I've been in the habit lately of reviewing old shows that for some reason or another, stand out in my mind. They usually involve some kind of strange situation...strange venue, strange people etc. Here's what I remember from this one. I've always been in the habit of going to shows by myself. I live out in the western suburbs of Chicago, and there's no hardcore kids (or punk rock kids even), so I usually drive out to venues in the city. On the way I'll smoke a joint or two, blast some music, and hype myself up for the show a little bit. Galaxie is an art co-op that use to have hardcore shows on the regular, I say used to because I recently found out they're not booking punk gigs anymore...bummer). I parked my car around the corner from the venue, and started walking towards the front entrance. Halfway there through this alley sort of street, I see my friend Mike Conway drinking beers behind a dumpster with a few people. I think Matt Bremer was there and Luca the Catburglar's drummer as well, along with a few others. Standing there with them is this sketchy looking dude with a shaved head and shitty homemade tattoos all over. He turns to the right and he has a big swastika tattooed on his neck, It was in the middle of a circle with a line through it, which was obviously after the fact. Just think though, imagine the way people would treat you if you walked down the street with a BIG bold swazi on your neck. That guy's life must have been/be a living hell. So he starts talking in a rapid fire tweaker's patois. He said he was from California......Orange County to be exact (Big surprise there haha). He starts rambling on about how good the weed is back in California and asked if anyone wanted to match him. Not having any valuables in sight in my car at the time and thinking I might get a good story out of this (either a good story or a slit throat resulting from my new friend's amphetamine psychosis), I finished the beer I was drinking and invited him to come to the car and smoke a bowl. I packed some really good dro and we passed the pipe back and forth. He kept going on and on about how cool California is and "Cali buds" and this and that. So we finished the bowl I packed and he pulls some of the illustrious "Cali buds" he's been fixated upon......fucking regs dude. Not even good regs, just straight up nasty shit. I laughed to myself, I wasn't expecting much and he didn't let me down.
So me and swazi....er I'm sorry anti-swazi guy walk back to the show. At the soonest possible moment I ditched anti-swazi man....he was starting to give me the creeps. I went inside as the first band Always Aware started playing. This is the band that pretty much morphed into Thought Crusade, a good move on their part because TC is way better than AA was. I remember them playing pretty loose and sloppy and Ben the lead singer's face getting really red. The Catburglars were up next. I like how whoever booked the show threw them on the bill too even though they're kind of out of place playing an all ages diy hardcore show. They usually play bars and 18 and up joints. I enjoy mixed bills though so I was hapy to catch their set. Anti-Swazi man and his little buddy started a two man push pit to show us what it was like "back in the day", I had a very hard time keeping a straight face. The 'burglars played a good rockin' set, with Mike being particularly snotty with the vocals that night, maybe to try to provoke the hardcore kids.....who knows? Wake Up Call was next. To me they're kind of like one of those flash in a pan bands that puts out 1 LP and is never heard from again or remembered. The live show was fairly competent, but in the scheme of things had nothing that really made it stand out or be memorable. I think a lot of people were outside hangin' out during this band.
Outbreak was up next. This was the tour for their new LP "Failure". I really liked the early Outbreak material that had kind of a raw, hungry sound. I thought this LP is where they kind of jumped the shark. They seemed to have lost their hungriness and it really came across in their live shows. Don't get me wrong, there were a good amount of kids moshing and getting into it.....but for me their set had a certain vibe to it. I got the same sort of vibe when Mental played their second to last show here in Chicago after everyone was giving them a hard time about breaking edge. The vibe told me that this would be their last tour or close to it. The energy just wasn't the same anymore. Outbreak is one of the first modern hardcore shows I went to and seeing them when they first started out then seeing them on the Failure tour was like night and day. When they finished up I think I went to go get some food with friends, Little Ceasar's if I remember correctly. I then drove home, smoking a bowl on the way and reflecting on the show and my day in general. A good time overall even though I was a little dissapointed with Outbreak. There's always the next show................
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