pics from the wild and wooly 2016 Meltasia fest
Meltasia fest took over an abandoned zoo in Catskill, NY on Labor Day Weekend with performances from Shannon & the Clams, Murphy’s Law, Fat White Family, Sheer Mag, White Mystery, Bloodshot Bill, Natural Child, Kool Keith and more, and it was a pretty neat time, as these pictures would suggest. The tagline for the fest was “Live like a free roaming animal in an actual abounded zoo,” which would seem to be true if free roaming animals drank PBR and got stick n pokes.
Connor Mikita at Monster Children wrote that the festival shirked the current climate and capitalist ideals of most music gatherings, and that “each and every band displayed their own unique piece of the rock and roll puzzle.” Mikita notes Fat White Family taking the stage as a pivotal moment for the festival:
“The cult following and mythical presence they’ve built was reassured as an absolute wall of evil sonic energy emitted from their instruments. More beers were launched than ever before, casually ricocheting off the electrical sound systems that dictated the survival of the entire festival. For the first time during the entire weekend, the sound engineer reached a point of panic as the band barked commands at him over a violently thrashing crowd. Perhaps the most symbolic moment of the entire festival occurred as an American flag was thrown on to the stage. Lias, the band’s lead singer, reacted by picking the flag up and using it to wipe his ass before tossing it back at a roaring crowd member who quickly wrapped himself in it.”
While attendees seemed to be having a great time, some local Catskill residents (like Jeffrey DeMunn who played Dale on The Walking Dead) were not crazy about all the damn racket. Check out the Meltasia fun in the gallery above.
photos by Zooey Jolivet
