1994!
A Wilhelm Scream
After the Fall
Algernon Cadwallader
All Dinosaurs
All Eyes West
Anchors
Andrew Jackson Jihad
Anti-Flag
Antillectual
Arliss Nancy
Arms Aloft
Assholeparade
Astpai
Banner Pilot
Baroness
Best Practices
Big Eyes
Black Clouds
Black God
Blacklist Royals
Blank States
Braid
Bridge and Tunnel
Broadway Calls
Brokedowns
Cadillac Blindside
Campaign
Capsule
Carpenter
Catalyst
Caves
Cheap Girls
Chemical Ache
Cigarette Crossfire
City Mouse
Cobra Skulls
Coffee Project
Coliseum
Comadre
Creepoid
Crusades
Cutman
Dead to Me
Dear Landlord
Dikembe
Direct Hit!
Dopamines
Dudes Night
Edhochuli
Elway
Enabler
Ensign
Ex-Boogeymen
Frank Turner
Franz Nicolay
Gameday Regulars
Gateway District
Give
Glocca Morra
Go Rydell
Gods and Queens
Good Luck
Grabass Charlestons
Great Cynics
Greenland Is Melting
Heartsounds
Heartwell
Hop Along
House Boat
How Dare You
Into It. Over It.
Iron Chic
Isotopes
Jowls
Joyce Manor
Junior Battles
Junius
Karbomb
Kite Party
KOJI
Lagwagon
Leagues Apart
Lemuria
Life Coach
Look Mexico
Luther
Luther
Ma Jolie
Maladriot
Mark McCabe
Masked Intruder
Mikey Erg
Mixtapes
Mockingbird Wish Me Luck
Naked Raygun
New Bruises
Night Birds
No Trigger
Nothing in the Dark
Nothington
Now People
Off with Their Heads
Pentimento
Perdition
Pity Party
PJ Bond
Polar Bear Club
Post Teens
Pretty Boy Thorson & the Falling Angels
Pure Graft
Red City Radio
Red Collar
Red Fang
Restorations
Reverse the Curse
Run Forever
RVIVR
Saintseneca
Samuel Caldwell’s Revenge
Seahaven
Senders
Shellshag
Shores
Sidekicks
Signals Midwest
Single Mothers
Sister Kisser
Snips
Solids
Soul Control
Sour Boy, Bitter Girl
Spraynard
SSSSNAKES
Stable Boys
Static Radio NJ
Stay Ahead of the Weather
Streetlight Manifesto
Strong City
Teenage Bottlerocket
The Arteries
The Cougs
The Dopamines
The Emotron
The Fake Boys
The Flatliners
The Future Now
The Holy Mess
The Max Levine Ensemble
The Motorleague
The Shook Ones
The Sidekicks
The Slow Death
The Smith Street Band
The Snips
The Stereo State
The Swellers
The Wild
Tim Barry
Too Many Daves
Torche
Traveling
Two Hand Fools
Vacation Bible School
Valient Thorr
We Were Skeletons
Weak Teeth
Wetlands
Worn in Red
You Blew It!Holy. Fuck.
AWWW YEEEE!
Top five gigs of 2011!
This year has been pretty incredible for gigs. I definitely made the most of my time in London and have been to more shows and festivals than any other year of my life - 91 to be exact (full list HERE)! So, here’s my top five. I was going to do a top ten, but I’ve been to so many amazing ones, it was hard to pick and choose, but these five didn’t require any thought.
1. Four Year Strong – Fighting Cocks, Kingston - 16/02/11.
This band has had such an impact on me. I’ve seen them 16-times, so getting to see Rise or Die Trying in FULL at a 120-capacity venue and going batshit crazy with so many of my friends was just incredible. It was also the last time I saw them with Josh. Sob.
2. Promise of Redemption – Purple Turtle, London - 24/09/11.
I don’t think there’s been an album that’s affected me more than When The Flowers Bloom. It was made even more special, because myself, Chris and Leigh really helped make it happen. When we heard Valencia were coming over with The Wonder Years, we emailed Shane asking if he was up for it and he was! I never thought the day would come where POR would do a show over here, but it did. Not even ashamed to admit that I cried during a couple of songs. Everything just flooded back.
3. The Ghost of a Thousand – The Underworld, London - 23/07/11.
This was The Ghost of a Thousand’s last headline show, one of my favourite UK bands. Absolutely insane. I saw their final performance at Hevy Fest and while shit was lost, it certainly didn’t come close to the intimacy and intensity of The Underworld two weeks prior.
4. Terror – The Underworld, London - 07/07/11.
There’s no doubt that Terror are one of the best live bands around and pretty much my favourite active hardcore band. I’ve seen them a bunch of times and their sets are always awesomely predictable, but this one stood out for one reason: 15 stage dives. I had a bet with my friend Sam that I could do 11 stage dives during their set, I was dead after the second one, but I powered through with UNRELENTING WILL and achieved a personal best! They didn’t even finish their set, they did about 16 songs then during Keepers of The Faith a fight broke out and immediately stopped playing - only at a Terror show!
5. Great Cynics – The Atlantic, FEST - Gainesville, Florida - 29/10/11.
Getting to see Giles with a load of my favourite people, at my first Fest, was just wonderful. So many friends, sing-a-longs and human pyramids. It was pretty much a Kingston show just 4000-miles away from home. I hadn’t smiled and laughed so much during a set in a long time, if ever! Maybe I would have enjoyed it even more if I hadn’t broke a rib the day before, ha.
Just came back from the hospital…
Turns out I cracked a rib during We Are The Union at FEST, ha.
Second or third bone I’ve broke at shows this year, broken finger at Defeater, possible broken nose at Vanna and now this. Photo below was took after the first day of FEST too.
Pretty much inevitable that I’m going to die in the pit one day.
FRIDAY
At about 11am, we headed over to the Holiday Inn for registration to collect our wristbands. We heard, on average, it takes 2-hours, so we got there relatively early, but the queue was still SO. FUCKING. LONG. It took us about 3-hours, but the company made it bearable. Just. We got our wristbands at the flea market, which was pretty cool with stands from Topshelf, Paper & Plastick and Punknews - met some of my fellow Orgers and scrounged all the free shit I could get.
The first band I wanted to see was Go Rydell, so I walked all the way to 1982, which is pretty far out, but by the time I got there the venue was already at capacity. Not a good start. At least I got to see them at the pre-Fest show. Bands I did manage to see: Savage Brewtality (no idea), Tigers Jaw, Comadre, Touche Amore, No Trigger, We Are The Union and Polar Bear Club.
I nearly broke my back to We Are The Union, though. I was crowdsurfing to I’m Not John Cusack then fell about 6-ft, straight to the floor… People were actually surprised I got back up! I self-imposed a stage diving/crowd-surfing ban for the rest of the weekend, because it hurt so bad and still does. :(
SATURDAY
It was an early start with The Menzingers playing acoustically at a pub called Loosey’s at 1pm, which was cool. Followed by Young Turks - Matt of ex-Broadway Calls fame’s new hardcore band - who I was probably most excited about, they were rad. I then traipsed over to Kevin Seconds at the CMC, which was pretty much a library. He actually remembered me and my name from when I interviewed him last year, which made my day. I couldn’t stop smiling during his set, he just has that aura about him. Such a hero. I also caught: Dead To Me, Look Mexico, Good Luck, and Great Cynics - probably the most fun set of the weekend - so many friends, singalongs and pyramids. I rounded the day off with Lemuria, but at this point, Tom and I were so tired that we decided to sack them off a few songs in and go back to the Hampton for a nap before Banquets and Against Me!, but of course, we slept through the alarm… NO REGRETS.
SUNDAY
We went down to some yard sale, but it was pretty shit. The queue was huge and I wasn’t going to wait in line for two stalls of records, so I decided to go back to the hotel. Band-wise, it was pretty stacked, I saw: Timeshares, Hold Tight!, Cheap Girls (most boring band), The Menzingers, Broadway Calls, Junior Battles, A Wilhelm Scream, Teenage Bottlerocket, Less Than Jake and Nightlights.
I heard there was going to be an after party at the Holiday Inn with bands doing cover sets, but you could only get in if you had a Holiday Inn wristband. I didn’t. So, the most intricate operation to obtain one began…
My friend Ben Marchini had a wristband and said I could have it, but it was stuck on super tight. We went to the petrol station across the road to buy some scissors - alas, there were none - so we bought some nail clippers instead. Once cut off, we tried to find some sellotape or plasters or anything that would keep the wristband on, but of course, the shitty petrol station had no such items… I eventually managed to keep it on with the aid of my other wristbands, hooray!
I finally got into the Holiday Inn with Luke and was given a laminate, so I could get into the party. Yay. Literally every band ever was there hanging out. We had JUST missed out on the free pizza, but arrived in time for the free cake. I had like three slices. So good.
We saw Bomb The Music Industry cover The Weakerthans, The Flatliners cover Rocket From The Crypt, Comadre cover At the Drive-In (!!!) - I don’t think I’ve seen anyone smile as much as Jeremy from Touche Amore losing his shit - but two songs in, security got a little frisky with people, so they cut it short and The Arteries ended the night with AC/DC. So much fun!
MONDAY
I had to be up super early to catch a ride to the airport with Mark, Jay, Kat and Mike. We had just handed in the rental car and asked the airport guy where to go to for Continental flights. He said we were at the wrong airport in Orlando. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. Sat nav fail! So, after a slight heart-attack, we ran over to the nearest taxi to take us to the right airport, which ended up costing $80. Luckily, we all caught our flights! I think it was karma for singalongs to Nickelback and Drowning Pool in the car…
So, here I am, back home and semi-recovered from such an incredible weekend with so many friends.
Roll on, FEST 11!
