Budhafest ’98 gathered thousands of people Saturday to support a local music scene that is steadily gaining momentum.

Sights included over 20 bands standing unified on stage and dozens of stands hawking food, clothing, jewelry, tattoos, body piercings and group merchandise.

The festival lasted over 12 hours and featured some very talented groups. Among the highlights of the afternoon were Shiloh Church, 12 Volt Revolver and Grubby Ernie.

Several people remarked that Grubby Ernie’s half-hour set was really good, and that the band should have been on the main stage.

But, as Grubby Ernie vocalist Brad Thoen pointed out, the second stage was mainly for local groups who haven’t released a CD yet. However, many of the second stage acts were fairly mediocre.

Dim suffered because the only member who seemed happy to be there was the vocalist.

Sixth Floor Fobia and Smakdab were both lacking, although Smakdab’s female vocalist definitely deserves credit for having the ability to bellow and scream like a man.

However, the main stage was definitely the place to be in the evening. The fun kicked off with Minneapolis techno-metal group A-Pod and continued with Junkpoet, Deadfront, Vivid and 35″ Mudder.

A-Pod’s set drew a mixed reaction from the crowd. Some people just didn’t know how to respond to the group’s unique sound (which is kind of like a mixture of Atari Teenage Riot, Korn and The Crystal Method), while others dug songs like “Cerebral Scars,” “Evil Max,” “Beast” and “Rat Trap.”

Junkpoet’s set was decent, although the crowd seemed disgusted to see beer-bellied vocalist Matt Biegger run around the stage in his underwear. However, despite the strip act, the crowd had a good time moshing to a mixture of old and new material.

Vivid’s set was also noteworthy. The instrumental metal group prepared a special visual stage show for the festival which included two partially dressed women covered in white paint, a bizarre prismatic backdrop, a light show and several space-age sculptures.

Vivid received an energetic response despite its lack of vocals and melodic hooks. But the stage setup perfectly complemented the band’s songs, which often seemed like loosely connected metal riffs tossed together in no particular order.

Vivid’s Moreno brothers may have thrown the party, but it was two other bands that dominated the event and drew the most praise from fans and other groups.

Those two bands were Deadfront and 35″ Mudder, who both rocked Clearwater Beach so hard that it was almost surprising that teeth and blood didn’t litter the sand after their performances.

Deadfront particularly surprised many people who haven’t been keeping tabs on the band throughout the last couple of years. The group is certainly much harder than it used to be.

But not even Deadfront could touch 35″ Mudder’s incredible performance. The group’s half-hour set, which kicked off with “Stain,” included blistering renditions of “Reactive Pacifist,” “21 Years of Pain,” “Third Scale War” and “Fist To Fist.” Then the group invited Grubby Ernie’s Thoen and all remaining vocalists on stage to help them scream out the lyrics to its closing song, “Boom.”

When 35″ Mudder left the stage, a large portion of the audience left Budhafest (and the closing band, Minneapolis’ Release) behind.

As they walked across the sand towards the parking lot, there was one common theme: There’d better be a Budhafest ’99.