The older I get, the more cantankerous I feel about going to punk shows. Everyone’s younger/stinkier than I am, I can’t relate to the opening bands, etc. But every so often, a tour comes along that’s so rocking, so gosh dang brilliant, that I can’t resist.
Such a bill came to Electric Factory Aug. 17. New Jersey’s favorite mooks, The Bouncing Souls, were headlining a tour boasting support from fellow Garden Staters Lifetime, The Ergs! and Static Radio NJ. From beginning to end, this show was everything a fan of East Coast punk/hardcore would need, chock full of high spirits, chugging power chords and that pop punk staple, the almighty “whoa.”
It’s a shame punk kids have so much trouble with punctuality, though. Sure, anarchy demands no restrictions like timeliness, I guess, but those who were tardy missed out on opening act Static Radio NJ, a band consisting of four energetic Kid Dynamite/Lifetime acolytes. Harsh and powerful, the group recreated the jams from its recent One for the Good Guys EP with ease. While those initially gathered to hear the proceedings were scarce, Static Radio NJ easily won over the crowd with sheer intensity.
Ergs! kept those positive vibes alive with their Ramones-y pop punk and extreme affability. If you cut The Ergs!, they will bleed bubblegum. Fans were in luck, as the spastic writers combined cuts like “Books About Miles Davis,” the single off of the new album Upstairs/Downstairs, with rarities like “Introducing Morrissey,” from the group’s split with fellow pop masters Lemuria. Jammy compared to Static Radio NJ’s taut hardcore, The Ergs! provided looser punk rock while frontman/drummer Mikey Erg served tales of doomed romances. Goofy and fun, The Ergs! are the pop punk band to listen for in 2007.
While the first half of the show featured punk upstarts, the second half brought out the legends, starting with Lifetime. Even though the group has been reunited for about two years now, there’s still a giddy thrill in seeing all five members together on a stage. Heck, these guys were just as stoked to play as the fans were to listen.
Opening with the relatively new single “Airport Monday Morning,” from the comeback album Lifetime, the band roused the crowd to heretofore unheard decibels. As bodies pounded against the stage’s barricade like waves in a storm, Lifetime tore through ’90s classics like “Young, Loud, and Scotty,” “Hey Catrine” and “Rodeo Clown.” After a two-hit combo of “Ostrichsized” and “25 Cent Giraffes,” Lifetime concluded its incredible set.
Emerging to chants of “Olé” and “Here We Go,” the everloving Bouncing Souls pushed the crowd to its limits with rabble rouser “Hopeless Romantic.” While Lifetime was able to give ample time to Hello Bastards, Jersey’s Best Dancers and Lifetime (aka the albums everyone cares about), the Souls have become like a classic rock band—there are so many great songs to cover that no set list will ever be perfect. But the set will always be life-affirmingly awesome. So, while the band’s punk touchstones like Maniacal Laughter, or even last year’s The Gold Record, were a little ignored, there’s no denying that the set was the best thing to happen to Philadelphia since… well, the last Souls show.
Dressed in a magenta shirt and as limber as James Brown, frontman Greg Attonito repeatedly jumped into the crowd and passed the mic around, blending performer and audience into one. Meanwhile, men in black Bryan Kienlen and Pete Steimkopf, along with drummer Michael McDermott, tore at their instruments with fervor. Everything they played set the crowd off. “Kate is Great,” “Lean on Sheena,” “That Song,” “Fight to Live”—in the realm of rock and/or roll, The Bouncing Souls cannot fail.
The Souls almost always serve up a surprise in their encores, and this night brought the audience “guitarmageddon,” as the band put it, for “True Believers.” Lifetime’s Dr. Dan Yemin, as well as Loved Ones frontman/guitarist Dave House and Let It Burn frontman/guitarist DJ Values, appeared with six stringers at the ready, and proceeded to rock out to dangerous levels. Having thoroughly exhausted the crowd with that, the Souls concluded their encore with one final track, “Night on Earth.”
While the band’s lyrics have dealt with break-ups, the Iraq War, growing up and other depressing topics, the songs have always carried this sense that one can climb out of the pitfalls of life and start again. The desire to change the bad around you is perhaps the most punk perspective of all, and that’s exactly what fans got with “Night on Earth.”
“I’ll miss you/but now I’ll know better next time/because I found me,” goes one line from this break-up ballad, and it depicts the Souls’ ethos of perpetual improvement. From 8 p.m. to a little after midnight, this show was punk/hardcore at its finest. Static Radio NJ, The Ergs!, Lifetime and, above all, The Bouncing Souls provided amazing times and quality tunes.
No comments:
Post a Comment