Camp Anarchy held its inaugural event at Legend Valley Campgrounds in Thornville, Ohio from May 31 to June 2 of 2019. The festival comes as a replacement to Punk in Drublic Music Festival that had a not so successful run in 2018. Bringing the same vibe and same headliners, the festival is a three day punk rock camp-out nestled in the hills of infamous Legend Valley Campgrounds. Legend Valley has been home to many other notable Music and Arts Festivals such as Resonance, The Gathering of the Juggalos, The Werk Out, and Lost Lands. Owner and operators of the venue, Steve Trickle, has hosted countless successful events on his farmland that will go down in history as some of the best music and arts festivals in the United States. He will now be adding Camp Anarchy to that running list.

Camp Anarchy’s 2019 lineup boasted some of the greatest names in the history of punk rock music. It didn’t matter if you were a headlining or under card act at this event, every name on the lineup is a staple in the punk genre or is quickly becoming one. The Camp Anarchy 201 9 headlining artists were The Offspring, Rancid, and NOFX. The Offspring ended the day on Friday with a set that brushed across their full discography and highlighted all of their most popular songs. Of course, “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” made the cut and the attendees went absolutely mad.

The Offspring performing at Camp Anarchy 2019 - Photo by Kade Martin, Concert Hopper

A Wihelm Scream performing at Camp Anarchy 2019 - Photo by Kade Martin, Concert Hopper

Saturday and Sunday were the longest days of the event and therefore packed with more talent. Saturday’s lineup touched on a variety of sub-genres in the punk scene with performances by Voodoo Glow Skulls, The Damned , Suicidal Tendencies, and Rancid. For campers at Camp Anarchy, it doesn’t matter which sub-genre of punk you fit into, it’s all family in the end. The day kicked off with Voodoo Glow SKulls and a rowdy mosh pit for their single “El Coo Cooi”. From there, the crowd proved that punks can withstand the day-light in a mosh pit as they hung around for A Wihelm Scream’s energetic set. If you’ve never heard of A Wihelm Scream , then you should definitely check out their albums Party Crasher and Career Suicide.

Later into the day on Saturday, attendees at Camp Anarchy had the pleasure of throwing it back to 1979 when punk-rock was just beginning to emerge as a sub-culture of rock n ‘ roll. The Damned, a punk band from England that began in 1979, played their album Machine Gun Etiquette for their set on Saturday. Right after a dose of nostalgia, attendees prepared for the Big Mosh. The Greatest Mosh Pits in the history of mosh pits, if you will. Camp Anarchy became an absolute riot for nearly three hours as attendees had the pleasure of getting rowdy to Suicidal Tendencies, Pennywise, and Rancid - in that order. It’s surprising that attendees had any soles left on their shoes at the end of Saturday. Between Pennywise ending their set by pulling everyone on stage for “Bro Hymn” and Rancid playing “Timebomb” , all the stars aligned on Saturday night and gave all the punks and ska kids the energy to keep the party going through until damn the next day. Many attendees partied straight through the torrential down pour and thunderstorm that made its way through the campgrounds as a testament of how truly punk rock they are.

As campers rose from their tents on Sunday, the day they had been waiting for was finally upon them. In previous year, Camp Anarchy has been titled “Punk in Drublic” and was hosted by the infamous punk-rock band NOFX. We all know Fat Mike isn’t necessarily the most politically correct human being. In 2018, NOFX was set to headline their debut Punk in Drublic festival, but due to some comments made by Fat Mike during a performance leading up to the festival, he was then barred from being onsite of the festival. NOFX was subsequently banned from their own festival. So as day-broke on Sunday , campers across the festival grounds could be heard rejoicing that NOFX was finally going to be playing their much anticipated set that night.

Sunday’s lineup was just a series of mosh pit warm-ups and practices for attendees to get ready for the big throw down during NOFX. The day kicked off with some stretches to Spanish Love Songs, a little cardio to The Bomb Pops and some calisthenics to The Bronx. Finally, it was time for the big build up into NOFX. The crowd packed in tight as the sun began to set for Less Than Jake and Bad Religion. When Fat Mike finally walked out on stage in his infamous sun dress, the crowd went absolutely wild. The mosh pit they had all been waiting for was finally upon them and man did that crowd celebrate.

Camp Anarchy 2019’s lineup was off the charts incredible, which leave attendees wondering how curators could possibly top themselves for the 2020 festival. Other than music, Camp Anarchy offers a vendor for campfire S’mores, a dodge ball tournament, craft beer tastings, and a variety of thrift store-esque vendors to really round out the punk rock camp out vibe. In 2020, we hope to see an expansion on the variety of food and thrift store vendors available onsite. Also, an addition of a community fire for s’mores and camp fire stories at night would be the cherry on top of this already punk rock sundae. Camp Anarchy 2019 was a true riot from start to finish in the best way possible and we are looking forward to the announcement of the 2020 festival. As always, stay hydrated, call an Uber or Lyft if you’ve been drinking, and we will see you at a festival this summer!

A Riot at Legend Valley: Camp Anarchy 2019