This might have been the first show I ever drove to, but I am not sure. Redemption 87 was one of the first of the “bringing it back” bands that emerged in the middle of the nineties. Their record suddenly popped up in the local record store, advertised as ex members of Token Entry and Unit Pride. Oh, really? Well the record was pretty good, although has not held up that well, and the hype around them was pretty massive.
New Providence is at least an hour and a half from Manahawkin, probably more, and I think we took two cars of people which got separated around the fork in the Parkway around exit 109. Whoops. Everyone got there though, so no biggie.
Bladecrasher ended up cancelling this show because they got into an accident on the way to the show. This was one of the first shows for In My Eyes who, at the time, were hyped up as a new band for Tony P, who had split from Ten Yard Fight a few months before. I remember Lana playing part of the demo for me a few weeks before the show and it sounded really cool. I was not a big fan of their albums, but In My Eyes absolutely floored me at this show. So many of the “88” bands were sloppy, generic, and bland. This band really set themselves apart and I was impressed. They covered a Uniform Choice song too and Pete gave me the mic for the last 1/3 of it or so. I was terrified, but psyched. After their set, I bought a shirt and a demo and cranked it in the car as we went to get dinner down the road. I remember thinking it was cool they had an intro on side B ala Bold.
I think I missed a bit of Rain On The Parade’s set, but we interviewed them later in the night during Ensign’s set. Uprise got a great response at this show too. After the interview, we walked back to the venue and then sprinted inside as they went into an Underdog cover, which had the entire room totally going off. I was not, somehow, super familiar with Ensign before this show, which seems so weird looking back, and I picked up a shirt and their seven inch. They might have had that second one out for this show too? That might have been a month or two later…
Redemption 87 got a really crazy reaction. People were super into them and the entire room was singing along when they covered Break Down The Walls. I met up with Eric afterwards and kept in touch with him afterwards. The hype on them died down real fast after their second album went through never ending delays and they seemed to fade into oblivion. I met a lot of people who would become close friends at this show.
I had work really early the next morning and we did not get home until around 2am. We almost got in a pretty gnarly car accident on the way home when someone suddenly switched lanes in front of us. I was a zombie at work the next morning and actually slept in the bathroom for like 45 minutes. My work used to love “punishing” me by giving me a morning shift after a night I took off.
