Brakrock 2026, day Two, part Two.
The Exploited at Brakrock in Duffel, Belgium 8/8/2026. All photos by Paul Holstein.
On-stage marriage proposal during Jaya The Cat at Brakrock in Duffel, Belgium 8/8/2026. All photos by Paul Holstein.
I knew that Brakrock was showing NOFX's "40 Years Of Fucking Up" (movie) at the castle ruins all afternoon, but I'd already seen it. The intermission, however, would feature NØFX, Europe's premier NOFX cover band. That was something that I had to see, but on the way I saw a huge crowd for Jaya The Cat and stopped in for a few songs at the Woods Stage. They were a bit more mellow than I normally like, but super fun, and I was in for a surprise when a bubble machine went off, and there was a live on-stage marriage proposal. She said yes!
Over at the Ruins Stage for the first time, the courtyard was packed, and the seats behind the mosh pit were full for NØFX (the zero in their name replaces the letter 'O,' as it's the cover band and not the Fat Mike-fronted legends themselves). To say that the crowd knew every word to every song would be an understatement, as they ran through a set of hits that included the best of the best ("Linoleum," "Stickin' In My Eye," "Bob," "Soul Doubt," "Don't Call Me White," and so many more). They even had a circle pit going for a cover of a cover with "Les Champs-Élysées." With NOFX in full retirement, if this is all we get going forward, I can live with it and will try to see them again whenever I can.
Good Riddance at Brakrock in Duffel, Belgium 8/8/2026. All photos by Paul Holstein.
The next two bands would play surprisingly early in the line-up, as I would have expected them to be the overall headliners. It worked out well, though, as it wasn't fully dark yet (good for photos) and everyone's energy was still high (it was beginning to feel like a really long day). Good Riddance was at the Woods Stage and drew one of the biggest crowds yet. This would be only the second time I'd seen them live (the other being at a Punk Rock Bowling club show), even though they have 10 full-length albums that span a 30+ year career. I generally consider their bass player, Chuck Platt, to be my favourite bass player and their drummer, Sean Sellers, to be my favourite drummer (he also plays drums for Pulley, but wasn't with them for this festival). The energy in their video for "Dry Season" (on YouTube) is infectious; I must have watched that over 100 times. Jeyy Sheddy was dancing on the stage and diving into the crowd repeatedly in his banana costume, and everyone had their hands in the air and were singing along as loud as they could. They did all of their hits, including "Weight Of The World", "One For The Braves", "A Credit To His Gender", "Fertile Fields" and "Shadows of Defeat", but still left us wanting more. The only positive thing about their set ending was that The Exploited was next. I headed immediately over to the River Stage.
The first time that I saw The Exploited was 39 years ago in 1987 when they toured "Death Before Dishonour" and played a local bar (Isis) in Pontiac, Michigan, near my house (Wattie was 29 years old at the time). I saw them several more times over the years and was particularly excited about their crossover sound when they released "The Massacre" and "Beat The Bastards". Wattie has had multiple serious cardiac events recently, including a confirmed heart attack on-stage in Portugal in 2014 (requiring quadruple bypass surgery) and then another suspected on-stage heart attack in 2022 in Bogotá. Colombia. He collapsed again in 2026 in Wiesbaden, Germany, but continues to tour and, at 69 years old, still commands the stage. They did many of their fastest and craziest songs, including "The Massacre", "Beat The Bastards", and "Porno Slut". It's well known that at the end of their shows, when they are about to play "Sex & Violence", they encourage the crowd to jump the barrier and fill the stage for gang vocals. The Brakrock staff were ready for them and moved some large cabinets in front of the stage to act as steps and began helping everyone over the barriers. It was an amazing moment, maybe my favourite of the entire festival. Honestly, if this had been the end of the festival, I would have been completely happy, but there were still 4 bands to go.
No Fun At All was the band that I most wanted to see and that I had not seen live previously. They did an album play of "No Straight Angles," their 1994 debut album, and the sound and energy were perfection. I watched seven or eight songs and then took a chance and ran over to the Lake Stage to catch Haywire (I'll talk more about that next) before sprinting (literally) back to catch the end of the No Fun At All set. "Master Celebrator" is their marquee song, and I was hoping that they might add a few songs after the album play and that I could catch that one in particular. I was in luck; they were just announcing it as I was running up, and I was able to record it with my phone (check it out on YouTube; it has a rocky start as I was running up, but it turned out great overall). Another bucket list item checked off!
It was a tough call to miss the middle of No Fun At All's set to check out Boston hardcore band Haywire (aka Haywire 617), but I'm glad that I did. I'd seen Haywire several times locally in Detroit (The Tangent Gallery and Edgemen Printing), and their 2026 split EP with The Dropkick Murphys is one of the best records of the year. They play mainly beatdown hardcore, so as expected it was difficult to get to the front of the stage for photos and hold any sort of still position. In addition, the stage was the darkest that I'd seen for any of the bands over the weekend, and I had to use my flash for the first time. I took a couple of hits from the crowd, but it was worth it. Their set was incredible, including slowing it down for "Clocktower Place" and a cover of Blitz's "Someone's Gonna Die Tonight." Singer Austin Sparkman is a huge Agnostic Front fan, so they cut their set a few minutes short to give us all time to get back to the River Stage in time for Agnostic Front. That also had the unintended consequence of allowing me to stop back at the Woods Stage to catch No Fun At All's encore.
I arrived a few minutes early for Agnostic Front and sat down for the first time in hours, on the inside of the barrier (with the other photographers). Agnostic Front is another band that I have had a lifelong connection with, seeing them for the first time nearly 35 years earlier (1992) with Cold As Life at Todd's in Detroit. Vinnie Stigma took the stage first, holding up the back of his guitar with the word "STIGMA" prominently displayed. There were other bands that had a who's who of punk rock royalty lining the back of the stage during their set, but none like this (The Exploited, The Casualties, Haywire, and Total Chaos were there, to name a few). Four decades of hardcore have left their mark on Roger’s voice, but it was an incredible and energetic set that saw a massive pit and constant crowd surfing. As always, Vinne took the mic for a few songs ("Pauly The Dog" and "Power"). There was also a birthday in their family or crew, and someone brought out a cake with lit candles for her to blow out at center stage (which also brought her to tears). At one point, Vinne let Robbie Steedo Davidson of The Exploited (who is also an indie film director and Vinnie Stigma has had cameos in his films) play guitar for a song. It's hard to believe that they are still doing it after all these years.
The Casualties at Brakrock in Duffel, Belgium 8/8/2026. All photos by Paul Holstein.
I'd already seen The Casualties several times this year and had tickets to see them again later in the month at Mitch X Fest in Eaton, Ohio. Still, it would be hard to cut out early—but they were scheduled to go on at 12:05, and the last train from Duffel back to Mechelen was at 1:30, and we couldn't miss it. We thought they were going to be late, as the lights were off and there were no guitars out with just seconds to go... but they busted onto the stage exactly on time and blasted into "Detonate." I was able to stay for about 30 minutes before heading to the meeting point to gather with my friends and start the long trek to the train station. At least we beat the crowd and were able to sing along with a few more Casualties songs from afar. It was a fitting end to a great weekend, and we all agreed that we would be back.
