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While the Riverstage is showing the wear and tear of water restrictions and the recent Parklife festival, tonight would ensure that thousands of punks would leave the place in an even bigger state of disarray. Proceedings started with the first of two Fat Wreck Chords bands, Pour Habit. You Suck saw the small number of punters who had arrived early running downhill toward the stage to join the mosh pit that would barely stop for the rest of the night, even when there wasn’t a band on stage. Institution had the amount of “holler hellos” going around the crowd increase tenfold. Guitarists Eric and Shaun made use of the large Riverstage by running around with energy that makes four year olds look placid. Light The Torch was a highlight of the set and it was over before most punters could get in to appreciate the high-energy and ridiculously funny five piece.

Having been a band longer than the average age of most ticket holders, Bad Religion are no doubt one of the biggest names when it comes to punk rock. Los Angeles Is Burning saw Greg Graffin owning the stage as the one constant member in the band for the past thirty years. Brooks Wackerman looked almost insignificant from the pig pen, however his skills on the pig skins were impossible to question. Then came every paying punters worst nightmare – a black out. After what felt like five or fifteen minutes they came back online to tear through Suffer which saw the crowd go, for lack of a better word, ballistic. There were people on the hill singing at the loudest levels that lungs would allow and the mosh pit surged from one side of the stage to the other, following Greg’s every movement. It would be wrong to say these guys don’t put on an impeccable show, considering that it is highly likely that it will be their last tour to this side of the globe, I’d be kicking myself right now if I’d missed it.

The last band on the last show of the tour are the “self-crowned kings of candour” and are none other than NOFX. A lot goes on but nothing changes with these guys except this time, Fat Mike was in a much better mood than their previous shows at the Arena many moons ago. This could have been a result of the fact that he claimed to have taken no pills whatsoever but no one in the crowd believed that for a second. Dinosaurs Will Die followed by Fuck The Kids saw the mosh pit grow to at least twenty meters deep, many thankful they weren’t in the thick of it. Eric Melvin was shirt-off and in fine form, playing three songs with five strings without even realising it. They don’t call him ‘Lead Hands Melvin’ for nothing.

Other three minute sparks of genius included Linoleum, Mattersville, Leave It Alone, We Called It America, Leaving Jesusland, Murder The Government, Creeping Out Sara, Seeing Double At The Triple Rock, Separation Of Church And Skate, Bottles To The Ground and Bob. Their on stage banter, jokes and complete lack of regard for anything is in fine form tonight with Fat Mike giving flack to almost everything. As usual, our favourite Mexican, El Hefe didn’t escape the firing line. No Fun In Fundamentalism, one of the few unreleased tracks, even made a show in the hour long set list. The reggae injection gave a well needed breather that was well received by every single person with two feet on the ground and a drink in hand.

The highlight of the night came when instead of leaving the stage NOFX went straight into the encore. This was to be a NOFX-and-team-interpreted version of the Avenue Q song Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist. El Hefe did a cartwheel to the astonishment of many, roadies Limo and Jay joined the stage for some kicks, spins and on stage rough and tumble. It is highly doubtful that there will ever be a funnier finish to a show than a (to use the term loosely) Broadway musical by the world’s biggest independent punk band. What a show! What a night!