New Bedford’s Madeira Field Hosts First-Ever Punk Rock Festival RPRC Fest

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — Madeira Field was rocking this past Saturday as New Bedford’s first-ever punk rock festival took place on the feast grounds.

RPRC Fest was put on by Westport-based Railroad Park Recording Company, a recording studio and media production company.

There was a slew of SouthCoast-based bands on the bill, as well as other New England acts and some from as far away as California.

READ MORE: Brockton Stadium Hosting Punk Fest Featuring NOFX, Dropkick Murphys

The day kicked off at 11 a.m. with LSP-90 taking the side stage. Right after, All Sinners brought their brand of 80s-style rock and metal to the main stage, and while the weather was perfectly comfortable, the music melted everyone’s faces off.

Another highlight was a performance by Wareham’s Early Adopted, a rapper who said he was performing with a live band for the first time, and that the band members only had a short period of time to learn the songs. You would have thought they’d been performing together for years.

In this writer’s opinion, the band Whenzdaze stole the show, and with their motto of “genres are stupid, rock and roll,” they mixed their predominantly pop/punk sound with tones of rockabilly and hints of other musical styles.

Other bands included Allalong, Most Dangerous Men Alive, By Invitation Only, Fault, Delko, Luv Mason, Don’t Grow Old, Different Day, No Remedy, Missed Opportunities and Shy Low.

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At 7 p.m., everything switched to the main stage, led off by Lodi, California post-hardcore band A Skylit Drive.

They were followed by Providence rapper Sage Francis, and anyone who can intro themselves onto the stage with Emerson, Lake and Powell’s “Touch and Go” and drop rhymes over Mr. Mister’s “Broken Wings” deserves the title of indie legend.

The headline act was New Bedford’s beloved A Wilhelm Scream, which has been bringing “melodic hardcore” to the masses since 1999. With a loyal following, AWS rocked the crowd for about an hour, with lead vocalist Nuno Pereira getting emotional about achieving the life-long dream of playing the Feast stage.

“This is a community,” he said, speaking about the music fans of New Bedford and the SouthCoast.