The Champaign weekly paper “The Buzz” was kind enough to do a review of Dumb Fest day 2, which happened last weekend at Black Sheep and Skank Skates. Thanks to Sean Neumann for writing the article! You can check out the article below or see it at The Buzz’s website here.

Less than 24 hours after Renae’s reunion that took over day one of Dumb Fest at The Black Sheep Cafe, the festival continued on and never slowed pace.

Soap Scum began day two with one of the best sets of the weekend. The Springfield crowd was immediately enthralled as frontman Brian Galecki ran in circles, crawled between the audience’s legs and jumped off of amps, knocking them over while guitarist Mario Cannamela picked them back up and dove into them like bowling pins. Garbage began to fly through the air, but don’t worry, someone brought a broom into the chaos and decided to do some cleaning while they were at it. Oh, and Galecki ate some of it too.

Bailout was the first band to play on top of the half pipe in Skank Skates. “Skate or die!” singer Greg Clow yelled at the crowd and, skateboards or not, they did.

Running up and down the half-pipe, the crowd began a circle pit and never stopped until the band did. Clow’s wacky yet intense stage presence literally drove audience members up the walls of Skanks as they climbed without a hint of care.

Nearly everyone at the festival piled into Skanks to see Lumpy & the Dumpers play. The wildly entertaining Martin Meyer (Lumpy) is always a treat to see perform and the sizable crowd made it apparent that the word got out.

Entangled in light fixtures, sliding down skate ramps and draping himself in a Green Bay Packers poncho, Meyer injected his energy straight into every person inside Skanks. There are few things that are as great to witness as the crowd surrounding Meyer at the beginning of “Face the Meat” to chant along, “One of these days you’re gonna face the meat.” and then scatter like the embers of a firework after he screams, “1, 2, fuck you!”

Dino Bravo played a powerhouse of a set midway through day two, and if there was ever a competition for the loudest duo in punk rock, the band would surely hold gold over their heads just as the late-wrestling legend once did.

But no amount of noise could compare to Angry Gods’ set later in the evening. The Chicago band had the walls and floor of Skanks’ shaking as if an atom bomb had been perpetually going off right outside the door. The band consistently puts on a titanic show and features one of the largest walls of amps you will ever see at a DIY show. Imagine what Satan’s alarm clock would sound like and you might get close to experiencing their set at Dumb Fest.

Boilerman’s arrival was delayed after the band was involved in a dangerous highway accident on their way to Springfield. A van driving the opposite direction flipped over the median, causing them to swerve out of the way and damaging both passenger-side tires. Forced to wait for a tow and a rental car, Boilerman still showed up to Dumb Fest and put on a solid set. But to throw more salt in the wound, their bass broke after two songs.

It was an odd and eventful day in Springfield, including a moment when the power even briefly went out during Say Something’s set early on. “This is a natural break in the song, actually,” one member joked.

Thankfully the power stayed on for Technicolor Teeth’s set that followed soon after, because the three-piece band put on an incredible showing of catchy yet spacey melodies that had all members of the band joining in.

Champaign hardcore group Need’s brutally intense set ended with bassist Aaron Shults sliding off the top of the half-pipe while unplugging his instrument in perfect time, making it the most entertaining ending to a set at the two-day fest.

Shaved Women front man Ben Salyers produced memorable stage banter in between songs, including the line, “All human beings are inherently useless,” while bassist John Birkner spent most of the band’s set trying to catch cheese balls in his mouth that were being thrown from the audience. And he never missed a note.

Our Lady put on an emotion-filled performance that had drummer Kyle Ratliff spending more time on his feet, yelling along with guitarist/singer Tim Williams, than he did sitting and playing drums. It was an odd set though, as despite the depressing atmosphere that the band’s new songs bring along, the younger crowd continued to form circle pits and bounced off each other to the slow-tempo tunes, making it seem as if they were looking more for an excuse to run around and mosh rather than witness the show in front of them.

The night ended with a short set from Tenement that left the crowd hoping for more of guitarist Amos Pitsch’s talented maneuvering on the instrument, after he exploded into a showcase of improvised solos that had everyone’s heads spinning.

All in all, Dumb Fest was an incredible success in its first year running. The guys at The Black Sheep Cafe in Springfield are no strangers to putting on fantastic shows, but Dumb Fest was something beyond their usual gift to the DIY community. The instantly popular, safe and entertaining festival will be one to watch quickly grow in the coming years.

Thanks for the great review, Sean! Along with the success of Dumb Fest, here is what Black Sheep Kevin Bradford had to say:

Dumb Fest weekend was great! Thank you to everybody who came out, and to the bands that played! I am proud of our community.

Here is what Dumb Fest coordinator Brian Galecki had to say:

Dumb Fest was something else. THANK YOU so much to all of you that helped make all of that happen. ALL the bands that played were great. Everyone that helped keep things running even when it was pouring rain, everyone that helped out with sound and taking door, and of course Apryl for bringing tons of awesome food for the bands and show-goers. You all were GREAT. We should do that again sometime.

Here is what Benny of Renae had to say:

Thanks for making the end show a great show guys. dumb fest was really awesome and we are glad we were part of it!

Thanks to you guys from around the midwest that loved us and made it worth it for us to do what we do – and for making it worth it to look back and appreciate it with older eyes.

Seeing all of the familiar faces after these years really touiched me a lot.

Now this band can finally rest in peace.

Thank you.

And here is what Tim Williams of Our Lady had to say:

I’ve had a really had a hard time choking back tears over the past few days, and an even harder time now reflecting on all the emotional moments over the past two days. DUMB FEST was an extremely intense reminder of how much love is shared between all of us and our scene. From watching Renae play for the last time to all the extremely intense bands that drove down just to share there emotions and music with us. Everyone involved in the fest deserves so much love and adoration because none of this could of happened without every single person in bands, booking, bringing food, or being in attendance. The entire two day excursion reminded me of how important our scene is and how amazingly excepting and emotional it can be. Ive never felt like i did after our set before in my life. Thank you so much for making us feel at home and letting us know that we have a place to be, and that place loves us and we love you. We all need to make an effort to continue making our scene as amazing as it was the past few days. This fest should serve as the most monumental reminder of what can be done between a lot of people who just simply care. You are all fucking amazing, im proud to call Springfield my home, and im so so proud of every band and every person who was there in support of the event. Everyone had there part in making this as amazing as it was and i wish i had more to say about how this made us all feel, and how moved we all were but there really are no words for it. Thank you so much, and lets keep this up.

Dumb Fest was a success on many different levels. Hopefully we can keep up the festival as a new tradition at Black Sheep. To see some photos of Dumb Fest, head over to our Dumb Fest flickr set. There are still more photos on the way!