Best Friends Forever Festival Brings Together Generations of Emo and Punk Fans in Las Vegas, NV

Oct 16

Friday

After attending the inaugural Best Friends Forever Festival last year, I knew I had to come back. Arriving in time to catch the first act of the day, Minnesota's Prize Horse, who used their fans to both beat the heat and to make a headbangers dream come true with hair blowing back.

Next was ex-Las Vegas locals Crochet, whose screamo was to small crowds as the main agenda of the day for attendees was getting all their merch (and where the line took up to two hours!).

Squelching in the astroturf after a 90 min rain delay, Tim Kasher from Cursive then thanked everyone for being cool, after ripping through Domestica then Burst and Bloom in full.

The rest of the evening was whirlwind of greats with Knapsack, Mineral (final show ever!), Rival Schools and Minus the Bear taking us home with an amazing play-through of Menos del Oso.

*Jimmy Eat World. Photo by Travis Ball.*

SATURDAY & SUNDAY

Saturday and Sunday at Best Friends Forever was a blur, with the weather holding and some amazing sets from Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate), Marietta, Tigers Jaw, and These Arms Are Snakes. All sets included non-stop crowd surfing in the GA section, which drew surprised comments from some bands and led patrons to grow tired of getting kicked in the head.

The real penultimate moment of the festival was Jimmy Eat World's closing set on Sunday. Jim Adkins was humble and told the crowd if you had told him 20 years ago he would be here and people loved the music they were making in a basement, he wouldn't believe you. The set was heavy with songs from Clarity and brought tears to my eyes to hear “Goodbye Sky Harbor,” “A Sunday” and “Believe in What You Want” live. The set whizzed by with many around me singing their hearts out to these songs we have loved for so many years. Jimmy Eat World closed with their two biggest singles from Bleed American, “Sweetness” and “The Middle.”

Then the lights came up and we were ushered off the grounds to say goodbye to the friends we had made because we liked the band shirts they were wearing. Looking forward to what bands S&S Presents brings for the third iteration of this festival.