Better late then never
So does anyone care but oh well here is how the road trip weekend went. Thursday (11/13) we left work at 1:15pm. Headed down to South River to meet up with Danny and then make our way to the Electric Factory in the fair city of Philadelphia. Somehow we wound up at the club very early (which provided us with a killer parking spot) and in line for about an hour and a half this was the same night that the east coast got hit with hurricane like winds. So we stood in line getting readily tossed by the wind and feeling the temp drop in 15 minute intervals. To give you an idea Danny is 6'2" and weighs in at about 350lbs and had to brace his ground a few times. Watched a bunch of kids get their tickets stolen and another group state how they would not pay a scalper more then 10 dollars for a ticket (I found this very amusing as the tickets where only 15 dollars to begin with). I started to wonder from the posturing and posing of a lot of the people if the show was to be on stage or the floor (I'm not going to rant).
Security was very nice and knew that people where uncomfortable so once the doors where opened they made it very smooth process to get in the venue. Once inside we made our way up to the Bar/Balcony. This was one of the benefits to arriving so early we where hoping we could get a good seat as Kristen and I knew we would be partaking in the show multiple times and Danny suffers from a previous ankle injury sitting through one night would be a great experience. We where able to get some great seats right at the end of the balcony almost center stage.
I ordered up my first "pint" (I use the term pint in slang only as I have purchased 5 cent lemonade from 1st graders in bigger containers) of the weekend. They where playing the really cool City Rockers/Clash Tribute over the PA when we arrived.
The Disasters took the stage and played a great set although they seemed a bit off (this is not surprising as it was there first night on the tour and they had just finished a really long tour with The Dropkicks), but they where still better then half the other bands I have seen in my life. They did a short set of about 35 minutes which is not that bad of a thing for them as they can squeeze quite a bit in (god bless the to the point attitude of punk rock) including their usual cover of Career Opportunities and a surprise version of Agnostic Fronts' Gotta Go. I saw Joe the bass player for The Disasters mulling around downstairs after the set and contemplated going down to say hi (we had spoken twice before when I saw the Disasters open for the Transplants back in the Spring), but by the time I decided to risk losing my seat the Slackers where set up and ready to go (not a damn minute was wasted in set and break down on this tour.).
The Slackers set as usual was a gratifying experience. As with the other times I have seen them there was no guessing what the set list would contain outside of the Disco Dave gimmick. These guys lose no energy what so ever they are always on. I guess this a testament to the band constantly playing. A lot of there music is so laid back but yet so uplifting it was just killer. They did I guess about 45 minutes maybe a bit less.
Then they started to set up for Tiger Army. This was great as I have had horrible luck seeing these guys in the past and I happen to really love them I was really psyched to see them. During the Sick Of It All/Dropkicks tour they opened doors late and I got in to catch the last two or three songs of their set and then for the Punks/Psychos tour at Knitting Factory Nick 13 wound up getting very ill and they had to cancel their set. T.A. had a great mix disc during their set up a mix of horror punk, psycho billy and classic honky tonk. They hit the stage and you could tell from minute one this was no longer the Nick 13 project this was now a band. Geoff did most of the on stage talking between songs. They did a nice mix of tracks from the first and second cd's as well as a track from their up coming new album "I Wander Alone ??" and a really cool Morrissey cover I believe it was called "The Loop" (I'm really bad with song titles and I have only started listening to The Smiths at the beginning of this month let alone The Moe Man's solo stuff). The band was tight as hell and this is really impressive because as Geoff mentioned on stage their drummer Fred Hell was the victim of a home invasion in March and was shot four times (what he didn't mention but I happen to know is that the one bullet which was lodged in his brain is still there). They finished there set and I was really excited knowing I was going to see them twice more before the weekend was over.
We ordered one last round of drinks. Normally I am sure to tip said waitress/waiter generously especially in places like this where ice is classified as being part of what ever alcohol you intend to imbibe. This most of the time guarantees mine and Kristen's drinks to be just a bit stronger. This is normally a good rule of thumb I think, but it back fired on us this evening. I ordered myself another "pint" and Kristen was drinking Amaretto Sours (a newly discovered favorite of hers). The waitress or the bartender took the order wrong and brought instead a whiskey sour. The unfortunate thing here is that when Kristen got the drink she took a nice big gulp off it expecting something somewhat sweet in turn she got a big blast of what was most likely good Ol' #7 off the bottom of the unmixed cup and as she has never drank whiskey in her life it had a bit of an adverse effect on her and she did wind up a bit ill. First mishap of the weekend.
Rancid hit the stage they did a great set going all over all of their albums. It was a nice sampler including surprise solo version of Lars F. & the Bastards cover of Billy Bragg's How I Was How I Am. This along with the solo version War's End seemed a way for the other boys to nip off to take a piss or what not. I knew by the songs that where being played that the set was coming to an end so we made our way downstairs and I slightly bummed out about the fact that Rancid did not take advantage of some of the people that where there that night such as Vic Ruggario (The Slackers) who plays on most of the new album and has toured with the band before as well as the Slackers horn section has made appearances with the band both live and on disc also the fact that Roger Miret was there could have given us a version of Something in the World Today off Life Won't Wait. Still an incredible set none the less and knew I had not made a mistake choosing to see this show three times in all.
We had already made a decision to pass on getting any merch this show except for my daughters Tiger Army shirt. I purchased the shirt tipped the merch guy and asked if I could put some flyers for the site on the table he was way cool about it. I dropped some on Rancid's and the rest of the bands tables. I checked at the Slackers table to see if they where carrying the new Dave Hillyard cd with them but I didn't have enough on me to purchase and figured I would do so at the Boston show. On the way out I noticed Fred Hell was sitting next to T.A.'s merch table and figured I would take the opportunity to introduce myself. He was a very nice guy. I complimented him on the set and gave him a flyer and he said he would check out the site and he had to excuse himself. We made our way outside and collected our bearings. Got in the car and made our way back to Jersey (time for me to try out my newly reaquired driving privliges) to get some sleep this was just the beginning and as I should have been some what tired I was feeling more like the kid before the class trip he/she is really looking forward to and really couldn't sleep. Day 1 done and outside of an unexpectedly short term drunk girlfriend and the beginnings of a lost voice due to yelling and the cold no major catastrophes to report.
Security was very nice and knew that people where uncomfortable so once the doors where opened they made it very smooth process to get in the venue. Once inside we made our way up to the Bar/Balcony. This was one of the benefits to arriving so early we where hoping we could get a good seat as Kristen and I knew we would be partaking in the show multiple times and Danny suffers from a previous ankle injury sitting through one night would be a great experience. We where able to get some great seats right at the end of the balcony almost center stage.
I ordered up my first "pint" (I use the term pint in slang only as I have purchased 5 cent lemonade from 1st graders in bigger containers) of the weekend. They where playing the really cool City Rockers/Clash Tribute over the PA when we arrived.
The Disasters took the stage and played a great set although they seemed a bit off (this is not surprising as it was there first night on the tour and they had just finished a really long tour with The Dropkicks), but they where still better then half the other bands I have seen in my life. They did a short set of about 35 minutes which is not that bad of a thing for them as they can squeeze quite a bit in (god bless the to the point attitude of punk rock) including their usual cover of Career Opportunities and a surprise version of Agnostic Fronts' Gotta Go. I saw Joe the bass player for The Disasters mulling around downstairs after the set and contemplated going down to say hi (we had spoken twice before when I saw the Disasters open for the Transplants back in the Spring), but by the time I decided to risk losing my seat the Slackers where set up and ready to go (not a damn minute was wasted in set and break down on this tour.).
The Slackers set as usual was a gratifying experience. As with the other times I have seen them there was no guessing what the set list would contain outside of the Disco Dave gimmick. These guys lose no energy what so ever they are always on. I guess this a testament to the band constantly playing. A lot of there music is so laid back but yet so uplifting it was just killer. They did I guess about 45 minutes maybe a bit less.
Then they started to set up for Tiger Army. This was great as I have had horrible luck seeing these guys in the past and I happen to really love them I was really psyched to see them. During the Sick Of It All/Dropkicks tour they opened doors late and I got in to catch the last two or three songs of their set and then for the Punks/Psychos tour at Knitting Factory Nick 13 wound up getting very ill and they had to cancel their set. T.A. had a great mix disc during their set up a mix of horror punk, psycho billy and classic honky tonk. They hit the stage and you could tell from minute one this was no longer the Nick 13 project this was now a band. Geoff did most of the on stage talking between songs. They did a nice mix of tracks from the first and second cd's as well as a track from their up coming new album "I Wander Alone ??" and a really cool Morrissey cover I believe it was called "The Loop" (I'm really bad with song titles and I have only started listening to The Smiths at the beginning of this month let alone The Moe Man's solo stuff). The band was tight as hell and this is really impressive because as Geoff mentioned on stage their drummer Fred Hell was the victim of a home invasion in March and was shot four times (what he didn't mention but I happen to know is that the one bullet which was lodged in his brain is still there). They finished there set and I was really excited knowing I was going to see them twice more before the weekend was over.
We ordered one last round of drinks. Normally I am sure to tip said waitress/waiter generously especially in places like this where ice is classified as being part of what ever alcohol you intend to imbibe. This most of the time guarantees mine and Kristen's drinks to be just a bit stronger. This is normally a good rule of thumb I think, but it back fired on us this evening. I ordered myself another "pint" and Kristen was drinking Amaretto Sours (a newly discovered favorite of hers). The waitress or the bartender took the order wrong and brought instead a whiskey sour. The unfortunate thing here is that when Kristen got the drink she took a nice big gulp off it expecting something somewhat sweet in turn she got a big blast of what was most likely good Ol' #7 off the bottom of the unmixed cup and as she has never drank whiskey in her life it had a bit of an adverse effect on her and she did wind up a bit ill. First mishap of the weekend.
Rancid hit the stage they did a great set going all over all of their albums. It was a nice sampler including surprise solo version of Lars F. & the Bastards cover of Billy Bragg's How I Was How I Am. This along with the solo version War's End seemed a way for the other boys to nip off to take a piss or what not. I knew by the songs that where being played that the set was coming to an end so we made our way downstairs and I slightly bummed out about the fact that Rancid did not take advantage of some of the people that where there that night such as Vic Ruggario (The Slackers) who plays on most of the new album and has toured with the band before as well as the Slackers horn section has made appearances with the band both live and on disc also the fact that Roger Miret was there could have given us a version of Something in the World Today off Life Won't Wait. Still an incredible set none the less and knew I had not made a mistake choosing to see this show three times in all.
We had already made a decision to pass on getting any merch this show except for my daughters Tiger Army shirt. I purchased the shirt tipped the merch guy and asked if I could put some flyers for the site on the table he was way cool about it. I dropped some on Rancid's and the rest of the bands tables. I checked at the Slackers table to see if they where carrying the new Dave Hillyard cd with them but I didn't have enough on me to purchase and figured I would do so at the Boston show. On the way out I noticed Fred Hell was sitting next to T.A.'s merch table and figured I would take the opportunity to introduce myself. He was a very nice guy. I complimented him on the set and gave him a flyer and he said he would check out the site and he had to excuse himself. We made our way outside and collected our bearings. Got in the car and made our way back to Jersey (time for me to try out my newly reaquired driving privliges) to get some sleep this was just the beginning and as I should have been some what tired I was feeling more like the kid before the class trip he/she is really looking forward to and really couldn't sleep. Day 1 done and outside of an unexpectedly short term drunk girlfriend and the beginnings of a lost voice due to yelling and the cold no major catastrophes to report.