7-30 This is Hardcore, Shelter, H2O, Killing Time, Wisdom in Chains, Leeway, Murphys Law, Slapshot, Freedom, Bracewar, Yellow Stitches, Dysphoria, Vein, out of body, Queensway, Easy Money, Miracle Drug, Strength Approach, Activate, Dissent, Philly @Electric Factory

The final day of TIHC 2017. Always a great day for the fest, and this day was going to be no different. With Wisdom in Chains on the show, it's a guarantee of a killer set. Again, we were pretty lazy getting moving and I didn't see some of the bands I had wanted to. Sucks. I think next year I'm going to stir the shit more to get moving and get to the long shows a bit earlier.

Dissent - missed them.

Activate - missed them, but really like the small amount of recordings online.

Strength Approach - Embarrassed that I couldn't get there in time for them. From Italy, they've really been playing hardcore for like 25 years. Nothing especially inspiring about their music, but it's still good. When we saw them in Pittsburgh 10 years ago it was a good set.

Miracle Drug - another band that I hoped to see.

Easy Money - another band I hoped to see.

Queensway - missed them.

Out of Body - missed them.

Vein - We got there about half way through the set. I'm sad that we missed the first half. Huge energy, great set. Hardcore is alive for sure.

Dysphoria - This band has been around for a while, but never gained a whole lot of traction on my playlists. The live set was ok, the songs are ok. A good filler band.

Yellow Stitches - I had heard of this band before, but never seen them or listened to them. Mistake. They rule. More of a singalong band like Wisdom in Chains or Animalhaus or even the Briggs or Street Dogs or something. Loved it all. Been downloading their shit ever since. This set was the beginning of a bunch of sets that killed shit.

Bracewar - This band fucking rips on recordings. The live show is good, but for some reason I have a hard time picking out the songs that I've been basement moshing to for the past decade. Sloppy a little live maybe. Good set, horrific t-shirts for sale.

Freedom - Banger of a set. I really really like this band. Did they get a new singer or is he just growing his hair in? They always had that skinhead kinda dude singing, but at this set the singer had hair and was wearing a hat and track jacket or something. Either way, they ripped. Middle of the road hardcore in terms of speed, but the songs are very good.

Slapshot - I love seeing this band live. One of the best frontmen in hardcore history. He didn't hit himself in the head until he bled this time, but that's ok. The set got more crowd response than past TIHC sets. Great set. Played all the usual suspects, and not Spirit of 81 or a few others that I'd love to see. I just love the way Spirit of 81 starts lyrically, 'History isn't honest, it doesn't tell the tale of how things used to be in the day.'

Murphy's Law - One of the best sets of the whole weekend came from this band. Jimmy Gestapo is fucking hilarious. I was a little drunk, but this guy is legit a comedian. He made fun of Toby from H2O pretty much the whole set, but everything that came out of his mouth was gold. They played all the songs you wanted to hear, Cavity Creeps, Quest for Herb, BBQ, all of them. Great set, can't wait for them to play somewhere again.

Leeway - We didn't watch much of this band, but it was nice to see Eddie Leeway shredding some shit. Good songs, even if a bit redundant in my opinion.

Wisdom in Chains - Killed it as always. They have reached the point in their music that they need to play for about 3 hours to play all of their good songs. The new jams are awesome, the old jams sill kick, best band in hardcore. I can't say that enough.

Killing Time - I'm not sure they would put on TIHC if Killing Time couldn't play. Good heavy band. I enjoy their set every time, hearing the singer bitch about being old and fat. He's right too.

H2O - Great band to play before Shelter. Set was awesome. I think it was like 25 years of H2O or something. Great songs, great singalongs. I love every H2O set.

Shelter - I've never liked this band much, but it's Shelter so you might as well watch most of it. Ray Capo was all in his Hindu getup and shit. It was ok, but I'm not a shelter dude.

Top bands of the day:
1. Wisdom in Chains
2. Murphys Law
3. Slapshot
4. H2O
5. Yellow Stitches

Best bands of TIHC: 1. Wisdom in Chains
2. Ramallah Blood for Blood
3. Murphy's Law
4. Slapshot
5. Jukai

This is Hardcore was a success as always. We had a great time, though next year I hope more of our old smelly jerk friends make it out.

7-29 This is Hardcore, Buried Alive, disembodied, Code Orange, All Out War, 100 Demons, 25 Ta Life, Cold as Life, Earth Crisis, Criminal Instinct, Jesus Piece, Malice at the Palace, Trail of Lies, Truth & Rights, Risk It!, Ecostrike, Year of the Knife, Departed, Mortality Rate, Treason, Clearview, Philly @E

Day 3 of TIHC is where tough choices have to be made. Let's face it, all day is a long day and we're lazy drunks staying at the hooker hotel. Being in line at 12PM isn't happening. We were in the general area earlier than we got to the fest. Some of the crew wanted to walk to this big ass market and shit. Which was ok, but when you aren't looking to spend any money in a market, why go to a market? I didn't enjoy that at all. Would have rather sat in the car and drank or gone in and watched bands. Bummer. We didn't get there until 4 or something like that.

Clearview - missed them

Treason - missed them

Mortality Rate - missed them

Departed - missed them

Year of the Knife - missed them

Ecostrike - missed them, but wanted to see them.

Risk It! - missed them

Truth & Rights - missed them

Trail of Lies - missed them

Malice at the Palace - We got in the fest just in time to see this band. They were very good as usual. Their live show is way better than recordings. Good set with good crowd response.

Jesus Piece - They were good, as usual. Heavy hardcore and good mosh. I've seen them a bunch of times in Pittsburgh, always enjoyable.

Earth Crisis - They switched times with Criminal Instinct I think. And I'm very disappointed in myself because until they were about 1/2 way through the set I didn't even realize I was watching Earth Crisis. I don't know what the first 4 songs were, but the last half of the set were all the bangers. I always like this band.

Cold as Life - I didn't watch them. I can't say that I like them much at all. It was dinner time anyway.

25 Ta Life - I was real into this set happening. At the end of the day Stickman was an ok singer for this show. I was a little disappointed all in all at the end of the set. I'd see them again in hopes of a better set.

100 Demons - The early stuff is all time great shit, the newer stuff is all time horrible. They didn't play some of the awful songs that they've broken out in the past, but the set just is never what you want it to be. Old jams yay, everything else meh. Heavy as all get out still though.

All Out War - Metalcore done proper. Every time this band kills shit. For Those Who Were Crucified, Redemption for the Innocent, all the head bangers. AOW is always a recipe for a sore neck.

Code Orange - I've never seen them at TIHC without them being one of the most memorable bands there. So heavy, such good songs. The one new song isn't heavy at all, but that's ok. Pittsburgh reps this fest every year so hard with this band.

Disembodied - Killer band. Shares members with a bunch of other bands. I think this band is a little bit of a religious experience for their diehard fans. I enjoyed the set, but seriously only know like 3 songs.

Buried Alive - Scott Vogel is the fucking man no matter what band he's in. Buried Alive is the precursor to Terror, and is every bit as good. They haven't had new songs in over a 15 years or something, so their sound is dated but still relevant and still great for bringing the mosh. The pit was on fire, a great energetic set. Good headliner.

The one afterthought about this whole day is that I'm glad One King Down wasn't on this shit. This would have been the day for them, but after Most Precious Blood's shit show last year I don't think I ever want to see Rob Fusco in a band again.

Best bands of the day:
1. Code Orange
2. All Out Wat
3. Buried Alive
4. Earth Crisis

7-28 This is Hardcore, Pulling Teeth, Martyr AD, Ramallah, Bloodlet, YAITW, Jukai, Racetraitor, SECT, Eyes of the Lord, Maniac, Crow Killer, Eaten Alive, Philly @Electric Factory

Day 2 of TIHC was epic and awesome as fuck. The heaviest day of the fest for sure. A lot of the bands that played this day were surprising to me because I either thought they sucked or hadn't heard of them. All in all it was a good day. Got the good start at the Parkway Inn and the diner. Always the best way to start the day.

Eaten Alive - Philly HC with a lady singer. Very good band. Fast hardcore. I hope they keep playing and come to Pittsburgh sometime.

Crow Killer - Heavy metallic hardcore from SLC Utah. I listened to this band a lot leading up to the fest, but unfortunately I didn't like their live set as much as I like their recordings. Still a good band that I would like to see again.

Maniac - I didn't listen to this band much beforehand because their new album has some fucking clown on it, and I don't really like clowns. I wish I had listened because they were a rager. Fast hardcore, maybe a little bit in the style of Infest. From Massachusetts. I hope they come to Pittsburgh sometime.

Eyes of the Lord - I listened to this band a little bit before the fest. Heavy metalcore hardcore crossover type of stuff. The singer is the old singer for 100 Demons, I think. I was expecting them to suck, kinda like the new 100 Demons, but this band ruled. The mosh was on, heavy songs, good times.

SECT - This band was a total sleeper to me. They ruled. The singer from Cursed. Someone in this band used to be in Fallout Boy? Either way they ripped it up to minimal fan reaction. I've been listening to them ever since though. Faster hardcore, but you can still mosh sometimes.

Racetraitor - I tried so hard to get into them on recordings. I just can't do it. But similar to Haymaker the previous year, they came out and killed it. Political hardcore from the early 00's. I remember the lead singer as being very good and having good banter between songs. The guitar player is a hot chic, that always is a plus. A lot of ladies on stage this year TIHC. The mosh wasn't turned up too high, I think a lot of people felt like me about their recordings.

Jukai - From NY I think. Very heavy shit, and very good. We've seen them in Pittsburgh at Sincerity Fest but they were way better this time. The mosh for them was out of control at times. Great energetic set. A real banger by all accounts. Best set of the day this far.

Young and In the Way - Fast metal hardcore rock and roll shit. I loved watching the singer, he has a perfect sing along metal quality to him. The set was good, because of the nature of the jams the crowd lost momentum pretty well, but the set was a good one.

Bloodlet - I've never been a big Bloodlet fan, but they were a huge band in the scene for a long time. They had good response from the crowd. I watched most of the set. Wasn't real into it, but the music was good. I liked the singer, he has a good look to him with his beard and posturing and shit.

Ramallah - Two nights in a row of White Trash Rob, only TIHC can give you that kind of shit. The set was a rager, as expected. They played all the Ramallah jams and a few B4B jams, which I thought was uncalled for, but great anyway.

Martyr AD - A real surprise band for me. I always liked a few songs off their one album, but I didn't know they were so well liked. The pit got turned up to 400 and they killed it. They have a big metal feel to their live show. The lady in this band, I went to find out, is also in Disembodied. That gives them bonus points. Heavy and good.

Pulling Teeth - Solid setlist that they posted about a week before the show. Great move, one needed more often. They played everything you wanted, Weeds, Stonethrowers, Dead is Dead, all the jams. I enjoyed the set, even if a bit underwhelming for headliner material.

Best bands of the day:
1. Jukai
2. Ramallah
3. SECT
4. YAITW

7-27 This is Hardcore, Ramallah BFB set, Madball, Terror, Death Threat, Skarhead, Cipher, Kill Verona, Broken Teeth, Reserving Dirtnaps, Jagged Visions, Philly @Union Transfer

As always, we were super stoked for This is Hardcore Fest. Philly is a great place for these shows and we've pretty much got this trip figured out. Like last year, the Parkway Inn in Springfield PA was the perfect spot. Twice through our 5 day stay we had different riff raff knock on the door looking for various things. First the dude said, "is the lady working?". Lol. We died. No hookers in our room. The second time was some vagrant carrying a big garbage bag and he was like "I'm supposed to rent this room?" I was like, uhhh no, we are. Then he left. Fantastic. The Springfield Diner across the street was the best like always. Had a great time with the lodging situation.

Got to the first night pretty much on time, but with the line and whatnot, we missed the first few bands.

Jagged Visions - I like about half of their songs on recordings. Sometimes they have shit lyrics though. I wanted to see them, but it wasn't meant to be. I've seen them before and thought it was ok.

Reserving Dirtnaps - I wasn't too keen on seeing this band. I thought everything I listened to beforehand was pretty uninspired. Missed them.

Broken Teeth - They came from the UK for this show. Good band. I thought they sounded pretty good live. Standard beatdown type band. Good set, fun singer with his long flowing locks.

Kill Verona - We watched some songs. Hardly anyone cared. They're way too soft, and with only a few decent songs. Philly band.

Cipher - They were the first band of the fest that I really wanted to see. They were very good. I like their choppy beatdowns and the the singer's lyrical style is pretty much unique within hardcore. The crowd response was pretty good. Not intense throughout but you knew their good songs. But they didn't play The Fruits of Toil, just like they didn't play it at Sincerity Fest a few years back. Sucks because that's their best song in my opinion. Still a solid set, very enjoyable.

Skarhead - It's amazing how little respect they got from the crowd. I guess this style of hardcore doesn't quite resonate with the newer hardcore crowd that got into hardcore through metalcore than punk, this kind of middle of the road hardcore style, not crazy heavy, somewhat of a punk rock feel in terms of a singalong style. Not a great band for the kill everyone mosh. They played good. I love Danny Diablo's shoes, some super high top silver sneakers. They were good, but the crowd was less into this than Cypher. They played all the hits, Dogs of War, Drugs Money and Sex, all of em.

Death Threat - We skipped out on this band. DT was one of my favorite bands in high school, but after a few times of them no-showing at shows that I drove like 3 hours each way for, I somewhat lost my fervor for them.

Terror - You know Terror always kills it. Top notch set by Scott Vogel, and pretty good song selection. I was disappointed in the crowd a little bit. There was barely enough people up close for stage diving, but it was going on anyways. The mosh was good, the singalongs were good. Maybe this was just a down night for the usual TIHC energy? I thought everyone went off all the time for Terror. They should. Picked up a sick shirt after the set.

Madball - The disappointing of all disappointing crowd reactions. Again an example of people maybe not being so into their type of hardcore, like Skarhead. Now the response was much better than Skarhead got, but it's freaking Madball. I felt like it was a very Pittsburgh quality response. They have so many great songs they obviously can't play them all, but they pretty much killed the setlist. Opening with Can't Stop Wont Stop was a great choice, a rager. Agnostic Front cover, another great choice.

Ramallah playing Blood for Blood songs - Destroyed it. Played Love Song, All Fucked Up, Living in Exile, and more. White Trash Rob is a madman on the vocals. They destroyed it. People went off, it was a great time.

Thursday was a success. Great show. Sold out crowd, but they didn't fully show up until Ramallah BFB. I should have got the shirt.

Best bands:
1 Ramallah BFB
2 Madball
3 Terror

7-14 Warped Tour, The Adolescents, Alestorm, Anti-Flag, The Ataris, Big D and the Kids Table, Candiria, GWAR, Hatebreed, Knocked Loose, Municipal Waste, Sick of It All, Street Dogs, Valiant Thorr, poop bands, Burgettstown @Keybank Pavilion

I didn't think I'd ever go to another Warped Tour. But the lineup for this year had a good amount of bands that I really like, so that's kind of cool. I knew that because it was Warped Tour the song selection would be a bit off for my liking, but worthwhile none the less. It was like $50. We pregamed pretty well beforehand. Fuck the parking situation, we seriously were at the Keybank Pavilion driving through the parking low for 45 minutes. So fucking pissed off about that. We got pretty greased up once we were finally parked.

poop bands - Yep, there were tons of those. I'm going to try to put these chronologically, but I lost the lineup paper so I'm sure my memory of order is jacked.

Anti-Flag - I was borderline horrified by the lack of bashing Donald Trump. I was hoping for some serious trashing. They didn't play House Destruction Party or a ton of other essentials, but the set was still good. There was one funny time when they just started playing Fuck Police Brutality. The one security guy who was working in front of the barrier who was a black guy started cracking up. The look on his face was great, I'm sure he was thinking about how funny it is looking at like 300 white people singing fuck police brutality. Decent set. First time I've seen this band in a decade.

War on Women - Female fronted punk rock. A good set. I hadn't heard of them before but enjoyed the set and message thoroughly.

Valiant Thor - Had a real good set. I don't know many of their songs, but the whole set was very good. Head banging rock and roll. It was exactly what you wanted it to be.

Hatebreed - They were pretty poop. I'm pretty sure they didn't play anything off of Satisfaction is the Death of Desire, which was to be expected. I felt like they kind of mailed it in. There wasn't much of a pit or anything to speak of.

The Ataris - They were good. Exactly what you would expect. Average songs that are good enough to watch. They've been playing forever and they played pretty much spot on compared to the albums.

Alestorm - Played a ton of good songs. Killed it pretty much. I always want them to play more. One of the top bands of the day.

The Adolescents - They were good. The crowd was thoroughly uninspired, and that was unfortunate. Good energy from the old timers.

Candiria - I had assumed this band would play early somewhere but they didn't. It was a good set. Candiria doesn't have overly creative breakdowns and their songs are a bit choppy, so most of the Warped Tour crowd didn't give two shits. The singer is extremely good. I really like watching him and I really liked the set.

Big D and the Kids Table - Good easy going punk rock. I hadn't seen them before somehow, so this was enjoyable. Sick of It All - They played a good set. Instead of playing Clobbering Time and Potential for a Fall and America, they played District and Take the Night Off. Again, of course because of the audience. They always play good though and were solid.

Municipal Waste - Thrash metal goodness. They played a bunch of good songs and it was party time. Not especially energetic but very good nonetheless. This is how we turn your boring party into art!

GWAR - The best band of the day by far. They pretty much destroyed it even though Oderus Urungus is dead. I got sprayed with a ton of fake blood and they shredded for like 40 minutes. Every bit as amazing and outer space monstery as I had hoped it would be.

Best bands:
-Valiant Thor
-Alestorm
-GWAR

Bands I wanted to see but didn't:
Street Dogs
Knocked Loose

Not bad.

6-24 Bernie Sanders, Pittsburgh @Convention Center

This was the pregame party before Tobacco. Haha, kinda. So this was evidently a Move On.org event, and Bernie was the main speaker. I liked a few things and very much didn't like a few things. This one dude who spoke intermittently and was an organizer or something kept getting on stage and starting cheers and chants and shit. Mostly about Senator Toomey, who is a dickhead. Some of these cheers were god awful. Seriously reprehensible in their lack of flow. The other speakers were varying levels of interesting and captivating. Most of them were very short and spoke about how the repeal health care bill is bullshit and crippling. Bernie kinda killed it, kinda didn't. He was talking about a single topic, so there's really only so much to say. I liked his New York Jew accent. Love Bernie.

I'm thinking that we were one of the only groups that tailgated this. They should seriously serve beer at these events.

6-24 Tobacco's Al Dente Perfecto #2 Beach Party, High Tides, Zackey Force Funk, Demon Queen, Pittsburgh @Spirit

When we got there the party was already well underway. I think the act on when we walked in was Demon Queen. Not sure but we got some drinks and went out back to chill for a while.

High Tides - Not sure.

Demon Queen - My brother saw a lot more than we did and thought it was pretty good. Some DJ with rap style vocals I think. All I could hear was the beat.

Zackey Force Funk - At first when this dude took the stage Tobacco was DJing for him. Evidently they had released an album like a decade ago. They played all those songs. They said they'll likely never do that again, so that was cool. Zackey funk force then took over. Zackey has good beats and grooves and we were varying degrees of drunk so we enjoyed it. His vocals though. He sounds like a 20 some year old girl, in a way. It was good somehow.

I wouldn't say it had an overly beach party feel, but it was cool anyway. I'm hype that during Skull Fest Tobacco is playing a set at Spirit downstairs while the Doom show is going on upstairs. I'm sure this is going to be a great time.

Hi's - Good pizza, good tunes, good place and everything.

Low's - What's going on in that bus?!