Words by Isabelle Prittie & Logan Martin
There’s a reason that Reddit coined Mosswood Meltdown as “the music festival for people that hate music festivals.”
John Waters says, “Some call it ‘The Warped Woodstock’ or ‘An Asshole-free Altamont’ while other holler ‘Coachella, Go-To Hella.'” The second you step your combat boot adorned feet onto the festival grounds (kicking away a crushed Punk Flamingo tallboy on your way in), you are greeted with an assemblage of neon colored hair, screen printed patches sewn onto jackets with dental floss, and animal print. It’s like a playground for those of us that were depressed in middle school.
Mosswood Meltdown, the longtime punk festival hosted every year in Mosswood Park in Oakland, is where the musical misfits amass. This year’s line-up is one of the most stellar yet – and for the first time, a Mosswood certified pre-show happened the Friday before, featuring legends Vivian Girls, Wednesday, and Pavement). The line-up for the weekend featured everything from classic punk rock luminaries – the Dead Milkmen, Bikini Kill, and Frightwig – to modern alternative divas – Otoboke Beaver, Mannequin Pussy, and Wednesday.
One thing that stood out about this festival was the build-in inclusion and emphasis on femme and queer sound. There is a looooong history of the exclusion of these voices from the punk scene, hearkening from the younger days of rock and roll when masculine energy ruled the stage and girl bands were seen as gimmicks, or worse, fetishized. Not at this festival. Mosswood doesn’t need to scream from the rooftops, “WE’VE GOT GIRL ROCK HERE!” It is inherent to the scene, now, through all of the work that early queer and femme punk bands did to make the scene more inclusive.
Bikini Kill headlining a festival like Mosswood isn’t a novelty, it’s a necessity. The effects of these scenes have tricked down (a la The Sprints, not Reagan) into modern day music scenes. Early on Sunday, right in front of me waiting at the barrier for Bikini Kill was a group of spunky young grrrl punks. I remember hearing their excite chitter as they saw famous riot grrrls behind the stage, right before they sang along to every Frightwig song.
Later that day, I watched their set at a tent in the vendor area with hundreds of people in the audience. Bitchfit, a punk band from Oakland, is already exemplifying the words that Katheleen Hanna preached during Bikini Kill’s set: “I want to open for your band in ten years!” Just like The Fadeaways, a J-Punk trio laid in matching black and white striped outfits, who started by playing a flash set of the main stage and ended up on the main bill this year, Bitchfit is making their name heard regardless of whether they’re featured on the poster.
The lead singer thrashed around the ground-level stage, rolling on the ground and jumping up onto the barrier between them and the crowd, while their mom stood proudly to the side filming the set and cheering. Their friends in the crowd swung from the tree branches above them and screamed into the mic at any given opportunity. I felt like I was back in high school. It’s this type of energy that we love to see from bands new on the scene – and this type of inclusion in festivals like Mosswood that keeps punk alive for decades to come!
There were two traveling acts flying in from Japan, The Fadeaways and Otoboke Beaver, who proved that punk is truly a global phenomenon. It was sweet seeing them around the fest after their sets, and it seemed as though the members of The Fadeaways were enjoying the VIP area more than some of the ordinary VIP guests. The two groups also shared a similarly theatrical performance, donning their respective matching outfits, and jumping and contorting around the stage to an audience who I’m sure knew the words, even if they didn’t understand what they meant.
Mosswood has always exemplified the modems that KCSB also holds dear: non-commerciality and independence. This festival experience is unlike any other in every way, not just the lineup. For one, Mosswood usable to put on a festival of this caliber without mainstream corporate bucks, instead opting for small businesses to fill the vendor village and sponsor slots (one classic Mosswood vendor sells Japanese style friend chicken in a seaweed wrap that is to die for, right alongside free stickers modeled after the PBR logo). Even this wasn’t enough for Mosswood patrons, however, who openly and loudly booed the sponsored messaged between sets. Even the MC running the ad breaks seemed unenthused. Unlike most other festivals, there is no overlap in set times, meaning when you purchase your tickets, you get to see every artist on the lineup! Gone are the days of choosing between your two favorite artists. Mosswood is doing it right.
Even though there was a barrier between the crowd and the stage, the patrons acted like there wasn’t. Throughout my time at the festival, I saw countless youngsters stage diving, standing on the barrier, and moshing in the photo pit (we even snuck into the photo pit for a couple of sets to get some prime photos of Mannequin Pussy and Otoboke Beaver – don’t tell anyone).
One highlight was seeing a geriatric man with a long white beard and eyes popping out of his head, crowdsurfing with a helmet on. We later saw him in the med tent getting a stage-diving related wound patched up. Folks were also super excited to get photographed throughout the fest, including but not limited to two students who road tripped all the way from Vermont because they couldn’t miss Pavement and Wednesday on the same bill, and a man in a “Die Yuppie Scum” muscle tee with whom I made vicious eye contact during The Fadeaways’ set.
I hope you are all as excited as I am for next year’s fest! Early Bird tickets are already sold out to lifelong fans who couldn’t care less about knowing the bill beforehand. Regardless, if it stays true to its ethos and legacy of awesome lineups, I’m sure it will not disappoint come the summer of 2027.
