one of the most important hardcore bands to ever and were one of the most anticipated sets of the weekend. Wes Eisold spent more time on the barrier with the crowd than he did the stage and had no problem sharing the mic. The band blasted through 15 songs and there wasn’t a moment of that time where someone wasn’t stage diving. It was definitely something that everyone in attendance will never forget.
Directly after Desaparecidos set, Coheed And Cambria took the stage. They were the last band to play at Wrecking Ball, so nearly everyone who was still at the festival was at Music Park. Seeing as I hadn’t been to a Coheed show in nearly ten years, I was pretty excited. They played a mix of older and newer songs which included, “A Favor House Atlantic”, “Devil In Jersy City”, and “You Got Spirit, Kid”, a track from their soon to be released album, titled The Color Before The Sun. Closing their set with, “Welcome Home”, I was definitely impressed by their stage presence and overall performance. Although it was late at night, their fans were energetic and stuck around until the very end. I honestly wished that the festival had been longer, but it’s safe to say that it was an incredibly enjoyable weekend and I’m sad to know that The Masquerade will probably be a condominium complex the next time that I see it. (KL)
