Point Break Music Festival
Everyone knows the beach, as tropical as they can be, it's plain to see the monotony of miles of coast line with tourists baking in the heat. Not in Virginia Beach, all along the waterfront you can hear reggae, ska, punk, and pop emanating from the Point Break music festival. To talk about what makes Point Break so great you must start with something every festival needs, people.
It’s almost a guarantee that every person attending Point Break is different; you have parents covering their children in sunscreen, sun burnt men passing a joint around inside of a crowd of hundreds, young adults half naked, and of course, a single man swinging a fire dart for hours on end. Either in spite or celebration of all of these differences, people unite at Point Break. One attendee chose to wear a full rubber suit of Donatello, of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with a topical twist of three foot long dreads hanging from his mask. Here, the eccentric are at home, and that’s just the way it should be. You might expect a docile audience from the combination of reggae, weed, and 100 degree weather, but you’d be wrong. Each person in attendance shares a passion for music and it becomes blatantly clear the more time you spend at this festival. Lead signer of Sublime, Jakob Nowell, yelled to the crowd of nearly twenty-five thousand people: “I want you to push each other around a bit…with love” and the crowd was obliged to do it. This is really the heart of Point Break, contradiction. The mosh pit meets beach towels, family friendly meets recreational substances. It’s these combinations that create energy unlike any other festival. So you have all of this energy, all of these people, and they need to be entertained; Point Break meets the enthusiasm of its audience with a diverse and charged line up.
Over the two day festival, many bands and artists got to rock the SMKFLWR Stage and the Point Break Stage, each one bringing their own distinct vibe, rhythm, and energy. Ganjacat, playing on the SMKLWR stage, made 1 pm feel like sunset, with a low key reggae sound that brought the whole crowd into a shared relaxation. Each member of the band was so in tune with one another it felt like they were communicating telepathically. Back on the main stage Brandon Hardesty and Ted Bowne brought Gulf Western music to an eager crowd, notably playing a song “about smuggling in your stash.” This was most definitely a crowd pleaser. The pair dominated the mid day set, taking what could have very well been mid day lethargy and turning it into a constant roaming grove that people couldn’t help but join in on.
Later on in the day Less than Jake graced the main stage, although their spunky ska was a surprising pivot from the days mostly low-fi music, it was very much welcome. Less than Jake came out swinging, bantering with themselves and the crowd. The band even tried to start an impromptu security guard fashion show. They brought unadulterated energy to Point Break.
If Less than Jake brought energy, Sublime brought a nuclear reactor to Virginia Beach.
The headliners entering to the punchy opening lick of Date Rape. A massive inflatable Lou Dog framed not just the band but a half pipe, complete with someone skating it, as well as front man Jakob Nowell’s rottweiler named Melvin. Nowell’s unstoppable momentum throughout the set matched the crowd. From joints, to beach balls, to crowd surfers everything was being passed around as Sublime created a nonstop vibe. The band closed their set with a promise to jump into the ocean the next day, a fitting end considering the heat Sublime generated with their music.
Point Break is reflective of the music it celebrates, accepting and open, sometimes bouncing off of the wall, but always a sense of ease in the sand under the summer sun.
Photos by Tristan Reiser
