War on Radio

Just got back about an hour ago from ze Future of the Left, Ted Leo / The Pharmacists, and Against Me! show. Didn’t stay for Against Me!, ’cause they kind of bother me. It’s not even so much the music as it is their hypocrisy, but that’s another story.

Before we do the pictures, I gotta say that this was one of the most combative and aggressive shows I’ve seen. Security was very forceful and violent with the fans (who were often idiots) and the fans were violent with, like, everything. The people who were slam dancing were being ignored by the guards, but random people in the audience were being literally picked off the ground by two guards at a time, held by the neck via an elbow, and hauled out of the venue. Outside of Melvins, this show had the most security. Normally at the Gothic, there’s just some basic staff that stands around barely keeping an eye on things. They’re relatively polite and harmless. This time, there were huge men who were brutalizing the audience. I can’t say I’d be ridiculously surprised if I found out the people they were pillaging were provoking the guards, but it was really unsightly and a perfect example of Ian MacKaye’s “soundtrack for violence” comments.

So the crowd and security was pretty disappointing. The people standing away from the pit were chill and easy going, but there were a lot of jackasses with their really cool ripped up shirts and pierced noses and such. Actually, it looked like they were wearing uniforms and had come to dance and beat people up instead of listen to music. They looked like jocks, they behaved like jocks, and the irony of listening to all this pacifist, liberal, anti-war music while people are beating the hell out of other people pisses me off.

The crowd was very different from the last time I saw Ted Leo and Love of Diagrams. People were mellow and there was no extra security (we had a never before seen at the Gothic barrier set up in front of the stage, with security guards standing between it and the stage). Before Ted came on, Peter Gabriel was played. This time, it was a lot of generic, simple punk rock in the vein of the Sex Pistols. And that’s fine, but it was just a really different, less intellectual atmosphere. But I digress. That’s just what you get when Against Me! is your main act.

So, to the review!

I think we made it in time for the first Future of the Left song. These guys were crazy, but in a good way. They ended the show by having their bassist run into the audience, play with all the slam dancers, and then find a way to climb from the main floor to the second floor. This last part is hard to explain, but I have pictures! They also warned us that the bowling alley next door really sucks. They were quite adamant about this. Future of the Left actually seemed like really nice guys; they had that sort of Shellac swagger to them, for sure, but they were hilarious and bright.

Pictures:

From Future of the Left + Ted Leo 10-21

From Future of the Left + Ted Leo 10-21

From Future of the Left + Ted Leo 10-21

Ted Leo / Pharmacists were awesome, as usual! The sound quality was a lot better this time. Last time it was kinda eh. Anyway, they had all the energy in the world and played a great set.

From Future of the Left + Ted Leo 10-21

From Future of the Left + Ted Leo 10-21

From Future of the Left + Ted Leo 10-21

From Future of the Left + Ted Leo 10-21

And, pictures of the whole show:

Future of the Left + Ted Leo 10-21

Despite my complaints, it was a lot of fun. I’ll never really understand, though, why you’d go to a show just to beat someone up. I mean, people looked like they were seriously having the hell beat out of them in the pit and I do not understand the point. Still, I guess there’s nothing like the irony of listening to someone sing about the evils of war while you punch the shit out of someone!