[SIZE=3]12th Feb- Deadline at the Garage, London[/SIZE]

I arrived fairly late as i was in the pub.
[B]
Argy Bargy[/B]: First i've heard of this band and they were very good. I caught about half of their set and they played very well and tight, and had some excellent guitar solos.
[B]
8/10[/B]
[B]
Dead Pets[/B]: Fantastic. Amazing live band who could make almost anyone like them even if they'd never heard them before seeing them. Decent set list, and ended with a great cover of the c'ock sparrer classic We're Coming Back
[B]
9/10[/B]
[B]
Deadline[/B]: Brilliant also, played a good setlist, including a fair few new songs off an upcoming release that sounded impressive. Definately worth seeing again, like all the bands i saw.
[B]
9/10[/B]

9/10

Feb. 12 Slims SF
Rise Against/Tsunami Bomb/Only Crime

Only Crime: Not horrible hardcore w/ some pop-punk and a little metalcore They put on a decent set but meh overall. Crowd 4/10

Tsunami Bomb: Loved them. They put on an awesome show good mix of older and new. 8/10

Rise Against: Completly brilliant. I saw them open for Bad Religion but now I know more then 2 songs. Awesome set list. Great stage presence. Crowd 10/10

[U]Ventura Theater[/U]
12/10 Adolecents, Youth Brigade, Mad Caddies, Dr. Know

[B]Dr. Know[/B]
I never got too into them much but they put on a decent show. 4/10

[B]Mad Caddies[/B]
These guys were one of the main reasons I went. They played a really fun set. I was dancing the whole time The crowd enjoyed them. Just a really fun time. 8/10

[B]Youth Brigade[/B]
These guys were really awesome. The really got the crowd going and it just so happened this year is their 25 anniversary. The pit was going crazy for them. Memorable songs: Fight to Unite, Sink With California 9/10

[B]Adolecents[/B]
I never listened to them a whole bunch but they put on a really energetic live show, the whole venue almost was down in the pit. Greg Hetson was playing guitar with them that night. Everything was fast and full of energy. Solid set. 8/10

[QUOTE=mostlydeadonarrival]Feb. 12 Slims SF
Rise Against/Tsunami Bomb/Only Crime

Only Crime: Not horrible hardcore w/ some pop-punk and a little metalcore They put on a decent set but meh overall. Crowd 4/10

Tsunami Bomb: Loved them. They put on an awesome show good mix of older and new. 8/10

Rise Against: Completly brilliant. I saw them open for Bad Religion but now I know more then 2 songs. Awesome set list. Great stage presence. Crowd 10/10[/QUOTE]

Bill Stevenson is in Only Crime. and the lead singer of Good Riddance :thumb:

[I][B][U]Rise Against featuring Only Crime, Alexisonfire, Tsunami Bomb[/U][/B][/I]
13 Feb. 2005
The Meow Meow, Portland, OR

[B]Only Crime[/B]
This band was really good. I had only heard one song of theirs before the show, but I really wish that I knew more of their stuff. The croud was really into them even though I don't think many people had listened to them much before. The energy was really high considering there was hardly anybody was there during the set.

[B]Alexisonfire[/B]
The bassist for Alexisonfire got sick the night before and was sent home because he couldn't see. Since they souldn't play, the guitarist played a couple of the bands songs accoustically, and played a couple of covers, of which he only knew one verse or so of each. It wasn't exactly enjoyable, but I couldn't help but feel emapathy for him, and have to give him props because that definitely took balls.

[B]Tsunami Bomb[/B]
I hadn't listened to any of their music beforehand, and was really trying to be openminded about them having a female singer. They weren't bad, but weren't great either. They had a couple of catchy songs, but most of it was pretty forgettable. The entire experience for them was pretty much ruined for me when the singer said that if anyone went croud surfing and hit into her, they would be thrown out of the show, and possibly face a lawsuit.

[B]Rise Against[/B]
This show could have been in a dirty sewer and it would have been worth it. Rise Against was fu[SIZE=2]ck[/SIZE]ing incredible. The place completely filled up once they started playing, and the energy was insane. Probably half the croud was singing along the entire time, and their was so much movement that you would be in the middle of the mosh at one minutte, and right in the front row the next. People were crowdsurfing the entire time, and there was an insane amount of stage dives. They opened the set with "To them these streets belong", and "closed" with "Give It All." Tim later came back up for the encore and played "Swing Life Away," then the rest of the band finished with "Black Masks and Gasoline" and then "Heaven Knows." The only disappointment of the whole show was that they didn't play Rumors Of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated", but regardless, they rocked. hard.

[B][SIZE=3]15th Feb- Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards, The Garage, London[/SIZE][/B]

[B]The Filaments:[/B] This is the second time i've seen this band and they are f'ucking amazing. Thhey opened with the classic "Nation" and played a great setlist including the BPC, Punk Unity, Men Of The Law, Victims and Zombie Jail Break, before round off their shamefully short 30 minute set with Bastard Coppers and Sick Joke. The crowd grew as the set went on, after they had began playing to only a handful of people. Those there were singing as loud as they could though, and they will have earned a lot more fans than they went in with
[B]
9.5/10


Mad Sin:[/B] I haven't heard too much of Mad sin and unfortunately they didn't play any songs i knew. They had a good stage presence, probably mostly because of their huge double bass that was lit up like a christmas tree. They sounded good, nothing special.

6/10


[B]Lars Frederiksen And The Bastards:[/B] Made an impressive entrance with all the bastards coming on backwards, before Lars strolled on looking like a mutated bumble bee, with a pink and yellow striped jumper, and yellow sunglasses. As you'd expect, they had an excellent prescence, and the sold out garage responded well. After opening with the brilliant "Dead american" they went on to play a number of favourites including Wine And Roses, Streetwise Professor, 1%, SPD, Army Of Zombies etc. They even managed to bring out special guests, with appearances from the guitarist and singer of the business (whose name i forget), and David courtney.

[B]8/10[/B]

A quality show :)

[B][SIZE=3]20th February The Toy Dolls[/SIZE]
[/B]
There were only 2 bands. "It's not not" and Toy Dolls. The show started at 8.45 but I arrived there at 9.30 or so. I missed about all the first band but from what I had read of them I didn't really want to see them. They put Green Day's last album while they were changing all the stuff, which made some people angry. Considering that half of the audience were 30 year old people, and on the other half there were lots punks I find it normal. They put the Toy Dolls flag with the guy with sunglasses and a black box where it said "fragile" and "OUR LAST TOUR?" After 30 minutes of waiting they turned down the lights and it started sounding a guitar.

Then the bassist and the drummer entered with the crowd screaming and they took their place and started playing something, then they started like: "Where's Olga?", and suddenly he appeared from inside the box. He started jumping around and took the guitar and without a single word they started with "Dig That Groove Baby", great song. Then he said: "Do you know this is our last tour?" which we all replied "Noooo", then he said "Maybeeee" and we all said "Yeaaaaaaaaaah!" then they started playing Dougy Giro.

From what I can remember they played this songs:

Dig That Groove Baby
Dougy Giro
Back in '79
I've got asthma
Tocatta in D'moll
Alec's Gone
Lambrusco Kid
The aniversary waltz
The entertainer
She goes to finos
The death of barry roofer with vertigo
Glenda and the test tube baby
Yul Brynner was a skinhead
Olga, I cannot
Up the garden Path
Nellie The Elephant
Stay Mellow
Firey Jack
and to finish the "Dig that groove baby theme tune"

Well and some more which I can't remember now. But they played more than half of the Dig that groove album which is great, and the Tocatta which I wanted to see live and was awesome. Apart from the great sound and the good songs they played, the thing that made that show different was that they really knew how to make the crowd enjoy them. For lambrusco kid Olga took a giant plastic bottle of champagne and it threw confetti all over, for Firey Jack he took a fork and with some flares and moved it around, then almost burnt a security guard in the head (they were pissing us off so we enjoyed), at some time Olga started playing riding on the bassist, later he took Olga and put him upside down while he was still playing...Lots of things like this that only a band as them can do plus lots of stupid comments and more things I'm forgetting. The
only thing I can regret of the show is that the back up vocals didn't sound very good but with the crowd singing along it was enough and that I wanted more Toy Dolls. The show lasted an hour and a half but we all expected some more. So overall, an awesome show. 9.5/10 and I'm not being generous.

Im incredibly jealous.

Really, I loved it. I heard they're going to tour the UK. Olga says so in the FAQ on their website. Well he says it's very sure. I highly recommend all of you who like them to see them live.

If its their last tour I knew they were gonna tour the UK.

the toy dolls have played in the UK 9 times in the last 10 years

[B]Feb 12- Ska is Dead II- Starland Ballroom[/B] I figured this should go here, not in the actual Ska Is Dead II thread.

[B]Kid Go Home[/B] - 5/10 - They put on a pretty energetic show and their bassist is decent. But they try to sound like "Progress" era Rx Bandits. And they do a s'hitty job at it. They're like the Rx Bandits retarded little secret that they keep in the basement.

[B]Superspecs[/B] - 6/10 - They kept dropping their mics and it would slam the ground and make this eardrum pounding sound! They only played 3 old songs: "Dr. Evil Ska", "Up & Down", and "Listen Up". "Up & Down" sucks though. Thay played waaaay too many new songs, despite last time they played around here and got all their CDs thrown at them. Then they closed with the song that their first fans truly hate. It's a new metal-core song called "Animosity" or something like that. They dedicated the song to us, too, which was disgusting.

[B]MU330[/B] - 8/10 - I gotta say, i was very dissapointed with their set. They didn't play enough "MU330" or "Crab Rangoon" songs. And Dan put on a little more weight. Their bassist was very good, though. The tromboner got this fake chainsaw and started runnin around the stage doing the New Jersey Power Skank. That was hilarious. Their drummer didn't miss a single beat. Pretty Decent.

[B]Voodoo Glow Skulls[/B] - 8/10 - Same old same old VGS. Closed with "Band Geek Mafia" as usual. Their bassist was litterally pouring sweat from himself. I saw a stream of it. Looked like he was pissing from his nose. But they played all of their good songs. Including a new one called "DD Don't Like Ska" which is a great tune. The singer did his weird lucha libre skull mask thing at the beginning. It was pretty enjoyable from wear i was standing. I got stage right by the equipment and stuff and i met all the guys from MU330, VGS, and Streetlight when they exited. :thumb:

[B]Streetlight Manifesto[/B] - 10/10 - probably the BEST Streetlight Manifesto performance i have ever seen. They did "Point/Keasbey Nights/Counterpoint", "Dear Sergio" (BOTAR version), and covered "Hell" by The Squirrel Nut Zippers. They also did an extended version of "If and When..." which they did last time they played Starland. I was standing there screamin the lyrics all night. When they played "Dear Sergio", i think i was the ONLY person in the venue that new the extra verse (BOTAR version). Everyone around me stopped singing except me. I felt so.... scene.

wonderful show!

yep i was there

Street Dogs / Backyard Babies / Social Distortion
 

This was last night and was one of the best shows I had been to in my life. Sorry Sacto, oopy, and DOLEMITE. :wave:



[B]Street Dogs[/B]
They performed first and were really, really good. It was my first time seeing McColgan live, and he was insane. Not many people in the crowd knew them though. Only about 5 other people and they were on the other side of the floor which was alright for me because it gained me recognition from Mike, himself. :cool:
They opened up with "Savin' Hill". Other songs included "Back To The World", "Fighter", a cover of the Ramones' "Commando", and "In Defense Of Dorchester". The crowd was diggin' it even though they didn't know the band. But when they performed "Drink Tonight", the place was set off.
Simply Amazing: [B]10/10[/B]


[B]Backyard Babies[/B]
This is a rockin' band from Sweden for those who don't know. Their accents were the sh[I]i[/I]t. They came on and appeared to me like a punked up Led Zeppelin. And I swear the drummer looked almost exactly like MX's very own Nick! :lol:
I knew only a few of their songs, but that was better than everyone else who knew nothing. But they were definitely diggin' it and I guarantee that at least half those people are going to check them out later on. Their style of play is like a crossbreed of classic rock and early '77 type punk. The guitar player went crazy during some songs and this one song was just wailin'. Really good, and I recommend to fans of early punk and classic rock.
Impressive performance: [B]9/10[/B]


[B]Social Distortion[/B]
What can I say? "Legends", pretty much sums it up. The crowd was the oldest I had seen with the average age at about 25-30. But they were all really cool. They opened up with some kickin' tunes to set the crowd off. In order, I remember: "Mommy's Little Monster", "Another State Of Mind", "Sickboy", "1945", and then "Reach For The Sky". "Another State Of Mind" and "Sickboy" were highlights of their performance. They played a lot of new stuff, which I would complain about if their new stuff wasn't so dam[I]n[/I] good. Other songs I remember from their mid-set included "Nickels And Dimes", "99 To Life", "Prison Bound", "Highway 101", and "Telling Them". They played a straight-up blues song, which owned. Ness solo'd forever on that one. Really awesome. Their encore was the best, however because they played two songs from my favorite album, their S/T. They first played their cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring Of Fire". Then they closed on my absolute favorite song by them, "Story Of My Life". It fecking ruled.
I couldn't have asked for a better performance out of them: [B]10/10[/B]


One of the best shows I have ever been to. Insanely fun.
Overall: [B]10/10[/B]

backyard babies are punk n roll, similar to the likes of the bones and hardcore superstar

[QUOTE=OiItsFatmatt]the toy dolls have played in the UK 9 times in the last 10 years[/QUOTE]
thats not a lot.

i know, they arnt remotely popular here.

most of the old punk bands hardly ever play in the uk

[QUOTE=Brothel_Creeper]backyard babies are punk n roll, similar to the likes of the bones and hardcore superstar[/QUOTE]
I know, I just don't like using that term because not a lot of people know what that is.

but if you dont people will never know, and its pretty easy to work out what it means

[QUOTE=Brothel_Creeper]but if you dont people will never know[/QUOTE]
True, but I don't even know if there's enough bands that fit the description to constitute a new genre.

Feb 22. @ New Paris Theatre
 

The Phenomenauts ([url]http://www.phenomenauts.com/[/url]) are ****ing crazy and have a lot of energy. They are mostly a rockabilly band but they had some punk and surf in there. Towards the end of their set the keyboardist took out something that looked like a leaf blower with a roll of toilet paper attached at the end and shot three toilet paper roll at the crowd. 9/10 would have been 10 if I had heard them before

After them was River City Rebels, they were good, but they didn't play any songs I recognized. Bopper (Rebels' singer) got really pissed off at the sound guy because he took away his mic and replaced it with a ****ty one after he "disrespected" it. So he started talking **** to him and some of the other guys in the band threw their water bottles at him, it was pretty funny. Shannon warned me to watch out for Bopper's spit, and she was serious, because he was spitting into the crowd throught the set. At one point during their set he called me and the people standing behind the pit (I didn't feel like going in for them) "stiff *** bitches". Anyways, they were good despite the fact they didn't play any songs I knew. I've heard they put on amazing shows, but I wasn't impressed that much. Then again I think Bopper mentioned he was sick and they had gotten their trailer stolen the other night in Spokane 8/10

Just like last time I saw them, Big D were awesome. I was looking for some guy that I had known online for awhile the whole show but didn't spot him till right before their set. So I greeted him and we talked for a bit until Big D came on, and about half way into their first song they got most of us skanking. I don't remember the exact setlist because this show was almost two weeks ago (haha and I'm reviewing it now) but I know they did play Checklist, their Little Bitch cover, and Can't be Caught. During their set I was either in the pit skanking or right up front next to one of the speakers (took three days to get the ringing out of my left ear). Dave works really well with the crowd, and the amount of shows they do is amazing (199 last year). One of my favorite live bands 10/10

Oh yeah, forgot to review a local band that went on before the Phenomenauts, the Whistle Pigs. At first I liked them but then the singer started.. singing. It was like pseudo screamo vocals mixed with ska... just horrible. However, they still did ok. Not the right kind of music to be mixed though. 6/10

Here.. listen for yourself [url]http://www.purevolume.com/TheWhistlePigs[/url]

[QUOTE=albert_bass][B][SIZE=3]20th February The Toy Dolls[/SIZE]
[/B]
[/QUOTE]
sounds like it was awesome, I'm going to see them in France

[B]The Toasters[/B]- Bloomfield Ave Cafe, Montclair, NJ- [B]March 5, 2005[/B]

[B]Inspector Hector[/B]- 7/10- I have never heard this band before the show. I was going to see them eralier but i missed my chance. They were really good. For an opening band they were extremely energetic. They played ska/punk but mostly traditional sounding ska. There was a new song that they played and had no lyrics, so they found someone in the audience who could skat (sp?) for them. Very good opening band. A lot of people new the lyrics to their closing song, which made things fun.

[B]Long Shot Hero[/B]- 9/10- I love these guys. I've seen them a handful of times. Their singer sounds like Jordan Pundik of New Found Glory. He's very energetic. They played very good songs of theirs. They needed a request for a song because they never have a set list. So i yelled "Go!" because me and four other people in the audience know them. So they played "Go" and then closed with a good old ska/punk anthem. Great band that connects with the crowd.

[B]Too Short Notice[/B]- 8/10- This band is friggin awesome. They are fronted by a female vocalist and their bassist is around Bloomfield a lot. They always play their good crowd pleaser songs. Pretty energetic. Their drummer ripped it up! I moved to the back for them, so i didnt get too much energy, but it was a great set.

[B]The Miasmics[/B]- 9/10- The epitome of NJ ska! I have seen them a countless number of times. They played their crowd pleasing songs because it was a huge show. Their tenor sax is AMAZING! This guy is always crazy. The singer gets into the music and moves around a lot which made it a little more comfortable and energetic. Their guitarist is also extremely talented. He cut his hair! They're bassist just grooves along, he's pretty descent. The show was great. They played "The Funky Dance" for about 4 minutes. Kind of an annoying song, but a lot of people loved it, and everyone was doin funky dances in the pit which got annoying because i wasn't really able to do anything do to the annoying people taking up the whole pit. Good set!

[B]Westbound Train[/B]- 6/10- These guys play traditional sounding ska. Pretty good, but got very slow and boring sometimes. Not very energetic at all. Fun to skank to, though. I don't really know how to describe them: I guess The Slackers meet the Toasters will do them justice. Just not as energetic at all. I don't know if they're a new band or not, but i think their live performance could be updated. Descent set. And oh yeah!, they got a ticket for double parking before the show!

[B]The Toasters[/B]- 9/10- Absolutely awesome! They played "Two Tone Army", "DLTBGYD", and "I'm Running Right Through The World" which are my favorite songs by them. Awesome set, the horns were perfectly together, their bass was groovin away, and the guitar was soundin' clean. Very energetic. Their Jamaican singer was awesome as hell! He got the crowd going crazy! This was their last show in the US for the season. Everyone was singing along to every word and it was extremely energetic. I didn't hit the pit at all because it was too crowded, but watching the band was good enough for me.

After the show we all went to Wendy's and ordered $30 worth of food. We had to go around and park away from the drive through and wait for all the food because there was too much. Stef kept screaming "Where's our food!" at the headsset order taker guy. It was pretty funny.

i want to see the toasters so bad. they're one of my favourite bands, but i doubt they'll ever come here. :upset: if I'm lucky i'll catch them in cincinnatti eventually if they ever play there on a weekend

Westbound Train is a kickass old ska band then. I have the album "searching for a melody". I could understand that they werent awesome live sense they are trad. ska. But an awesome band to listen to when you wanna mellow out.

Yeah Westbound Train are awesome, and songs with the singer from Hepcat are even better

[B]Dropkick Murphys[/B] , Saturday 12th March, Brixton Academy, London

God Awfuls- Missed them but they're sh!te so i don't care. Matt informs me they covered the Anti Nowhere League.

[B]Bouncing Souls[/B]- One of the best live bands ever, they played a slightly disappointing set list compared to the other two times i've seen them, missing out a few great songs including Manthem for the third time running. They still stormed through an great bunch of songs including Kid, Hopeless Romantic, Sing Along forever, Ballad Of Johnny X, East coast F'uck You etc and then ended typically with the brilliant True Believers. Missed out on a 10 because of the usual bad sound that you get in the academy, but still excellent.
[B]9/10[/B]

[B]Dropkick Murphys[/B]- I've seen this band twice and both times they've had sound problems. This time it was due to the venue but they ploughed on steadily throughout. again this was a disappointing set list and they didn't play my favourite two songs by them, Good Rats and the Gauntlet which seemed a little strange. They finished with a mass crowd invasion and they get an extra point for having some topless women on stage when they finished.
[B]7.5/10[/B]

actually the gig diary is from the early days iron maidens dvd, a diary form steve harris

[QUOTE=Twat_Out_Of_Hell]they didn't play my favourite two songs by them, Good Rats and the Gauntlet which seemed a little strange. [/QUOTE]
Those are by far their best songs.

[QUOTE=sketchyjoe]Those are by far their best songs.[/QUOTE]

I know, i couldn't believe they didn't play them