Foo Fighters
This was my first real concert. I went with my sister, and we left to go right after we ate dinner; it was on Easter. I was scared to get close, b/c it was my first time and I still had glasses, so I didnt want to break them. We stayed on the right side in this corner most of the time.
This was when the Foo Fighters still had all the original members, and before their second album came out. So therefore, they pretty much played the whole album, and some b-sides like Winnebago. Half way into their set, a huge stuffed bugs bunny dropped down behind the drummer. After the song was over, he went up to it and started to hug it, and make out with it and stuff. Other than the awesome stage antics, they played very well.

1997 HFStival
The only reason I went to this show, is b/c it was "cool to go to HFStival's" or some lame shit like that. I think I had a better time camping out for tickets, haha. That was cool, me and Louie we're like laying in the car when the line started to form. Then my sister came over and was all pissed b/c we werent standing in the rain with them in line. So me and him just walked up to the front of the line, and just kinda melted into it. There were some guys behind us that got all pissed and started yelling, but we just ignored them and got the tix... that was great.
The only band i was interested in seeing was Beck. I dont really remember the other bands that played...yeah, oh well.

1998 HFStival
I actually wanted to go to this one, I needed to see Green Day. I also got to see Foo Fighters again, this time taylor was in the band, and their second album was out. They had these big gold speaker cabinets. Everlclear played too.....and oh boy do they suck live. It seemed like they were totally off key and there was this dork guy just playing a snare and a cymbal the whole time.
Green Day came on at nite. They had this huge Green Day banner hung up behind them. This was right when Nimrod came out, and I was predicting what they were going to play and telling it to Steve. I was right, b/c Green Day tends to do the same setlist/show when theyre on tour. But that didnt make it hokey or anything, the show fucking rocked. They were so cool it drew me into the pit for the first time. The music became a blur to me as i fought my way up to the front. I was one person away from the gate, and I stood there for awhile getting all smashed around and couldnt breath...it was cool. They played knowledge and picked someone from the audience to come up on stage and play guitar, that was right when i made my way out of the pit though, I was mad pissed. They also had some horn players come out for King For a Day, and something else, too. At the end Tre set his drums on fire, and threw them around the stage.

Dave Matthews
This wasnt all that cool of a show. There was this stupid ass reggae-type band that opened for them, but no one was paying attention to them. I had seats in the very last row of the pavillion, and there was this huge fat hick and his beer slut wife in front of me. They were standing up the whole time, and i couldnt see shit. Well, DMB played good i guess, but the experience was for shit b/c I couldnt see anything, not even the big screen. They played two step though, and that was really cool. Boyd Tinsely went off on this fucking amazing violin solo during one of the songs, you could see the threads on his bow flailing around, and all the rosen dust circling him. So there was a good show to be had..... I JUST COULDNT SEE IT!!!!!!!

Blink-182
When I bought the ticket, I was all into Blink, it was before they got all big with All the Small Things and Adam's Song. But by the time the concert came, I hadnt listened to them in a long time, and wasnt very into them. Bad Religion was pretty rad, but I was too busy sneaking in people to the pavillion, so I didnt get a chance to really watch them. And Fenix TX suck ass. They desperately want to be Blink, saying penis every 5 seconds, and that retarded song about big cocks. But it was cool during Blink when Mark was like, "ok, we're going to play another song, go back stage, then come out and play two more. we dont do that encore shit." And then before they came back out, the house started to play the thong song, and Mark came out in his boxers and shook his ass all over the stage.

Vans Warped Tour
The Warped Tour is the coolest festival type thing ever. I went with Pam, Brett, Nicole, and Mike. They had all these cool booths for record labels, and were giving out all this free shit. I got a Vagrant sampler, free mags with cool pics in them, stickers, etc. And the coolest thing happened when we went to the Mxpx booth to buy some shit. It was right next to the A&M booth, where artists sit and do signing and stuff like that. So like we're standing there looking at shirts and stuff, then I look over and see Mxpx sitting at the booth right next to me, it was so fucking cool. But then I realized there was this mad long line that you had to stand in in order to meet them. So we got in and made our way up there, we were all excited and stuff. I didnt have anything else, so I got them to sign a 5 dollar bill. Anyway, the first band we actually went to watch was Mxpx. We got up front before they went on, and had to sit through the Muffs, which was awful. Mike kept on knocking down his and Tom's mic stands, he was all over the place. They played some stuff off of EPM and closed with Punk Rawk Show as usual, it rocked. When Nofx came on, Fat Mike was like,"our drummer broke his thumb, but he's going to play anyway." And they also made some good cracks on how much Camden sucks, lol. I wasnt that impressed with Green Day's set, b/c they mainly played their popular songs, and not any new stuff. They did play Going to Paselacqua at the end, which was cool. They just did their usual thing, getting someone to come up and play guitar on Knowledge, and then Tre trashing his kit and burning it at the end.

Big Wig
the ottobar is really small

Zebrahead/Wheatus
wheatus is the worst fucking band ive ever seen

Suicide Machines
one man army is a very scary looking band

Get Up Kids
very awesome performance

Bouncing Souls
Me and Brett went to this show, this other boy was supposed to come too, but he backed out at the last minute. so we had an extra ticket. And like a minute after we got out of the car, this group of people came up and bought it off of him. We got there a little late, so we missed The Explosions, but all the other bands kept saying how cool they were. The first band we saw was Mustard Plug. I cant say I really liked them all that much, not just b/c they are ska, they just didnt sound "full". And the bassist was this fat guy, who looked like he was going to have a heart attack from playing these simple bass lines. After them was Youth Brigade. You could hear people yelling out "OLD BRIGADE," b/c they looked mad old. The singer said they were all brothers, too, kinda strange. But they were all right. Anyway, when the Souls came out they started off with that little "Here we go" beginning and everybody was screaming it. I stayed in the back the whole time, b/c I felt really shitty that nite, and it really pissed me off. Anyway, Brett told me that the pit was horendous, so maybe it was better I stayed back. So he told me most of what happened since I couldnt see that well. Like, the security was barely operating, and all these people were jumping up on stage. And one guy got up on stage and started to drink the drummer's beer, and he got all pissed off, lol. They played a few songs off their new album that isnt out yet, it sounded pretty cool from what I remember. But the coolest part was the last song they played, The Freaks, Nerds and Romantics, my fav. I was trying to push my way up as soon as I heard the beginning. Afterwards, I met up with Brett and he was all fucked up from the pit, it was cool. I got this rad Hopeless Romantic work shirt too, it was only $7. Now thats what I'm talking about.

Incubus
It is such a pain in the ass to get to the patriot center. The metro has a stop at GMU, or at least thats what it says. But in actuality, its like 2 miles away from the college, and there is no shuttle or anything that goes there. So when we got there, we had to take a cab back and forth which all together costed like $28. All the merchandise was like $25+, the food was a rip off (although that is expected from an arena), and the ticket was $35 (also expected, but still gay). It was the most expensive concert I've ever been to, and it wasnt even that cool. Well first of all, I had to sit through Crap root... of sorry, Taproot. The singer has no sense of pitch, and was singing the right key about 1 out of 10 notes. The only semi-cool thing about them was when he walked all around the arena during one of their songs. Once that debotchery was over with, we went down to the pit for Incubus. The PA was playing Michael Jackson's Thriller as they walked out on stage, Jose was dancing around to it like an idiot... that was cool. Mike was looking all serious and shit, then they started to play Make Yourself. After that, Brandon picked up his congo/djembe/whatever thing, and went into Vitiman. During the middle they got into this intense jam, and then stopped completely. Brandon started it up again on his drum, and they finished it up. They werent loud at all though, and Mike's distortion was too low, b/c when they went into heavy parts, there wasnt much of a difference at all. They played too many slow songs too, and I was pissed b/c i wanted to mosh and stuff. So when they started to play Drive, I was like, fuck this, and got out of there. After that they played The Warmth, it was cool, Brandon hummed the melody instead of singing one of the last choruses. They ended with Pardon Me, and had a cool light thing going on. Like after the first chorus when Jose plays that little funky drum beat going back into the verse, there were alternating strobe lights on him, like going along with the music. And they did the same thing for Kilmore when he had his little DJ solo the second time.

Setlist:
make yourself
vitamin
stellar
when it comes
nowhere fast
clean
new skin
drive
the warmth
pardon me

MxPx
We thought that no one would be at this concert, since we hadn't heard anything about it to begin with. But when we got there, there was a huge line wrapping around 2 sides of the building. Needless to say, it was very crowded. Didn't pay much attention to Jersey, from what I remember, they sounded like A Newfound Glory mixed with Big Wig. The band was strange, Squad Five-o. They looked like a bunch of crust punks, and were playing "music with a message." The singer was doing this cool thing with water though, like getting a bunch in his mouth then spraying this huge mist cloud out of his mouth. Before their last song, he starts getting all religious and shit, so that was kinda gay. Before MxPx came on, they turned off all the lights, and started playing Baba O'Reily on the PA. Then, when the guitar and drums come in, MxPX comes out on stage and starts playing along with it. That was so fucking awesome. After that they just went right into Sometimes You Have to Ask. They also played Want Ad and Do Your Feet Hurt, two very awesome songs. They were playing Tomorrow's Another Day, and the PA was getting all shitty and making these horrible noises. So when the slow part in the song stops, they just stop completely, and Mike goes, "We broke the PA!!" But then they got it fixed, and went on. In between one of the songs, Mike was throwing picks into the crowd, and i was talking to my friend Brett in the pit. He was totally oblivious to the pick throwing, and just raises his hand in the air and grabs one of them. It was pretty cool. Later on, Tom threw a pick on the floor right next to me. There was this big guy next to me that was looking for it, but he gave up after a couple seconds. Then i saw it and grabbed it, and asked him if I could have it, b/c I was afraid he would beat me up if I didnt give it to him.

Setlist:
baba o'reily
sometimes you have to ask
party, my house, be there
my life story
under lock and key
move to bremerton
the theme fiasco
two whole years
do your feet hurt
the next big thing
middlename
want ad
tomorrow's another day
summer of 69'
im ok youre ok
teenage politics
responsibility
chick magnet
punk rawk show

Bouncing Souls, round 2
Well, I was sick again for this concert, and almost didnt end up going. But, considering I didnt get to really see them in good health last time, and this was one of their 4 tourdates for the next few months, I said fuck it, I'm going. Vison was ehh, alrite I guess. I thought Boy Sets Fire was supposed to be emo, oh boy was I surprised. The singer had this goofy ass "jesus just saved me" look on his face the whole time, and in the middle of their set, he busts otu some speech about taking "it" out on the streets...whatever the hell that means. After surviving them, the souls bounced onto the stage; Gregg wearing a nice little black dress shirt and a white tie, so distinguished. They played a good variety of stuff, they even played I Like Your Mom and afterwards some guy screamed, "Your mom is a whore!!" The bouncers were dragging people out of the pit that were crowd surfing, sometimes dragging them by their legs, haha, it was cool. They played a bunch of stuff off of the new record, and it sounded pretty rad. My only complaint is that they didnt play The Freaks, Nerds and Romantics.

Emo Super Show: GUK and =w=
Finally, after 5 years.... WEEZER!!! I went with my life-long =w= adoring bud, Rich, and my curvatious girl, Pam. Pam was working the show, so she got to go in early, while me and Rich stood outside. There was this weird guy selling =w= tribute cd's, and using these awful sales pitches (i.e. saying, "i'll be back....you know, like the terminator...".) Anyway, so the whole place is rigged up with all this Yahoo crap, like video game centers, computers, and a bunch of other queer shit. They were selling a bunch of merch, even crap like =w= bottle openers and necklaces. I managed to snag a GUK shirt for $5, very cool. The first band was Ozma, some hokey russian fetish-driven emo band. I wasnt impressed, and was waiting for them to get off the stage. As soon as they were done, we all tried to get into the middle for GUK, i was so ready to mosh. I thought that everyone would be just standing there and stuff, and that way i could mosh around no prob. But the crowd was so awful. Even before GUK took the stage, there were these huge waves of people getting pushed from each side of the arena, and we were all getting smashed to hell. And the people were so "concert stupid", no one would move, making it hellish to be anywhere near the stage. I was trying to stick it out though, cuz i really wanted to be up there. As soon as Jim belted out "forgive me", the crowd became even more hideous. I could only take about 2 1/2 songs worth of beating, then i got out. It seemed as if they barely played anything, i could have listened to them for hours. They played a new song, "beer for breakfast", off of the new vagrant sampler. They closed with "10 mins", and james was going ape shit, he was holding his keyboard in the air, playing it while standing on the keyboard stand. He was going nuts the whole show, but at the end i thought he was going to hurt someone, lol. Afterwards, he came back out on stage while they were setting up for =w=, and he threw a t-shirt into the crowd. It took forever, but =w= finally came out, and when they did it was awesome. They were all sitting in the corners of the stage, and started to play "new song", with Rivers on a little casio keyboard, it was so amazing. After that, they just busted out into "jonas", which was very cool. Even though i havent really listened to =w= for a long time before the show, as soon as i heard those classic tunes, it all came rushing back to me, singing along to every song, and banging my head to every snare hit. Rivers just looked so awesome up there, cooler than i ever could have imagined. He was so smooth and calm, and he nailed every single solo perfectly, especially on "only in dreams". My only qualm is that it wasnt the =w= i love, there was no Matt Sharp, one of the crucial elements of the =w= sound. Mikey looked like a little kid up there, he was running around constantly, standing on the drum riser holding his bass up high and stuff, rocking out. I was waiting for him to fuck up so i could have a real reason to not like him, but i didnt see any of that. All in all, a great performance, and the Yahoo sponsorship paid off. They had these band cams all over the stage, and on the mics, and projected them on big basketball backboards on the stage. And the huge multi-colored =w= symbol was the perfect touch. I cant wait til they come back again, long live rock music.

Setlist (for =w=):
new song
my name is jonas
el schorcho
you gave your love to me softly
the good life
christmas song
island in the sun
dont let go
hash pipe
in the garage
tired of sex
say it aint so
buddy holly
undone
why bother
only in dreams
surf wax america

Helping the homeless w/ Fugazi
I had never actually heard any of their stuff before, but Brett was just like "You have to see Ian MacKaye before you die"... how can you argue with that? So we managed to find this church in the middle of a spanish ghetto, and there were all these emo looking kids all over the place, which surprised me cuz i thought Fugazi was suposed to be all hardcore and shit. It was a good thing i was wearing my GUK shirt, haha. So we get there, and its all confusing b/c everyone is standing outside, you couldnt hear any music or anything. So we went to the door, and they said it was sold out, even though we had no idea how you were supposed to get the tix, everyone had these little pink pieces of paper, and we didnt. So we sat around for awhile hoping to get in somehow, and this guy comes around with a waiting list. So we signed that, and like 45 mins later he comes back and starts to gather up all the people on the list, even though he didnt check the names or anything. Then he's like "ok, lets try something, walk behind me single file, and we're going to get you in". It was like we were getting rescued from a P.O.W. camp or something. Anyway, we got in and i didnt even pay, the guy taking the money turned his head, and the other girl just stamped my hand, so i was like oh well... and just went in. There was this hideous girl band when we got in, they were like an emo version of luscious jackson, but really depressing, and all their voices sounded the same. Anyway, we realized that the show was all about this "cause" to save homeless people or something, and there were all these vegans and pro-active bullshit. Anyway, Fugazi came out and played a long ass set. The drummer was pretty good, and the music was alright, just not what i expected. I was so tired and hungry, so by the time they were finished i was so releived to get out of there.

Mix Pix
Me and Pam met up with one of her friends from school, b/c she lives in Phillie, and we went with her, her boyfriend, and some other guys. We got really lost getting to the Electric Factory, cause the directions were like totally wrong, and we were driving around in circles for 30 mins. Well, after asking a couple people, we finally found it, but we missed the Ultimate Fakebook. When Good Charlotte came on, me and Pam just sat in the back watching the suck around us. The band just blows, and the pre-pubescant girls' awful shreiking made it even more hideous. After the suck fest on the stage got off, we headed up front for MXPX. The stage guys were spraying the crowd down with super-soakers and hoses and shit, so we got totally wet. When they came on, they did the thing with Baba O'Reily that they did the last time i saw them; it rocked again, too. After like 2 songs, Pam got out of the middle, and I saw the pit that had opened, so i jumped in there. To make a long description short, I thrashed around all nite long, and it was really fun. And when they came back out for an encore, they played a Clash song and Tom sang. It was really rad, even though I dont like the Clash.

Setlist:
baba o reily
buildings tumble
two whole years
do your feet hurt
my life story
gsf
party, my house, be there
middlename
the next big thing
tomorrow's another day
small town minds
fist vs. tact
move to bremerton
theme fiasco
cold and all alone
lonesome town
under lock and key
chick magnet
im ok, you're ok
---------
should i stay or should i go
responsibility
punk rawk show

Third time's the charm
I went with Glenn and Rich, and we had to go through mad traffic to get up to Phillie. I was feeling all tired and stuff, so me and Rich sat in the lobby for the first two bands, in order to save strength for the Souls. The club was projecting the 76er's game up on the wall in between bands, and all the people were watching it and cheering and shit like that. Then, there was like 4 mins left in the last period, and they cut it off cuz the souls came on. And when they did, Papillion and Greg were like "yeah, we really dont care about basketball," and all these people were like booing and stuff, hahaha. They started off with "That Song" which was very cool. I stood in the back the whole time, b/c I had an awesome view of the whole band. I wanted to get up front, but then I saw Glenn come out of the pit and was telling me how awful it was. The show was rad though, and they played a bunch of stuff off the new record. Halfway into the set, Papillion goes "who likes the cure?" and then they started to play one of their songs, I forgot what it's called. And then, right before the encore, they start to play Blue Moon and this girl and a guy dressed up like Spiderman come out and are slow dancing to it, it was really fucked up.

Setlist:(most songs arent in order and i dont know the names of some, so i didnt put them in here)
that song
hopeless romantic
quick check girl
true believers
here we go
say anything
k8 is great
the something special
i like your mom
east coast fuck you
*cure song*
gone
headlights... ditch!
ballad of johnny x
born to lose
blue moon
-------------
lamar vannoy
freaks, nerds and romantics

The Woz
This concert started pretty late, and that pissed me off, MP didnt go on til like 11:45PM. The first band, The Beans, they were.. ehh, alright. Typical Geek Rock, not emo, too much Moog Keyboarding, and all the songs were too long and sounded the same. But once Marcy Playgound came on, it was all good. They started out with Poppies, and the previouslly drunken, somber, and yuppie crowd got all into it. They have a new drummer now, and he's pretty rad. They played like 6 new songs, all of which are super cool. People kept requesting songs, and John was just like "uh, i dont remember that one". John introduced the band and told everyone just to call him "Woz", then this guy behind me was like "HI WOZ", really loud. He went into this whole interlude about the show Starblazers during the beginning of "Wave Motion Gun", and was doing all this other crazy shit throughout the rest of the show. And after much whining of the audience, they played "Secret Squirrel", and did these little jam things going into it, and during the pause in the middle. It sounded like a Rush song for a little bit, but mostly just fucking around. For the encore, John came out and played a Neil Young song by himself. Some guy said "I'll take my pants off," and Woz was like "What song do I have to play to get you to keep them on?" hahaha. And then he went into Opium and the rest of the band walked back onto to the stage when it was their turn to come in for the song. And they ended with a new song called "Me, Me, Me" which was very punk rock i must say (even more punk rock then "Punk Rock Superstar", another new song they played.)

STD
I won this contest on Punkbands.com, and I was supposed to get to meet and interview Saves the Day and get into the show for free when they played at the Troc on the 15th. However, that didnt end up working out....fucking bullshit....so instead i just got 2 free passes for the show on monday. Me and Pam were supposed to go together, and we had planned it out like months before, that we were going to, but the night of, she decided she better not go, b/c she had been at work all day, and there was all this other shit going on. So like 2 hours before the show, I get Rich to go with me, and we just up and go. It's all cool that we didnt have to pay, and that i was on the guest list and stuff, but i really wanted a ticket stub, especially for a show that cool. Anyway, we just sat down in the lobby for the first 3 bands, except when i got up to see The Anniversary play "All Things Ordinary," cause that song's pretty rad. Little to our knowledge, all three of the other bands had played already, and we thought we were getting up front for Hot Rod Circuit, so we could make sure we were upfront for STD. So we're just chilling near the front on the side for awhile, then the lights go out and everything. Then i start seeing these guys walk out on stage, and i was like "hmm, that guy looks kinda familiar... oh, there's five guys in this band too..... hmm, that singer looks awful short," and then i finally realized it actually was Saves the Day. So i was like, shit man, and just took off for the front. They barely said anything, and just busted out with one of my favorite songs, "Holly Hox, Forget Me Nots," and it was soooo fucking awesome. At first we were like in the back of the pit, where all the open moshing sections are, but we finally made it up like 3 people or so behind the front of the stage. I just had this big ass smile most of the time jsut watching Chris Conely belt out song after song, and he would be looking into the crowd, and then just throw his head back and yell out the lyrics. The rest of the band looked very focused, and never really looked at anyone in the crowd or anything, which i thought was a little bit weird. But Chirs made up for it, b/c he was so involved with the crowd. All the songs they played were kick ass, and i was singing along to all the ones i knew. but after awhile i was so hot and exhausted that i thought i was going to throw up if i sang anymore, so i just mouthed the lyrics, haha. After they played cars and calories, chris starts talking about the song and how america portrays the perfect person and how we're supposed to be like them. And he was like "You know what i think about that? fuck them!" and then he started saying, "Because all i see here is beautiful people... when you go home, look in the mirror and accept how wonderful you are." It was pretty weird, but cool at the same time. When we were sitting down during the other bands, we kept seeing all these older people walking around with backstage passes on, and were wondering what the hell was up with that. And oddly enough, it turned out that one of the older women was actually Chirs Conley's mom, and during "My Sweet Fracture", theres a part when the lyrics go something like "called my mom last nite, she said 'sweetie, you dont need someone who's...somethign fades in the dark", and when he singing it he was looking up at his mom... it was pretty cool.

Setlist:
holly hox forget me nots
cars & calories
always 10 feet tall
my sweet fracture
take our cars now
jessie and my wheatstone
drag in d flat or sell my old clothes im off to heaven (i forget which one)
through being cool
shoulder to the wheel
rocks tonic juice magic
all star me
freakish
firefly
the last lie i told
jukebox breakdown
-------------
at your funeral
you vandal

Warped Tour '01
Here's all the bands that played: The Ataris, Jimmy Eat World, The Vandals, Rancid, Me First and the Gimme Gimme's, Rollins Band, AFI, Bouncing Souls, Good Charlotte, Sum 41, Pennywise, Kool Keith(gay), D-12(super gay), Alien Ant Farm, Less Than Jake, Dropkick Murphys, H2O, Fenix TX, Flogging Molly, and Big Wig. We got there late, and missed Alien Ant Farm, Jimmy Eat World, The Vandals, and half of The Ataris. I went with Amy, Rich and Nicole, and we all had a good time pretty much. Me and Rich got seperated from the girls for like 2+ hours right when Rancid started playing. But it was all good, b/c we got to meet the Souls instead ;) and i got my pic with Pete and Michael. I also found all this cool promo stuff for the new STD album all over the ground. I was picking it up and these girls come over and are like "wow! saves the day stuff, i love them!" So we all shared it and talked for a minute or two. I only got totally in the pit for the Souls, and they played at like 8:00, and were the 2nd to last band there. After that, I found some girl's license on the ground, and met back up with the other 3. I was so tired, and when i sat down in the car, i got all dizzy, it was all fucked up. And when i got back, i sent that girl her license back... arent i just the sweetest guy? Ok, well... i gave the letter to Rich and he stamped it and sent it, but its the same thing.

Beer and Music for the Masses
I was so beat from the Warped Tour the day before, and i had sunburn and everything, so i felt real shitty. I only got like 2 hours of sleep at the most, and it was a 4 hour drive up there... mad gay. I went with my dad, stepmom, sister, and pam, but it was just me and pam walking around all day. Got in the pit for Incubus, it was so fucking hot. And the only other band we actually watched was STP, and we were all crowded up in the bleachers, but they were pretty cool. (im too lazy to finish this review right now, i'll finish it later.) - actually i won't

I hide in shadows, growing wings
I went to the show with my awesome friend Sarah, and we both had an amazing time. Rise Against was alright, the singer looked like he belonged in some modern rock band like Creed or Tantric, and sounded a little like the guy from At The Drive In. F-Minus wasn't all that good though. The lead singer is this fat and asshole-ish guy, a girl bassist and guitarist, and then a guy on drums. The drummer was the best part of that band by far, as for the rest... naahh. I really didn't watch most of Death by Stereo, cause my legs were killing me and I went to go sit down in the other part of the club. But from what I did see, the singer had his head shaved except for a really long patch on the top, it went down at least to his waist. He's a screamer alright, and the rest of the band were alright, good hardcore. But then on a couple songs the two guitarists did these cheesy ass 80's metal harmonized solos, and I was holding myself back from laughing outloud.
But then the real show was about to begin, and I situated myself up towards the stage, and Sarah was up in the balcony so she could actually see the stage. When the curtains opened, they played weird sound effects like a storm and started slowly pumping out fog and flashing dim red lights. After which they played this really gothic opera type music for awhile, and then Adam, Hunter and Jade took to the stage and started off "Strength Through Wounding". The crowd was all up siked up, and then Davey walks out just as the lyrics begin, looking very serious and then got into the song. After the first song, they stopped and were directing their attention to someone who was apparently going to jump off the balcony or something, and Davey told him he better not even think about it, b/c he would hurt a lot of people, he seemed to be quite perturbed by it, too. But after that, they just continued with the show, following with "A Single Second" I believe. Jade and Hunter were ALL over the place, and they were just so fucking energetic and fluent the entire time. I think that's one of the best aspects of the show, the whole band takes it seriouslly and they dont dick around on stage, and they give you such a show. It was close to a religious experience for me, and I was smiling the entire time just watching them move up there. And Davey.... oh my, Davey Havok... I mean, what more can you say about him? He is like the perfect front man I have ever seen. He is so considerate to the crowd, and you can see it in his facial expressions when he belts out the lyrics. There's so much energy being exchanged from him into you, that it's such a feeling of joy to be there. I was also surprised to hear him talk, I had thought him to have a semi-soft and high pitched voice, or some other type of "goth" stererotype, but he sounds just like a normal guy, and very friendly. And he's not like some vain asshole at all, he was bowing down to Jade during one of his guitar solos and not trying to steal the show or something. He just gets so into the music, and makes such a powerful art form on stage. For the encore they did "God Called in Sick Today", and for the last chorus he stepped into the crowd, and was standing on everyone's hands. I was like 7 feet away from him, and it was sooooo cool, you cant begin to imagine. AFI gave their all, I gave my all, and it was a great night.

Setlist: actual order !!!
Strength Through Wounding
Sacrifice Theory
The Prayer Position
Ever and a Day
No Poetic Device
A Single Second
Brownie Bottom Sundae
Morning Star
The Despair Factor
Wester
Hanging Garden
Midnight Sun
The Lost Souls
Days of the Phoenix
Totalimmortal
---------------
God Called in Sick Today

I know where my friends can be found
Me and Rich got there late, and totally missed Madcap and about half of One Man Army. There were a ton of people there, and it seemed more crowded than the night before, since they had the balcony closed off for some reason. We just sat in the other part of the club during Flogging Molly, seeing as how Irish Folk Punk isn't really my thing. We also saw Michael from the Souls standing in front of the merch stand right when we came in. Anyway, I hadn't planned on going into the pit or anything since my back and neck still hurt like hell from AFI. But as soon as they came out and burst into "That Song" I couldn't help myself, as usual, haha. And I had my sweatshirt on the whole time too, so I was all kinds of hot. They did a cover of a Bad Brains song, since we were in DC and all, and also covered a Cock Sparrer song, with Jake from One Man Army playing guitar along with Pete. And during "Headlights...Ditch!" Michael goes into a pretty rad drum solo, and then breaks it down into a riff or two of "Walk This Way" and Pete and Bryan joined in. And they they started playing "Hot For Teacher", hahaha... and Greg even did the little talking parts in the beginning, it was fucking awesome. All in all it was a basic rocking show, nothing spectacular you know, just an all around rad Souls show. Until the end that is. A couple songs before the end, I had made my way up to the front on the left side and was enjoying the show out of the pit for awhile. And for their last tune, "Manthem", Greg gets down into the front of the crowd and is letting people up on stage to sing along and stuff. Well, I was right there but didn't go up on stage, but got something even better. Greg made his way over right in front of me and leaned out into the crowd and was singing with us for the whole song. And I was right in front of him and he was grabbing my hand for awhile and we were singing out together, it was so fucking rad. I had flyers for my punk show in my hand, cause I was going to try and throw them up on the stage hoping that they would reach the band... but instead I just gave them to Greg and he put them in his pocket!! Haha, how cool is that? And they were the Souls version flyers too, I hope he gets a kick out of it and actually goes to the page and signs the guestbook, I would shit my pants. But yeah, so I was like totally hanging out with him for the last song, and having a great time, he's the man.

Setlist:
That Song
Hopeless Romantic
Kid
Gone
True Believers
ECFU
Quick Chek Girl
All of This and Nothing
K8 is Great
- Bad Brains song
No Rules
Headlights...Ditch!
- Cock Sparrer song
Born to Lose
Argyle
Here We Go
The Something Special
Private Radio
Ballad of Johnny X
Blue Moon
Night On Earth
--------------
Manthem

Fuck Towson
Why did the stupid fucking kids around here have to ruin this show for me? I hate the Recher Theatre and all the little assholes that congregated there for this show, NONE of them knew how to act at a show, and I couldn't even enjoy myself. That's why people dont play here, cause the crowd is fucking stupid.
Anyway, the first band, Whatever it Takes, they were alright i suppose, nothing really special. Except that the singer thought it would be cool to sport a skunk hair-do and die a black strip from front to back on his head. Plus his guitar broke twice. Thursday was a lot better than I had previouslly thought, and they were pretty good on stage. The singer was really good and they did rock whilst up there. The singer from Hey Mercedes started out by passing out stickers to everyone in the front row, how kind. They were kinda boring though, although, the crowd did suck emensely, so that wasnt helping. And then for Saves the Day... the previous statement refers to the sudden wave of idiocity that swept over the crowd before STD came on. And that pretty much sums up the show considering I couldn't concentrate on anything else, everytime I actually started to enjoy myself, someone fell on my head or crushed me almost to the floor. One of the high points was when Chris manned the acoutic guitar and did some solo acoustic tunes. He messed up on "Hold" and it was kinda funny, then did another one by himself. After that they rest of the guys came on and they did one more off the acoustic EP, and Ted brought out a 12 pack of coke for the audience. They played alright I guess, it just sucked for so many reasons and I was really pissed about it.
(1) the crowd was awful
(2) it was only 4/5 of STD, since the Hey Mercedes drummer was filling in
(3) the venue just wasnt a good place for a show
(4) it was raining really hard outside, so we were all drenched to begin with
Maybe next time boys

Setlist:
As Your Ghost Takes Flight
Rocks Tonic Juice Magic
See You
All Star Me
Certain Tragedy
Through Being Cool
Freakish
Sell My Old Clothes, I'm Off to Heaven
--acoustic--
Hold
Take Our Cars Now
Jessie and My Wheatstone
-----
My Sweet Fracture
Nightingale
The Choke
Cars & Calories
Drag in D Flat
This is Not an Exit
Jukebox Breakdown
At Your Funeral
------------
Holly Hox, Forget Me Nots

Appleseed Suck Squad
I went to this show with Sarah and Nikki, the most emo-tastic girls I know, haha. We stood on the floor for Appleseed Suck Squad, who totally sucked, and then headed up to the balcony for the rest of the show. The Kids, that's right I'm a big enough fan where i can just refer to The Get Up Kids as just "The Kids", played a pretty good show as usual. I was surprised about how much stuff they played of Eudora, beside the fact that it had just come out like 2 weeks prior to the show. But they played my favorite song too, "Central Standard Time", which was totally awesome. They also played the David Bowie cover, "Suffragette City", at the end of the show which was pretty rad. They did some new songs off of their upcoming album, and I have to be honest... I wasn't all that impressed. One of them was pretty cool, but there was this one that just sounded like a lame blues riff and it was awful. I'll have to wait until I hear the whole album before I totally trash them however, lol.

The Stryder and Thursday
Somehow I got Brett to go to this show with me, don't even ask me how that happened. The place was packed to the brim, it was the first time the Sidebar has ever sold out I think they said. I brought my camera thinking there would be room to take pictures, however it was so hideous, and I could barely move my arms in the crowd. So yeah, that didnt work out at all. The Stryder totally blows now since they lost their singer, and they played all these weak ass songs too, I think they skipped all the cool ones on purpose. So by the time they went on stage, we had already sat through 4 bands, and it was so gross being in there. We made our wasy up to the door and the merch stand, where I proceeded to buy some wicked cool Thursday propaganda. And who should happen to walk through the door but Geoff Rickely himself (the singer of Thursday in case you didn't know), wearing this huge fur rim-hooded winter coat and carrying around a bunch of towels with him. I told him good luck on the show and he introduced himself and was like "Sorry for being in everyone's way," as he pushed himself through the crowd. After that we stood outside for awhile, watching The Stryder and Thursday move all there shit around, and stood out there until Thursday took the stage. After which point we just left... makes sense, right? It was just too gross in there, and I didnt feel like toting around all that camera shit anymore. Not to mention the fact that Brett was spouting off "Emo sucks, let's go, this sucks" the whole time.

Hoobasuck
I just went to this show cause Pam got a photo pass, and I wanted the opportunity to take pics at a "real show".

The Moon is Down
...coming soon

Can you bring me some gasoline?
Oh god, at one point in time I was going to go with like 7 people to this concert and it took me forever to determine how I was going ot work it out. Ends up most people didnt buy a ticket early, and it sold out like umbrellas during monsoon season. So I went with Rich, Pam and her friends and they met up with Jen right at the door, and I met up with Amy at the end of the show. Small Brown Bike just came out and rocked house, no 2 ways about it. There was this pit that opened up during their set and these total hardcore guys slamming around in it, it was fucking great. Piebald was running a muck during their set, and during one song the singer did this David Lee Roth-esk jump split off of the drum riser, CLASSIC! And they were cracking jokes the whole time too, at one point reciting some Petey Pablo, haha. Saves the Day unrolled a huge banner before they went on stage, and all the little girls and little boys screamed for joy. They must have not been certain that Saves the Day WAS IN FACT playing that evening, due to their apparent scream of relief when the banner arose. Anywho, they played, it was decent... I can't really remember anything special happenening. And it seems to be standard practice now that Chris adorns an acoustic halfway through every set and jams out 2 acoustic songs and then the band joins in for "I'm Sorry I'm Leaving". One cool thing, Amy gave me a setlist that she snagged, so now I can post an authentic setlist on here --v

Setlist: for STD
As Your Ghost Takes Flight
Through Being Cool
Cars & Calories
Certain Tragedy
All-Star Me
Freakish
Holly Hox, Forget Me Nots
See You
All I'm Losing is Me
***Acoustic***
Take Our Cars Now
Three Miles Down
I'm Sorry, I'm Leaving
***
Sell My Old Clothes, I'm Off to Heaven
The Last Lie I Told
Nightingale
My Sweet Fracture
Firefly
***Encore***
Rocks Tonic Juice Magic
At Your Funeral

Old, fat bastards
Eric, Gabe and myself went to this little show together; first time I've been to a show with Gabe, too. We got there just in time for Frenzal Rhomb, they were so-so, very annoying with their Australian accents and before every song saying "This song is called _____, and it goes exactly like this, cause we wrote it." The Mad Caddies were pretty lame too, extremely boring and weak ass ska shit. Eventually, NoFX staggered onto the stage and took their instruments; Fat Mike with his vodka in hand. They blabbed about some dumb shit for like 5 minutes or so before they even started to play. They played "The Decline" really early in the show and were like "yeah, that's more of an end song, but we decided to play it sooner, oh well." They played this song that Fat Mike said he wrote that afternoon, "Idiot Son of an Asshole", and they told the audience to wait a minute whilst Mike showed it to Melvin and Hefe all huddled up on the stage. It sounded pretty lame too, haha. At one point, Fat Mike said that Ian MacKaye was supposedly in the audience and then like 2 songs later they played "Straight Edge", because it is a DC song or something, even though they had previouslly endorsed drug use earlier in the show. They ended with "Theme to a NOFX Album" and Melvin strapped on his accordian and went to town. In fact, after the song was done, he kept playing for like 10 mins while Mike and Hefe threw tons of picks out into the audience.

Setlist: for NoFX
Dinosaurs Will Die
Linoleum
Perfect Government
(part of) The Decline
What's the Matter With Parents Today?
All His Suits are Torn
Falling in Love
Six Pack Girls
Idiot Son of an Asshole
Stickin' in My Eye
Straight Edge
The Brews
Buggley Eyes
Together in the Sand
Nowhere
Bob
Bottles to the Ground
Olympia, WA
Murder the Government
Eat the Meek
Theme From a NOFX Album

Thursday & Sparta
coming soon...

Skate & Surf Festival
Some of the bands on this final day of the 3-day long festival:
The Bouncing Souls
Element 101
THE DESCENDENTS
The Movielife
Alkaline Trio
and much more...

Mr.Costello
me and pam got to see this show for free, and you can't beat that with a stick

A "fire" in the ghetto
This was one of the most empty shows for a national touring band that I've ever been to, and it was pretty cool. I took Eric along with me to Phillie for this one, and he brought his fucking laptop and watched his Steve Austin wrestling DVD the whole way up there... so pathetic. Anyways, I had been chasing E101 trying to see them but their webpage was being all kinds of fucked up and posting all this shows that didn't end up happening. I had no idea what kind of show this was going to be, and I was scared of it selling out or something like that. However when we got there I was totally surprised to see what was actually going on. It's this very little room on the side of a bar in the not so attractive part of the city, right next to the fire station (hence it being called "The Fire"). And there were no more than 15 people there for the show, and probably half of them were in the bands. When we got there, E101 was just chilling outside before the show, and I was just trying to play it cool and not notice them. It was going to be a very intimate show, which was so strange considering my view's of the band, in that I would never expect such a small turnout. ANYWAYS... they took the stage and played pretty much the same set they did at the Skate & Surf fest when I saw them last, the only difference is that the levels weren't as good, the vocals and rhythm guitar should have been louder, but it wasn't that big of a deal. I also brought my camera and snapped some shots of them in action as they flailed on stage like the wild animals they are. After they finsihed me and Eric went outside and the bassist and guitarist were outside as well. Eric started up a conversation with them (thank god, cause I was too scared too) and we got to talking about all kinds of shit, and mentioned how we came all the way from Baltimore to see them. They were really cool guys, and cool to talk to. Sal, the bass player, started talking about the new album and was going to play us some of it in his car or something after the next band got done their set inside, cause he told us we had to check them out, but unfortuantlly, we never got around to hearing the cd.... dammit! I told him we should open up for them the next time they come to Baltimore, and he seemed down for it, so I can only corss my fingers on that one. We checked out the last band, Two-Thirty-Eight, and they were pretty rad, kind of a cross between Fugazi and Hot Rod Circuit or something along those lines; "mathematical punk" as Sal put it, haha. So I picked up their cd, and then me and Eric started back home. I was hoping to hang out with the band more, but they were all busy talking to other people and moving their shit, so we just left. I can't wait til the album and the next time they come around.

Warped Tour 2002
Me, Rich and Pam went to this, Pam drove... so I got to command the cd player, which means there was 2 hours of Descendents being played. Pam got a photo pass and shit so I used it and took pics all day long. It was a lot cooler than being in the damn pit trying to enjoy the music whilst beating your way through the crowds. I posted some pics of it on the Can I Say website.

We Shall Acheive ALL !!!
I had to go to this by myself cause no one else wanted to. At the time i didnt really know any ALL songs at the time, but I wanted to go cause I knew they wouldn't come around again, like ever. I took some pics, turned out ok. Plus they did a few Descendents songs, Coolidge was amazing.

Further again
Me and Eric went, cause he was dying to see Dynamite Boy. He was like their only fan there, and the band noticed and appreciated it. He had me take pics of him with them later on, and he bought this dumbass D Boy hat. Further was cool, and there was an incident with a cake on the stage like 3 songs in, and there was a huge mess on the stage for the rest of their set. They played some new tunes, good stuff. I also took pics of this show too.

Without You I'm Me
Sarah asked me to go to this show with her, Nikki and Lexi. It was pretty rad, cause I had no idea Two Thirty Eight was gonna be there, it was a nice surprise. The other bands sucked balls, but Me Without You was awesome. The singer was crazy and was reading lyrics off of this crumpled up piece of paper and walking around with a towel on his head. But they rocked, I just wish I had the money to buy their cd, cause everywhere I look for it, it's like $15.

The Bouncing Flags
I was all siked for Anti-Flag, but their onstage politics made me sick, and now I don't like them all that much. And the souls played a classic set as always, with a big onstage gathering with AF at the end, where they covered each others songs, switching members on different instruments.

The Explosion resulted in A Fire Inside the 9:30 club
Wow, first show in 8 months... I must be slipping in my old age. Speaking of which, I was sore all over for over a week after the show, it hurt everytime I breathed. The show was alright, they started off with Miseria Cantare, which I guess they will do from now on, replacing Strength Through Wounding, I think it works better anyways. They played a decent variety of tunes as well, not neglected all their pre-"Sails" stuff (to my dismay b/c I'm not all that familiar with it). They seemed to take breaks after every 3-4 songs though, which was kinda lame, cause there was a buildup then nothing for a few moments. Their set seemed pretty short over all too, but maybe it was just me. Davey walked on the crowd twice, and I was pretty close to him the first time he did, but I had made my way out of the pit when he did it a second time. Finally, they closed with Death of Seasons, and he really went for the gold at the end when they all walked off stage and all you could hear in the darkness was a trailing guitar line and Havok screaming the paint off the walls. It was a good show I suppose, I'm just pissed on how old I am.