3-23 Weedeater, BASK, Hyborian, Pittsburgh @Cattivo

I love the late show. It was super decent that this started at 11. I'm guessing that there may have been an earlier show that they had to clear out? Either way Cattivo was a good place for this show.

Hyborian - I hadn't listened to this band before. I didn't like them right off the bat because they stopped playing their first song four times because the bass guitar was fucking up. They should have just played through it. I don't know what that was all about really but it was a momentum killer. They had a good riff or two but all in all very average leaning towards sucking.

BASK - This band is a bit on the easy side of metal. They were good, better than the opening band. A little bit poppy at times and in general happy sounding. More so than I expected at least. Half decent band, I didn't mind watching the whole set.

Weedeater - They were pretty much better than I expected. They played their best album in it's entirety, it was very very good. I like the bass player, he was drinking whisky straight from the gallon bottle. Great energy from the band. Though the crowd left a bit to be desired. I don't think anyone there knew the words to a single entire song, but that didn't really take away from the night at all. Good metal, good set.

Highs - Weedeater, beer
Lows - Trash band.

3-5 Propagandhi, Iron Chic, La Armada, Pittsburgh @Rex Theater

Any time Propagandhi is going to be around the area, I'm going to see them. Last time they came through was a few years ago with Comeback Kid. It was awesome. This time had promise to be the same.

La Armada - This band had been to Pittsburgh a few times over the years, but I hadn't ever paid much attention to them. They were good, a bit on the heavy and choppy side. I really liked the guys in the band. When they talked about things they seemed sincere and genuine and I really liked it. I very much wanted to be way into the music, but it just wasn't so.

Iron Chic - More or less a pop punk band. Maybe a little in the vein of Hot Water Music or something like that. Not quite really poppy, but not heavy or fast or angry or anything like that. The singer had a gnarly beer gut holding him back. The songs were good. Maybe I'll download them sometime.

Propagandhi - The best set I've ever seen them play. Great shit. They opened with a bunch of bangers consecutively, then played some new mixed with old, then they rocked it out to end. Great sounding set. Great everything. One issue here with this band, the cheapest merch was a $25 t-shirt. That's fucking astounding pricing. I feel like that's Metallica or Kenny Chesney prices.

Hi's - Drunk, bands, yay

Low's - Those shirt prices. Fucking fuck.

2-27 Mammoth Grinder, Concealed Blade, Ritual Mass, Pittsburgh @Rock Room

Rock Room shows are always the best. Though of all the food special days, hamburger days are the worst. But the $1 PBR pounder specials are where it's at.

Ritual Mass - Heavy new hardcore metal band. Relatively new at least. Heavy and pretty good.

Concealed Blade - This band rules. Great mosh parts. I love watching them in smaller spaces like the Rock Room. It was packed in and a great time. I know Blood Pressure is on tour in Mexico for a while, so we probably wont see any Concealed Blade shows for a bit.

Mammoth Grinder - We were excited to see this band for the first time because of the Power Trip and Iron Reagan pedigree. They were pretty good, but I felt the set dragged on pretty long. Or it could be because my belt broke and I was fidgeting with that.

Hi's - Rock Room, all the bands

Low's - Not a thing.

2-23 American Nightmare, No Warning, Spiritual Camp, Pittsburgh @Rex Theater

It's American Nightmare, of course we were going to go. The Rex is a good place for this show. I'm thinking close to 300 people were there. A pretty decent showing for Pittsburgh for a fast band. I think this show could have greatly benefited from a good heavy local band like Eternal Sleep or Concealed Blade or No Reason to Live or something.

Spiritual Camp - I don't particularly like this band on this show. They're more of a surf rock garage rock indie type of band. Not really a hardcore band at all. Which is ok, but it's not what I was in it for. They had a tambourine player who pretty much just wigged out the whole time. Very dancey music.

No Warning - At one point in time No Warning was really popular. The response to them was pretty average on this night. For the first half of their set pretty much one dude was moshing, and he was escorted out for some reason. I know the mosh has happened in that place before. I'm not sure what he was doing that warranted the toss. Oh well. No Warning wrapped up their set with their popular songs and the tambourine player. Good set.

American Nightmare - The good news is they're making new music. The bad news is the new music sometimes sounds more like Spiritual Camp than American Nightmare. They played most of the songs off of Background Music. I really dislike the forced curtain call. The crowd wasn't into it vociferously enough to warrant a curtain call. They came back out played one song, that's it. The old songs were great, the new songs were ok.

Highs - American Nightmare, No Warning, great weather
Lows - Not a whole lot.

2-17 Wisdom in Chains, Strength for a Reason, Line of Scrimmage, Jukai, Trail of Lies, Sanction, Break Away, Absolute Suffering, No Reason to Live, Dissent, Departed, Forced Out, Iron Price, Red Vision, Cursed Path, Foul Play, Fire in the Blood, Vile Mentality, Brick by Brick Fest, Altoona @Altoona Grand Hotel

First things first, this show was really sweet. There aren't enough fests at big hotels. We were able to get a room for under $100. It was perfect because we didn't have to buy beer from the hotel, we got that Lionshead special at Duffys for $4.99 per 12 pack. We killed something like 56 beers on Saturday. No one puked or passed out. Perfect day. The hotel was pretty much all you wanted it to be. A few different eating options in there, a bar, a nice pool and hot tub. It was really decent.

We were just a little late getting there. We missed a few bands through the day.

Vile Mentality - Missed them. I really like their band name though.

Fire in the Blood - Missed them. I really don't like their band name though.

Foul Play - Missed them.

Cursed Path - This was the first band we saw once we pulled into Altoona. They kinda sucked. Multiple of their songs were played in such a way that I thought they were fucking it up. I don't know if they were fucking it up or not, but I left their set feeling meh. Heavy band, just not good riffs and shit.

Red Vision - Missed them. At this point we were able to check into the room and take all our shit up. Get the cooler set up. All that mess.

Iron Price - I wanted to see this band, but it just didn't work out.

Forced Out - Missed them.

Departed - Missed them.

Dissent - This band was pretty good. I liked their metal riffs. It was cool.

No Reason to Live - Pittsburgh metalcore. They were better this time around than any other time I've ever seen them. Decent mosh response, good band on this day. I think I'm going to download their new album.

Absolute Suffering - Missed them.

Break Away - Good band. Youth crew style straight edge hardcore, but harder than what you think when you think youth crew style. I liked them when we saw them at TIHC, I liked them this time around too.

Sanction - Really really good. I hadn't heard this band before, but I'm going to get into it now. A heavy hardcore band from Long Island. Relatively new band. Good riffs, good mosh, just good in general.

Trail of Lies - Missed them.

Jukai - Jukai is a killer good heavy band. Party animals perhaps. Perhaps not. Either way, they are always heavy and good.

Line of Scrimmage - We saw them once at East Coast Tsunami a while ago. They were ok then. We didn't watch them this time around.

Strength for a Reason - I like this band a bit. But we didn't watch them this time.

Wisdom in Chains - The main reason we went to this fest. Really if Wisdom wasn't playing we probably wouldn't have spent the money for the trip. They killed it of course. Played about 30 minutes, per usual. They didn't make any shocking song selections. Maybe the omission of Cap City was a little bit of a shocker. But when you have as many good songs as they have then something gotta give. Great set like usual. Great singalongs.

Hi's - The hotel, def going back next year even if Wisdom doesn't play.

Low's - Not much. The Snow and the cold primarily.

1-27 Laugh Riot Vol 1, Punk Standup Comedy, Jesse Irvin, Gab Bonesso, Sam Zayvan, Pittsburgh @Mr. Roboto Project

We went to this show with minimal expectations. A $5 comedy show is great value, but how many laughs you get is questionable. In a dry venue at that. But when we left we were all really happy and it was a good time. I wouldn't call it punk comedy, but maybe a little bit.

Sam Zayvan - This dude was seriously funny. We were all crying. By far the most funny of the night. He's from Afghanistan and Atlanta. He didn't have much of an accent so I assume he was mostly raised in the US. His jokes were a little bit lewd, which is completely fine by me. His one joke about being proud that his girlfriend banged John Mayer was gold. We died.

Jesse Irvin - I liked this dude too. He had funny jokes about being in his 30s and bald and cats. We laughed and had a good time.

Gab Bonesso - She's a Pittsburgh comedian. Energy through the roof. Her tagline was something like 'but I'm the crazy one.' It didn't do it for me. She had some really funny and smart jokes though. She was the best entertainer of the night because of her energy. Good set. She made some joke about my hat because I was the only person wearing a cap backwards unfortunately. She also told everyone she thinks I have a huge penis though my go-to move shouldn't be just whipping it out. Side thought: was that my #metoo moment? Nope, she can tell everyone that whenever she wants.

Hi's - price, laughs, venue
Low's - driving in the murky rain, sober venue.

They said starting in March this will be a monthly thing. They should have some of these at the Shop or somewhere you could get boozed up.

1-23 Flobots, McLovins, The Slims, Remy Vega & Brittney Chantele, Pittsburgh @Rex Theater

I've been out of the game of writing about the shows I've gone to. Since Skull Fest I just got behind and didn't try too hard to catch up. But it's a new year and this is the first show of the new year for me so I'm back on the train. Boom.

Remy Vega and Brittney Chantele - They were really good. Two separate artists who have collaborated on music recently. Vega is a DJ and producer and rapper, Chantele is a singer rapper mix pretty much. They were really good. Vega did some freestyling taking words yelled from the crowd. That was especially good. Chantele's songs were real chill, and socially aware. I enjoyed the set.

The Slims - This started out strong, ended weak as can be. First there were three dudes on stage. One guy playing bass, one rapper, and one dude with a guitar and some sort of effects table slash keyboard thing. The first song was good with all three dudes. Chill garage rock rap low key king of vibe. Then the bass player left stage. I guess he was just a friend and they were playing their shit together. Then the rapper and guitar dude did a few songs. These were good too. Not as good as the first jam though. Then the rapper left the stage. It went way downhill from here. Turned into shitty guitar rock songs dedicated to dude's mother and girlfriend and shit. Good thing the hockey game was on in the next room.

McLovins - Just awful. They're a soft rock band. They didn't make any sense on the show. Did they win a battle of the bands or something? Wasn't into that at all. Again, hockey game and beer.

Flobots - Killer show. Both rappers have really nice and different voices. The old songs are good, the new ones are good. Killed it. The lady playing the fiddle is really what makes their live show. She's really good and very entertaining. I hate the one new song though, Quarantine. It's like they turn into some shit stadium rock band for the chorus. Either way, they were very very good. I should have seen them by now, really.

Hi's - Flobots, Vega and Chantele, the Rex
Low's - Who put together this lineup? Pittsburgh surely has better rap and rock options for such a show.