DAY 2 // MACROCK 2026

(Photo Credit r3dmedia - https://www.instagram.com/r3mediava/)

Dearest reader, 

In my previous missive I mentioned how it was sometime around three in the morning by the time I finally made it back to my bed, and rest assured that I did pay for the monstrosity I had put in my body moments before closing my eyes. Three hours later, the alarm bells rang. Yes dear reader, I finally passed out roughly around four in the morning and had to be up at seven to give myself enough time to get a shower before my shift, because I was not going to be wearing day one of Macrock all over me into my shift and even further into day two. Ya' girl needed a fucking shower.

But I wasn't tired. I was electric. I didn't even snooze my alarm and I am something of a chronic snoozer. It was the most charged I had felt in years. Like a part of my soul that had long lay dormant had finally awoken, and it was hungry.

I arrived for my shift around eight thirty, and worked until around five. We had a weird day, I was mostly by myself which, on any other day would have been a boon. But I had this excitement bouncing around my skull and keeping it contained until the clock struck five was going to be excruciating. Physically, I was exhausted. I had worked the previous day not planning on going to a show much less a festival, and then went out until three am, but nothing was going to get in the way of experiencing the rest of what Macrock had to offer me.

You see, today's line up was the one I was most excited for. Like the diligent old show kid I once was, I filled the vacant hours of my day listening to the songs from the various groups' bandcamps. One immediately struck me. 'Neverless.am'. It was raw and violent. Angry and passionate. A deeply emotional outpouring contained in a shoegaze shaped score. Straight up my fucking alley. But I was torn. Lay Waste was playing Coffee Hound. One of the few names I was actually familiar with before learning that the festival was THIS FUCKING WEEKEND.

My plan of attack was thus:

Head to Restless Moon who's charming atmosphere had won me over immediately the night previous, have a few drinks, check out a few acts and- 'Shit. Lay Waste is playing at 9.. and Neverless at 9:20.' Something about Neverless had spoken to me, and again dear reader, I've been doing better about listening to my soul.

So I did just that. The clock struck five, I let the coverage take over at work, and marched my happy ass down to Restless Moons. The two Monster Ultra Strawberry Dreams (henceforth: Bimbo Juice) I'd slammed over the work day were harmonizing with my three hours of sleep and my teeth were rattling. I forgot that feeling. I'd be fine once I got moving, got a beer in me, and felt that beautiful bass drum pounding against my sternum.

Photo Credit r3dmedia - https://www.instagram.com/r3mediava/

The performance I was welcomed with as I approached the wide open double garage doors of Restless Moons was astounding. I can't be sure if it was the performance of Seasick or Roughshod, but they were SCREAMING into the microphone as festival attendees crowded them pounding rhythmically on the various standing floor toms positioned all around the floor of the brewery. The air was alive. At first I thought it was all a part of the act. Only once I stepped through the door and pushed my way in did I realize that this man had invited this from the crowd. I was catching this show in its vestiges. There had to be six or seven (fuck you) people with mallets and drum sticks, 'bang bang bang'-ing in time with his amped up acoustic guitar. Everyone was into it, myself included.

I really needed a beer.

As politely as possible I pushed my way through to the bar and ordered another of whatever I had last night. What immediately followed was a cacophony of everyone in the room screaming in time with the singer as he raised his arms like a symphony conductor, before letting them fall and concluding the performance, a communication that was lost on many of the mallet wielding attendees as the pounding continued a few more rounds. I really was home.

I finished my drink quickly before snatching another and opening a tab, thankful for the brief lull to get outside and light a cigarette while I get my bearings for the event.

I didn't make it to the table.

Immediately I see another very old, and very dear friend sitting with his partner that I'd not connected with in years, and their partner I'd never truly had the opportunity to get to know. This was a friend I had once called my closest. Time and the ever present 'real life' had allowed us to drift apart, but Macrock had tangled our paths again. Seated at the table behind them sat friends I had made the night previous. (Erika if you're reading this, you're delightful and we need to get a drink.) The revolving door was back. Time slipped away as I hopped from new friend to old, connecting and reconnecting. It was delightful. Perhaps I've lived a hermetic life as of late, perhaps Macrock is simply magical. The two are not mutually exclusive, but the friends I made on the patio of Restless Moons are already some that I cherish.

Only when the sun had set did I realize I had done it again. Fuck. I pulled out my phone to check the time and only mildly panicked before quickly apologizing to my new friends. The one band I had come to see was going on in five minutes, and I was going to have a good spot for this one.

I got another drink, found my little perch, and settled in for what was without question the performance of the weekend for me.

NEVERLESS.AM

Photo Credit r3dmedia - https://www.instagram.com/r3mediava/

I was immediately taken with the group as the tell tale tone of distorted feedback filled the room and the crowd settled in. The band's front runner, who I have since learned to be CA Newcomb of Boston, Massachusetts is pacing back and forth as the feedback grows and grows. She's mumbling something into the mic. I can't tell if it's just for her, or if we're intended to know what she's saying. It doesn't matter. The droning has reached its climax and the show has begun.

Neverless.am immediately took ownership of the venue as a pit formed seconds into the first song. It was so raw. So aggressively raw and real. I wish I had gotten the setlist because I can't be certain which song they opened with but I THINK it was Freya Falls from their 'debut album'. I use quotes because Neverless has somewhat recently changed their name, another fact I've learned in the hours since seeing them perform. If you can't tell, I didn't attend Macrock with the intent of coming home and immediately needing to write about it. If I had.. I'd have tried harder to actually watch more of the bands, something another old friend I reconnected with that night scolded me for in the wee hours of night two.

Newcomb and company wrapped Restless Moons around their finger, and myself right along with it. Their performance didn't feel like a performance. It felt like an outpouring of emotion, trauma, pain, and a shadow of self love, though I may be projecting on that last one. At one point the singer was on her knees and I SWEAR there were tears pouring from her eyes as she gave the show her entire being. I hadn't even noticed the tears welling in my own as I watched them from my perch.

More feedback. More droning. More suspense.

“Have you checked on your friends?” Newcomb asks the crowd, “Have you checked on your friends?! ---- I haven't!” she screamed. This is how the band opened what had to be 'I'm Not Checkin In'. You'll have to forgive me on the exact quote and setlist. I didn't attend with my notebook. (This time ;) )

Absolute tonal shift. Gods fucking damn I was enthralled. This song fucking ripped. The variety on display here. Neverless seems to have a grip on some kind of post-punk shoegaze-core hermaphrodism. I was never ready for what came next as they continued through their set. The drummer and guitarists whose names I have yet to learn were equally on the same level as Newcomb. I don't know how long they've been playing together but if you'd have told me it was a decade I'd have believed you.

They closed with a song I AM certain is called Will I Ever, because in the hours since the event, I have had it, along with the rest of their album, The Quiet Room on repeat. And I'm certain because after the rage and power of the songs that came before it, 'Will I Ever' was another shift into the Gaze. Grunge-gaze / shoe-gaze is a genre I've only recently discovered and immediately fallen in love with, and again I was misty eyed as they transitioned into it seamlessly. It was a much more melancholy song than the raging tracks that had preceded it. A different emotion. It was forlorn and filled with longing, and it deeply resonated with me, wondering if I too would ever wake up.

And then they were done. It felt so brief. I wanted more. I wanted so much more. One of the main downsides of Macrock has always been that a single band BARELY has the time to breath before they're rushed away to make room for the next act.

Dearest Reader. It has been a long time since I have organically discovered a band upon first live listen that I have fucked with this hard. Round about twelve years as per my previous missive. I believe her words before tossing the mic were something along the lines of, “there's merch in the van if you want it.” I laughed, finishing my beer, indeed wanting it.

I paid my tab and made my way out to the van. I didn't have the opportunity to talk to CA Newcomb, but the band member I did get to speak with was exceedingly pleasant and very excited to be there. I briefly reminisced about the old days of Macrock with him, and how come hell or high water, I would be seeing this band again, and they better come back to Harrisonburg, or I'm coming for them.

It is at this point in the story where I remind you. This isn't a story about the bands, the music, or the venues. Dearest reader, Neverless.am was the last act I proper witnessed at Macrock 2026.

I spent the remaining hours doing what I had done the night previous.

Living.

Sure I looked over my shoulder at a few acts at the spots that followed, but for the rest of the evening I bounced from face to face, eager to meet and reconnect like I had the night previous. Because in this what some would say “waning” era of Macrock, to me this is what it is about. It's what it was always about. Of course, when you compare the line up of Macrock 2004 to that of 2026, on paper, one looks more impressive than the other. But these kids don't have fuckin' myspace, and hardcore music isn't what it once was. Music isn't what it once was. In an era of Gen-AI slopify chart toppers, I'd rather have one Neverless.am, and one DIALS DIALS DIALS, made with raw human emotion and creative imagination, before I ever listen to data center dead drop drivel.

In closing dearest reader:

Macrock 2026 was a truly life changing experience. The hard pointed period at the end of a self-imposed exile. I am, and always will be deeply, and truly thankful for all of the venues, the event organizers, the acts (including the ones that I missed), and especially the friends I made on those two nights.

Dearest Reader,

I have come home.

~Raven Ashcroft

From The Crossroads.