Shows of the Past: Madison Fest '08 (The Repos Last Show)

Here's a piece I wrote about The Repos last show weekend. It got kind of lost in the shuffle so I don't think I ever got a chance to publish it anywhere, I just kind of stumbled upon it buried deep within my email box. One funny aspect is that It covered the extraneous events surrounding the shows moreso than the shows themselves.




Recap of Madison Fest Weekend

Although the last Chicago Repos show was a lot of fun, it was slightly anti-climactic in the face of the free festival the next day in Madison, WI. The Chicago gig was at People’s Projects. I like the venue but I hate a good 90% of the people who go there. I’m talking about the worst of the self-righteous, bike-crust supremacists you could possibly hope to dredge up. I love basement venues, so I choose to forego some minor annoyances in trade for not paying $5 for a can of PBR, and being able to smoke as much weed as I want to, where I want to. The venue is a CVS Drug/Liquor store which makes beer runs no sweat. They also have cheap oil cans of Fosters and this is what I usually like to drink over there. So I got there late as to miss a couple of bands I didn’t particularly care about. Upon arrival, I immediately went to the CVS and purchased a couple beers. Went back to the show and smoked a little bit with Mike from the Catburglars. We smoked it downstairs as to avoid the crowd of weed vultures who always slowly gravitate into the circle when I’m sitting upstairs rolling up a blunt. There’s some serious no weed having motherfuckers at those shows and they always want something from you. I ain’t your daddy, put 5 on it and then we’ll talk. I swear, even if you do let someone slide and grab a couple tokes, they always make the blunt run or blaze the entire bowl like an amateur. Fuck that shit. And then there are the girls who will do the same thing they do in bars (i.e. get dudes to buy them drinks) but with weed. They’ll be hitting on you and as soon as they get their little buzz they skate out faster than Danzig at a North Side Kings show.

 It was good to see a lot of people I know there. I had some drinks and talked with some of them for a bit. The sound for the next two bands didn’t seem that good. I went downstairs for PITF and I could barely hear the music, just the dude barking into the microphone, which is cool but I wasn’t in the mood for it at that moment. Weekend Nachos pressed nacho shaped vinyl for their record release, and people started dashing for the merch table. A mad cascade of hands clutching bills shot up and they did their best to deal with the demand. Personally, I was waiting for the “secret” Repos LP where they cover Youth of Today’s “We’re Not in This Alone” front to back. Finally I copped one and was happy. Also got a Repos last show print which was pretty cool, kind of out of character for them. The Repos set was a good one. I had a good buzz going and was thoroughly enjoying it. Someone broke a water pipe or something in the melee that ensued during the first couple songs. I don’t really have anything else to say about it except that I had fun.

Drove up to Madison with Rob, Nora and Anton. I didn’t think it was that bad of a drive at all. I like looking out at the countryside as I drive. It’s cool to have a change of scenery from suburban sprawl, or urban claustrophobia. Looking out at some of the old dilapidated farmhouses, I think of the history behind them…and wonder if anyone still lives in them. I only had the radio to listen to in my car cuz the tape deck made a meal out of one of my tapes and I haven’t been able to get it back since. We arrived early and walked into the student center where it was being held at. The place was really nice with free internet available and a ridiculous student lounge in the basement, with a snack bar that served alcohol as well as pool tables, foosball, and other stuff. It was way early so we decided to walk to this place called Monty’s Blue Plate Diner that Anton heard was good. It specializes in vegan/vegetarian food and while I’m neither, I still like the food. We ended up walking like 4 miles because we underestimated the time it would take when we looked at a map. I really like the architecture in Madison, really interesting looking houses painted in cool colors. When we finally reached the diner I ordered a “Sloppy Faeux” which is an imitation sloppy joe sandwich made with seitan. It was good; they put some kind of hot sauce in the recipe so it had a nice little kick to it. I also had about 3 cups of coffee.

We took a cab back and got there in time for In Defense who were good. Watched a bit of Wasted Time too, I wish Government Warning had played instead of them but whatever. If by now you’re pissed about me not extensively chronicling each band and what they sound like, honestly I didn’t care too much about any band but The Repos and Weekend Nachos. We walked over to Earwax Records and entered as they were closing up, but the guy said we could do a little bit of shopping cuz some metalhead kid was coming to buy a bunch of records. They had a good selection, mostly DIY hardcore stuff and Metal. I bought a Nightstick Justice record which was probably the best purchase I’d made in awhile, the record fucking kills (I’m assuming it’s the demo, it just has their logo on the cover). We then hit up the liquor store where I bought a couple brews from the “Spotted Cow” brewery. One of the beers that really stuck out to me was called “Road Sludge”, I think it was supposed to be a porter, it was very drinkable and tasted delicious, and I liked the roasted coffee overtones. I only got 3 beers cuz I had to drive back later on and didn’t want to take any chances. Back at the Student Center, everyone was getting drunk. WI liquor laws are the shit you can buy and drink beer anywhere in the student center and I was told that it’s accepted to walk the town with a beer as long as it’s brown-bagged. (Sounds like Chicago 5 years ago). Some annoying townie types were hanging around trying to bum cigarettes off of people. This dude actually asked if he could have a sip of my beer. That didn’t go over very well. Weekend Nachos played and I gained a new appreciation for the band due to John Caution’s stage presence on this occasion, he seemed to be really pumped about playing the show and from where I was standing it looked like he put in more effort than usual. I’ve seen them a couple of times already but this time really stood out to me and made me want to go back and check out more of their music.

I went to smoke some bud, when I came back to the show, The Repos were about to go on and my brain was wide open. When they started, the stage dives did too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many dives before….just one after another, it was awesome. People were going off the wall, and you could tell the band was feeding on the energy. The one moment that really stood out to me was when they busted into a cover of “Keep It Up” by Youth of Today. The opening bassline sounded so fucking monstrous, it ruled. They ripped through their set and came back for an encore which was uncharacteristic of them but was met by the crowd with much approval. You can watch the set here in 3 parts:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3: