Shaq Fu...

ROCK THE BELLS 2011

I bought my ticket for the final day of This is Hardcore Fest yesterday. I honestly thought that was the end of my big summer travel plans. I forgot that there is one other big annual underground musical event that I have been missing for the last six years due to poor planning on my part. Well it looks like I will be doing my damnedest to make it out to Rock The Bells lineup this year. Rae and Ghost sold me...

This is Hardcore 2011

2011 Black N Blue Bowl wrap up...

After almost three months of hype and anticipation, I finally got to see another real deal New York Hardcore show, courtesy of Black N Blue Productions and a lot of great bands.
I flew out of Rochester at around 9:45AM on Saturday. It was my first time taking the quick 75 minute flight from Rochester to New York and hopefully not my last. That was much better than the 7 hour bus ride home. Anyway, I arrived in Midtown Manhattan around noon and walked around in the heat until I reached Terri restaurant. They had some pretty decent vegan/vegetarian food. I tried the "meatballs" sub. It was great, I will be back for more. By the time I had finished that sandwich, it was already time to head over to the show. Time does move fast in New York. That and I only had three hours to begin with when I got there.

I got to the venue and found a few friends from Rochester to jump in line with. The doors were just opening so the line moved fast. This was my first time going to an out of town show this big in about eight years. It was cool seeing that many hardcore kids (and washed up older dudes like myself) lined up for this tremendous bill. Not long after we got upstairs Bottom Out took the stage. They were a pretty decent, heavier band from Long Island. They got a lot of the kids warmed up as I hunted down a medium size Gorilla Biscuits shirt. Mission accomplished on both ends. Take Offense was up next. Out of the first few bands, they were one of the ones I was most stoked to see. They are a great up and coming band from Chula Vista, CA. You can definitely tell people have been checking their full length out, as they got a great reaction for their short set. No Turning Back was up next. They were the one European band on the bill so that made me pretty stoked. I never realized they have been a band since 1997! They got a pretty good response and the Breakdown cover was in pretty good timing. Down To Nothing has been around for around a decade and I think this was one of my first times hearing them, yet alone seeing them live. They were a real fun band to watch and it was fun seeing kids go nuts all over the stage for them. Richmond Straight Edge in the house. Long Island's Backtrack were up next and they also got a pretty great response. It was great seeing all of the new NYHC bands playing along side with all of the old bands. Backtrack is one of the few current hardcore bands that I really enjoy and it was good seeing them live finally. The time had come for some of the older bands to take the stage. Unfortunately for me, the next three bands were all bands that I have DL'd material from in the last three years, but never fell in love with completely. So these bands weren't quite as classic to me, yet I was still extremely excited to see them all take the stage one by one. Maximum Penalty was first up. They really brought it and it was great seeing a lot of the older DMS guys lose their shit. Plus it was real cool, hearing old stories of the Ritz and all of the classic shows that they had there. Lord EZEC came onstage and did a song with them too. Apparently this was the "special guest" people had been overhyping on message boards. The show was pretty great with or without any surprises. Antidote was up next. I was familiar with their Thou Shall Not Kill record and seeing them all on stage together was truly inspiring for me. Actually, most of the day was extremely inspiring for me. As a 30 year old who hasn't necessarily accomplished much on paper, it is great to be able to reflect on all the hardcore memories, both new and old. It is also great to see people that are twenty years (or more) older than me still going off to this music. Antidote also did a few great covers that really got the crowd going. They did two Minor Threat songs (Filler right into I Don't Wanna Hear It, how great was that?). They also did a cover of "Rise Above" by Black Flag later on in their set. All of the punk rockers that were in attendance sure seemed to love this. There were a couple punkers that were entertaining me throughout the show. They would get on stage, skank around the stage a bit, and then jump (not dive, jump) off. This show also featured the most "stage moshing" I had seen at a show since PosiFest 2002. Absolution was up next. They have always been one of the more obscure New York bands for me. I stood off to the side of the stage and enjoyed their set very much. I'm not quite sure how old their singer Djinji is, but it was great seeing him go off like he was. Even he said that he would probably be feeling it on Sunday though. It was worth it to me to see this band and their great presence, despite the couple technical difficulties they had during their set. Terror played after Absolution and the place was absolute chaos as expected. Terror has become Hatebreed circa 2002 for me at this point; a band I still love listening to, but for safety purposes I prefer to stand back and watch the chaos ensue from the side. It is definitely still entertaining watching Scott Vogel work a crowd. The last time I had seen Sick of it All was when my friend Jim and I caught three of their shows in a row in December of 2003 (the middle of which I booked at the Penny Arcade). Like a lot of cynical people, I have not kept up with them very much during their "indie" years. It is still great seeing them live, especially on a night like this where they played mostly old material. I was glad to see them cover As One for Raybeez. I considered heading up to the stage for this, but I was saving all of my energy for Gorilla Biscuits. I saw a few old faces in the crowd during Sick of it All's set. It was too packed by this point for me to seek them out after. Plus all I mainly did in between every band was refill my water bottle in the disgusting bathroom (not having any hookups in NYC sucks) and sit down when I got a few extra minutes. Getting older kind of sucks. Agnostic Front put on a great show, playing mostly older stuff, including a few songs I don't think I had seen them perform live before (Toxic Shock, With Time, etc.). I am older, but obviously not THAT old. I did find it funny to see Roger say "this is our last song" for their last four songs.

I saw Gorilla Biscuits when I was in Denver in 2006 and it was absolutely incredible. I saved all of my energy for their set, as this might be my last chance to ever see them live. I had hoped throughout the day that maybe at least 200 people were going to clear out after AF, as some people I know aren't that into Gorilla Biscuits. Yeah, that definitely did not happen. I got up about six rows back from the stage and waited for GB to take the stage. After a few minutes of checking this and that, they finally got up there, trumpets and all. It was incredible seeing that intro live. People were already diving during that of course. Once some space cleared up, I rushed up to the front of the stage, just a tad bit to the side of where people were mostly diving. That did not really stop me from getting my head crawled on, but it was better than being dove on every five seconds. I stayed at this spot for a few songs, as I contemplated becoming yet another annoying stage potato. I finally said fuck it and stood there for a few songs to catch my breath mostly. My only complaints about this show would have to be the heat, lack of air, and extremely overpriced water. It was worth putting up with that and being dehydrated most of Sunday. It was incredible looking out into the crowd for those few songs and seeing how many people were really packed into this room. Anyway, once Gorilla Biscuits played Cats & Dogs, I decided it was time for me to execute the first of a few weak stage dives off that mammoth stage. Sorry, I am from a smaller town where my Penny Arcade shows were the only "big stage" hardcore shows that I ever regularly attended. I felt very youthful for the brief time I was in between stage and people. At this point, I realized I was getting exhausted so I returned to my previous position of standing on the front side of the stage. I got back up there for New York Crew and Time Flies though. Gorilla Biscuits closed with Start Today and of course, the stage and front were way too packed for me, so I took a few steps back. Start Today is an album that I can still relate to some 15 years after I first heard it. The lyrics and the music are something I plan to take with me everywhere I go in life. I am happy to have finally seen a really big show in New York City. I got a flyer for a Cro Mags show in NY on July 1. If I can get my situation in order, I will probably be headed down for that as well. I am already definitely going down for Sunday of This is Hardcore fest. It will be great to see Reach The Sky again. There was never a point in my life where I thought I was done with hardcore altogether. Sure, I have given up on Enterprise Hardcore and Rochester Hardcore a number of times. But the music and the messages I have learned from this lifestyle are something that just won't go away for me.