Show Review

I have to admit, I wasn’t looking forward to the crowd that I expected to encounter at this show. After living in Los Angeles my entire life, I decided to move out to Colorado and I wasn’t sure what kind of music scene to expect out here. Almost every show I had ever been to was in the Los Angeles area. I’m used to the elitist assholes that go to hardcore shows in L.A. These guys show up in the latest hardcore fashion; decked out in sportswear or all black clothes and a bandana, ready to bust out their spin kicks and windmills. When I got to the Marquis Theater, I was shocked to see very few of these fashion-core type kids. There were also some street punks but the majority of the people were wearing shorts and a T-shirt. This was a good sign.
I was under the stage in a storage room finishing up my interview with Thomas from Strike Anywhere when out of no where we hear the heavy guitar and powerful screams from This is Hell. I was only able to catch a few songs from these guys but I was surprised and impressed by what I saw. They had tons of energy and put everything they had into their songs. They definitely did a great job pumping up the crowd and getting them ready for A Global Threat.
Tears were rolling down the cheeks of the kids with bandanas because the dance moves were put to a halt as soon A Global Threat hit the stage. They started it off with a super fast street punk song that got the circle pit started. I wasn’t familiar with any of their songs but I was quickly sucked in by their speed and energetic stage presence. It was obvious that there was nothing these guys would rather do than be on stage playing fast punk songs. The singer of the band was constantly in the crowd singing to fans and even singing to people who had no idea who this band was. There were even a handful of the sportswear hardcore kids running around in the pit and singing along to the songs. It was nice to see everyone being open minded and enjoying A Global Threat. The energy level was high when they left the stage, preparing everyone for Bane.
The Marquis started to fill in as everybody moved to the front of the stage while the dance contest started up again in the pit. Bane hit the stage with tons of energy. Personally I have always felt that most of their songs sound the same but I still thought put on an entertaining show. Their lead singer did a great job interacting with and pumping up the crowd. Unfortunately, their set was less enjoyable due to the hardcore version of You Got Served going on in the pit. It wouldn’t be so bad if they were doing these moves for fun but they were acting like it was a dance battle. The singer of Bane did call out one guy in the pit because he spin kicked some poor girl in the face. He told the guy that “this isn’t a fucking dance contest and if you want to be Mr. fucking tough guy, you can do that outside”. It was nice to see him call that kid out. I enjoyed watching Bane but I was worried that Strike Anywhere’s set might be ruined by these kids doing spin kicks into people.
As soon as Strike Anywhere took the stage, the show took a whole new direction. Everyone who stuck around was there solely to enjoy Strike Anywhere. It was no longer about who could do a cooler looking spin kick. It was about singing along and enjoying Strike Anywhere’s amazing performance. A small circle pit started in the back, but mostly everyone was in the front singing along with Thomas or jumping off the stage. Their set proved what a punk show is really about. You are sucked into the energy and environment of the show and forget about any problems going on in your life. Nobody cared what kind of clothes you were wearing or what kind of dance moves you could do in the pit. They just wanted to jump around and scream the lyrics to their favorite Strike Anywhere songs. Towards the middle of the show I felt two arms wrap around my shoulders. The kid on the left was wearing an Every Time I Die shirt with a bandana around his neck and the person on the right was a hippie looking girl with dreads. They continued to keep their arms around me and sang the lyrics to “To the World” with me. Everyone was having the time of their lives and I could tell that the band was playing off this energy. They played about three or four songs off of their new Dead FM record. It’s usually tough for bands to get the audience into new songs, but everyone went crazy and loved these songs. They finished their set off strong with “Sunset on 22nd”. Every person there went absolutely insane during that song. Everyone was jumping up and down, stage diving, and singing along. I managed to knock Sherwood’s mic down to the standard size for a midget guitar player, but he still continued singing along into the crowd. That song was a perfect ending to an amazing set. My knees were sore for weeks after that show, from so much jumping around. I left the Marquis with chills going down my neck. It was one of the most fun sets I have ever seen. I can always count on Strike Anywhere to put on an amazing show.

review by Stephen Kelly