How I Spent My Summer Vacation, part 1

This is how I spent my summer vacation. Part one includes swimming, cooking, Copenhagen, ice cream, sunshine, punk rock at West Coast Riot and a performance of Decamerone in the park.

The sun and the summer showed up just in time for my vacation which made it a little easier to leave the office and turn off my work phone. A few days ago I got the feeling that I was wasting my vacation doing nothing but looking at all these photos make me feel like I kinda got a lot done in a week after all?

Sunflower I planted in Mom's garden.

Went swimming.

 Cooked a veggie BBQ.

 Went shopping in Copenhagen and got ice cream. 

Eating ice cream by the lakes in Copenhagen. 

 Sisters chillin' by the lakes. I have new sunglasses from Tres Noir.

Yes, I know you had to get a new umbrella because this one has ruffles.
You can never have too many ruffles. Just look at the Parasol Protectorate.

 Went to Gothenburg and West Coast Riot. First band I saw was Street Dogs. Badass.

 West Coast Riot was in a new location under Älvsborgsbron.

 Hell yeah, we're at West Coast Riot!

Checked out Against Me! Laura Jane Grace was fierce!

 Why are Kerry, Punky and Jake so happy? Because we're watching Rancid!

 Rancid live in Gothenburg!

Yup. Sailor and Tequila are cats and live with Hanna who let me stay at her place in Gothenburg.

 Read Buffy season 9 on the train home.

Got a 20Belows tee and revamped it.

 Urban Dalmatian Daisy.

 Checked out Decamerone in the park with Malin, Malin and Daisy. 

We had a fancy picknick too.

The 20Belows at West Coast Riot

The 20Belows are playing at West Coast Riot this summer. Make sure you check out these guys if you're going!

I've wanted to book them for quite some time but we never found the proper time and setting as they aren't really known in Sweden. Hopefully they'll get some attention in this summer so we can book them for the next instalment of 1000 Punks in the fall.

You'll find more info on The 20Belows here.

West Coast Riot and the Bouncing Souls

You know you're gonna have a great time when you see your favourite band for the first time, and they open with your favourite song.
And when you show up at the stage on time because you met the guitarist in the beer tent and he told you that the band's set is starting an hour early, it almost feels like some higher power is looking out for you.

The band I'm talking about is the Bouncing Souls and I was in the front row when they played West Coast Riot festival in Gothenburg. It was their first ever gig in Sweden and the first time they've made it to Scandinavia on tour. Did I mention that I was there?

The Bouncing Souls - live in Sweden.

I had a real fangirl moment when I spotted guitarist Pete Steinkopf in the beer tent. Rob said I should go over and talk to him, and I did. Pete was super nice and more than happy to pose for a photo with me.

Fangirl and Pete Steinkopf from the Bouncing Souls.

I was up front for their entire set and got pushed around and bruised, but it was worth it. Their last song was "True Believers" and singer Greg jumped off the stage to say hi to the audience, shaking as many hands as he could. All of a sudden he was right in front of me with the microphone and I sang part of the last verse!

Bryan on bass.

It was wonderfully strange to suddenly be a part of music that I have listened to for years. I hope they'll come back and do a proper tour.

My day at West Coast Riot was awesome and the lineup of bands was really good. I drove up with Rob, Christian and Skratch and we met up with Patric the barber and his brother in Gothenburg.

Christian, me and Rob checking out Raised Fist at West Coast Riot.

We saw Suicidal Tendencies, The Living End, Sick Of It All, Raised Fist, Pennywise and Social Distortion. Oh yeah, and there was beer, sunshine and meeting a lot of friends.

I dragged Christian to see The Living End, who played an awesome set and announced that they are coming back in November for a tour.

System cameras are banned at festivals so I had to use an old compact camera. This would have been an awesome photo if I had used the Nikon.

Social Distortion were headlining and they gave an outstanding performance as the sun was setting over Gothenburg. They had just the right mix of songs and for the encore they did "Prison Bound" with a piano intro, adding a whole new mood to the song. I had goose bumps, that's how good it was.

It's Mike Ness on the big screen.

Let's hope Social Distortion will come back for a club tour like Mike Ness promised.