I had double duty on this day: A show in the afternoon and then a date that night! I did that once before I think maybe about 12 years ago, but it would be a busy day for sure.
I do not really remember the order of bands that played, so I will just run through them. I remember I got to the gig mostly on time, so I chilled outside clearing out my RSS reader and Flipboard until I met up with a friend who had some copies of one of my old fanzines for me. I met up with some other friends, some I had not seen in a very long time, and was in and out a few times to check out Blind Justice and Hounds of Hate, who were both pretty decent.
The big draw at this show was the debut of World War IV, which features members of Floorpunch, Mind Eraser, Give, etc. After catching up with some of those guys, I packed it up front and World War IV played through their demo in order. There were of singalongs, diving, and moshing. Their demo is great and I cannot wait to see them again in August.
A few people switched out and No Tolerance played and the crowd went nuts. They are one of the best bands going today and did not let me down at all. I kept it packed in up front for them, but left the moshing for others. I picked up a shirt, which unfortunately does not really fit me too well. Oh well.
Fire & Ice was a band I really looked forward to seeing. Their LP Not Of This Earth had come highly recommended and I had spent a lot of the summer and fall listening to it. They played to a pretty quiet crowd that seemed to be recovering from No Tolerance and World War IV. I was a bit bummed because I expected people to be going off hard for them, but most of the crowd just hung out and watched. They were good, but I think with a more vibrant crowd they live will excellent. I skipped them the other time they played in the area during the fall and they are on my radar to check out again.
I want to apologize to The Boston Strangler because I only watched a few of their songs before getting pulled into a conversation outside with some friends. They are a great band and the crowd looked really into it. I am sure they will be back soon.
