Written by Brenda Stolyar
The Skate and Surf Festival returns to Asbury Park this weekend prepared with a line-up that will remind those who attend why they never broke off that relationship with punk rock in high school.
The two-day festival which begins this Saturday May 16, and runs through Sunday May 17th, has a lot in store for those who are attending — 50 bands, as well as pro wrestling, skate boarding, food vendors and beer gardens.
This year’s line-up is teeming with punk and alternative acts with The Dropkick Murphys, Manchester Orchestra, The Wonder Years, The Story So Far and the reunited Thrice as the headliners (this is opposed to say, 2013 when Macklemore shared headlining honors with Fall Out Boy and A Day to Remember).
Adding to the list of headliners, The Gaslight Anthem is set to take the stage along with bands such as The Scandals and Gates, proving that the Skate and Surf festival is clearly paying homage to the past and present of New Brunswick’s underground music scene. The Asbury scene will be well-represented as well with performances by The Front Bottoms and The Parlor Mob.
The festival will have five main stages set up both days, filled with bands playing all day from 2pm to 10pm. Here are the set times as released by the fest:
This is a long day of music, but have no fear, to help stock up in between hours of moshing and crowd surfing, food vendors will be available at your leisure.
This year’s food tents will consist of Windmill Hotdogs, Rook Coffee and the introduction of Taters Half Baked food truck amongst many others.
For concert goers who want an even more interactive experience, and have a secret obsession for video games, Skate and Surf has launched Golf Cart Derby this year in partnership with mobile gaming platform, GameLoud.
GC Derby is the first music festival app that allows those who attend, to win prizes such as signed merchandise, free food or even an all-access pass based on their high scores racing one another on different tracks.
Apart from the half pipe skateboarding competition sponsored by Red Bull, the festival will also feature professional wrestling presented by Jersey Championship Wrestling. The matches will feature WWE legends Sean Waltman (X-Pac) and Scott Hall (Razor Ramon), former TNA performers Chris Sabin and Santana Garrett, WCW star Devon Storm (Crowbar), and ECW icons Tommy Dreamer, Tony Luke, The Sandman and Little Guido.
To purchase tickets for Skate & Surf, click here.
==================================================================================================\