8-25 Sickoids, Narcs, Slices, Crazy Scorpion Group, Skull Fest the band, Cognitive Dissonance, Pittsburgh @the Shop

Rational Animals was supposed to play this show. They cancelled so that was a little letdown. Going into the show they were my fav band on the bill. Oh well, as it turned out, everyone made up for their absence.

This show was billed as a mutant punk block party. That's pretty much what it ended up as. The alleyway was blocked off for one block and it was littered with crusties, punks, dogs, and other all night. It was nice.

Cognitive Dissonance - This band wasn't supposed to play, but they jumped on the show anyway. From Massachusetts. I loved the poor quality of the singing. After a few songs it occurred to me that the poor singing was really great singing. Metal punks. They had some super good riffs, and the one song the drummer got real metal on some shit and it was very good. I'd like to see this band again. It would end up that this was the most metal band on the bill.

Crazy Scorpion Group - The last time I saw this band I think I misinterpreted the lead singer. He looks like he doesn't give a shit about much of anything. I'm still under that impression, however I think that's part of his shtick. I liked this band better this time than last time, but they were still the worst group on the bill.

Slices - Killed it. The crowd was into it. They played like 6 to 8 songs. It was a rager for sure. The singer is so entertaining because of his strange antics and the way he sulks around. Very good set, I like them more every time I see them. Weird guy hardcore punk. Fast, melodic, nothing too metal or too heavy.

Skullfest the Band - This group was made up of guys from Slices and about 500 other Pittsburgh bands. It was cool. They either played a bunch of covers or just ripped off a bunch of older punk songs. Either way it was entertaining.

Narcs - This band was real cool and real good. They were punks who all wore police hats. They were probably the most strait up punk band on the bill. They professed their hatred for metal. The crowd was the most thin, and the most violent for this band. Not sure why it was the way it was, but who cares. The band slayed it, ripping through like 10 songs. I enjoyed their persona and songs very much.

Sickoids - The best band of the night. Their songs are hardcore punk bangers. Fast and faster. No breakdowns or anything. Very screamy. Had I more money I'd have picked up a shirt or something. I'll for sure go out of my way to see this band again. The crowd was into it from beginning to end.

So at the same time as this show, there was a show going on at Kopecs down the road. It was Appalachian Terror Unit, who is a bigger band than Sickoids. I haven't heard how that show went, but the turnout at the Shop was great.

Hi's - turnout, the fun, the drinks, the stink
Low's - nothing

8-23 Zomboy, Arion, RSK, Doverspike, Pittsburgh @Rex Theater

It's been years since I was at a rave type dj show. So my girlfriend really liked RSK when we saw him at the Sneaky Mike show a while back. So when I saw RSK on the bill, I asked her, she was interested, and that's how I ended up at the dubstep show instead of at the Mischief Brew show.

I'm not accustomed to writing reviews of DJ's. I don't really know how to judge the good ones from the shit ones. But on this night I at least moderately enjoyed everyone.

One thing that was disappointing to me is that not a single DJ spun a record. They all used laptop only. So I lost a little respect for everyone and the entire scene as well. It's just soo whack that they don't spin vinyl.

Doverspike - He was playing when we walked in at like 9:30. We stood around for a few, then went back to the car to get our drink on. He sounded ok. There were not many people in the room at this time.

RSK - The room was starting to fill up by the time we went back in. RSK was spinning. He's real good, hard dubstep. We got our dance on. I'd say there were 100 people in the room at this point.

Arion - He's a good DJ. More dubstep. We got our dance on yet again. I'd say there were maybe 150 people in the room.

Zomboy - More dubstep. I don't know if I was just all danced out and tired as fuck or what was going on. But I wasn't all that impressed. Sounded a lot like Arion and RSK. Either way, we enjoyed the set. Left before it was over, but that's ok because it was late and I'd had enough. At the highest point I think 200 to 250 were in attendance. Not bad I wouldn't say.

Hi's - the good dance, turnout, good DJs.

Low's - bad bad attitude, perhaps a little too drunk.

8-11 This Is Hardcore, Philladelphia @Electric Factory

I haven't been to a ton of fests in my life, maybe like 10 in my show going life (about last 13 years). But, I was very surprised at the amount of energy that every band received. It was by far the most energetic, and attentive hardcore fest crowd that I've ever seen. Every band has a good amount of people watching, and every band had some mosh going on. It was good to see. In that building, hardcore seemed very alive.

This will be by far my longest blog post ever. I think by the end of it I'll have reviewed several aspects of the show going experience that I normally don't talk about at all.

This Is Hardcore tickets cost $50 for the Saturday show, including Ticketmaster fees. I felt that was a fair price. So we drive out to Philly on Friday night. Leaving a little after 8PM. It should take about 5.5 hours to get there. It took us about 7.5. We were concerned about traffic on the turnpike because of road work. So we took an alternate route that should have only added half an hour max to the drive. Well it turned out that on I-70 in Maryland, which is the road we were taking, a tractor trailer carrying some unknowns wrecked, blew up, and burned in the middle of the road. It caused I-70 to be shut down, and re-routed us to route 40. 40 is not made to handle that amount of traffic. All in all it cost us 2 hours. We arrived at our hotel in Jersey around 3:45AM. We were all asleep by 4.

Doors were supposed to open at 11:30 and the first band at 12 noon. That didn't happen, not surprisingly. Fests always seem to start late or have some sort of issues with timing. But it was running less than an hour late, so you just have to take that. At some point in the day, we really wished we had that hour back to get more sleep, because our energy needed the extra kick. Not to mention I was super worried about getting lost so we left the hotel at 10AM, for a 20 min drive. So we were among the first 50 in line, standing in the sun listening to some idiots bitch, debate, look for rides back to their hotel because they purposefully left their ticket, etc.

We had decided to leave our phones, camera, all electronics in the car thinking that we could re-enter. Wrong. We ended up being screwed all day without any way of checking the schedule, texting our ladyfriends, all that necessary stuff. Sucked.

Empire of Rats - They came through Pittsburgh a few months ago. I wasn't able to make it then, so we were in plenty of time to see them here. They opened the fest in good hardcore style. Slaying the people coming in the door with metallic hardcore, in the beatdown vein. I enjoyed the set. Though, you come to expect more at a huge fest from a small band. You'd think that the few hundred people there to watch them would be the biggest crowd they've played for, so they'd completely bring the pain. The singer didn't appear all that into it, or maybe he's just not much of a showman. Either way, the songs were good. Some mosh was had. Heads were nodded. It was a good start.

We decided to get our merch buying in early. All the bands who sold stuff were set up by this time already. So I hit up the usual suspects, Bane, Horror Show, and Rotting Out to get my purchases in. They had a bag check so we put everything in a bag and checked it for $5. Good choice, so we didn't have to carry shit all day.

Oblivion - We only caught the last song of this band. The first bunch of bands only had 5-10 mins between sets. So we were outside getting our shit, checking on food, all that stuff. They sounded like they'd be a bunch of burly fucks, playing beatdown, with cookie monster singing. I remember the one guitarist was kind of burly. Can't say what the rest looked like. Either way, from the outside they sounded really meh. I'd give them another chance. I like their logo. Like the Oakley 'O' with nails sticking out the outside.

At this point I discovered the shittiest part about the Electric Factory, and that is the drink prices. Mother fuckers wanted $10.25 for a 24 ounce draft, and $11 for a 24 ounce can of Yeungling. Fuck that. I had one beer all day. I saw people getting drunk. How the fuck do they afford that?

Code Orange Kids - Pittsburgh's only band on the bill for the whole fest. The only active band other than Steel Nation and Path to Misery that would be good or big enough to get even an early slot. At that I wonder how much Deathwish had to do with getting them on. They for sure brought their A game. Despite being from the area, I'd only seen them twice. They were way better this time than before. People were getting their mosh on pretty good. I was surprised big time because they're not a really moshy band. More of a weird hardcore band. But they represented themselves well and we all enjoyed the set. They were by far the most entertaining to watch over any of the other early bands.

Rude Awakening - We went outside and ate some sandwiches from the cheesesteak food truck. Super good "say chicken" sandwich. Not sure if it was the food or my hungry level. They are one of the only bands on the bill who I didn't see or hear any of the set. I don't think they had the speakers outside set up yet.

Twitching Tongues - They were a cool band. Most of the vocals were in the style of H2O mixed with Ignite except their singer sucked. The music was a Comeback Kid vs. H20 mix. On a shitty sound system they probably would have been way better. I just couldn't get over the shitty singer. Kids were getting hype though. The first good sing along that happened all day. Not too much stage diving yet, but people were into it.

No Tolerance - I guess this band features DFJ from Mental/Righteous Jams/Boston/Posi fame? Either way, this band didn't sound very posi. We were outside during the set. Dont remember what we were doing. Lounging I suppose.

Stick Together - From Wilkes Barre PA. They were all about hardcore. People went completely nuts for them. I enjoyed the set a lot. The singer seemed like a very normal likable guy. Plenty to say. Very good stage presence from the singer. The sing along was on like nuts, the mosh was in effect big time for the first time of the day. I'd never heard of them before, but I sure know them now. Strait edge band. Even though they were killer live, I'm pretty sure if I listen to the cd I wouldn't like it as much. It was the atmosphere.

Skin Like Iron - They were by far the least liked band of the day by the attendees as a whole. Their music was pretty hard to mosh to. I think most people there didn't know them. A few people got their mosh on. They have a split out recently with Nails, more people knew those songs, but I'm sure just because of Nails. Overall I liked them, but not tons. I might check out some of their releases to see if I missed something.

Rotting Out - The first band of the day that I actually knew some songs. They were extremely good. Tons of energy. Tons of stagedives. One of the only circle pits of the day happened during the set. Lots of heavy moshing. For a fast band they sure get people bringing the heat in the pit. They slayed it. I got a black eye from a stagediver, but that's ok. I'm not mad about it. The singer professed his love for Bane and Cro-Mags and Suicidal Tendencies. I understand that as well. I felt their performance justified me buying the shirt by 100x. A lot of their stuff is blue. I dont like blue and rarely ever wear blue outside of work.

Rival Mob - Before the set I had never even given them a listen. That's me fucking up. They were so so so good. The singer had so much energy and worked the crowd so well. The first band of the day that truly had amazing stage presence that seemed to come from a wealth of experience. The first true performers of the day. I'm going to get my hands on all sorts of Rival Mob shit and learn it all. If they ever come to Pittsburgh, I'm going to go off. If you don't know them, look at setlist.fm and see what they play live, and take a listen. Shit was some bangers for real. At the time I didn't think people would go more berserk than they did for Rotting Out. But they completely did.

Horror Show - I'm not sure if people were just taking a rest after Rival Mob, or if Horror Show just has been out of the loop for so long that people don't know them much anymore, or what. But my impression was that there were only 60% the people in the building for Rival Mob. The people in there enjoyed most of the songs greatly. A few songs, which they don't have that many, there were only a couple of people who knew the words. But at times it was popping for sure. I enjoyed the set. Going into the day they were one of my favorite bands on the show, coming out they still are. I got the shirt. I don't love the shirt, but it's pretty sweet. The singer had an especial penchant for swinging the mic around like a bola or something. At the end of the set, I'm surprised that one of Philly's own didn't get a better reception.

After Horror Show the show took a 30 minute dinner break. In which it rained furiously and I got very wet. Especially my shoes. The wet shoes proved to be the bane of my day, come the end of it. The fuckers wouldn't let you leave and come back in, so my dry Sauconys in the trunk had to stay there.

Vision - Vision are the last band of the day who I saw none of. Listening from the outside they sounded way more singalong and way less moshy than I anticipated. I'd never listened to them before, but they sound like a more friendly Agnostic Front. I was eating and drinking and drying out my poor feet (to no avail since my shoes were and are still soaked).

Grey Area - I had never listened to them before. I, of course, was thinking mosh and newer band. Showing my ignorance once again. They ripped shit up and the singer/guitarist was one of the best performers I've ever seen. The way he plays, works the mic, moves around, and sings perfectly was something else. I'm going to be a fan for life. I get the feeling that they don't play much anymore, they're an old band evidently, but if they ever come to Pittsburgh, WV, Ohio or anywhere close, I'll go. Think Bouncing Souls and Face to Face but a little more aggressive. GREAT set. People obviously knew them much better than I. They were the last band of the day who I'd either never seen or didn't listen to much.

Bane - KILLED IT. I always like Bane, but on this day they especially ripped shit up. They're so good at putting together a good set. I knew every song. The stage diving was at an all time high for any show I've ever been to. There aren't even any words for how much I liked it. Set of the night in my opinion. From the way the singer was talking they have some inkling of breaking the band up. He was talking about not knowing how much is left in the tank, but maybe one more This Is Hardcore. Damn. I hope they don't call it quits. Even the new stuff is good.

Title Fight - I'm always disappointed by this band. I think they're pretty bleh. Some of their songs had good sing along. People were obviously into it for most of the songs, but I wasn't feeling it that much. I'd call them more of a pop-punk band than a hardcore band. But there is definitely some area there where they intersect, and that's where you find Title Fight. Their merch tent had people lined up all day so I'm sure they made their gas money.

H2O - Great band for a big fest. Great sing alongs. People were moshing of course, but the highlight of H2O if you're a fan is the sing along. I've never been a huge fan, but I need to give their stuff a second look. I'm going to get the set-list that they played on this night and listen to that stuff again. Because not knowing the words to their songs, I still loved the set. This was my second time seeing them, and they were by far received much better this time than last.

Lifetime - I don't like this band much to listen to. I'm not sure why they have such clout. After seeing them live I'm still not sure. They are boring. We listened to about 6 songs then went outside to sit in the rain. Plus they played for like an hour.

After Lifetime it took forever for the headliner to take the stage. I don't know what the problem was but people were yelling at each other on stage and all that. Gorilla Biscuits - After seeing the performances of some of the other bands I didn't care much whether GB was good or not. I was tired as heck and ready to go. Luckily for me they were very good. Much better than I had anticipated. The singer was very mobile and on point. The sing along was roaring to the point that you couldn't hear the singer over the PA because so many people were singing along. It was wild. They played probaby 15 songs, all the hits included. A good ending to a tight day. I may never get to see them again.

Best performances - 1. Bane 2. Grey Area 3. Rival Mob 4. H20

What I like about fests like this is discovering new bands that are good. Grey Area has been around for a very long time evidently. But I'd never heard of them. Now they might become a regular on my shuffle.

Since This is Hardcore is such a huge deal, I feel like the fashion trends in punk and hardcore are encompassed there. And to get an idea of what people are wearing, TiH is a good case study. So for the first time ever I'm going to talk about what people were wearing.

Fashion trends that I'm glad are almost dead - Flipped up hats. You know, the way people bend the brim of their cap up so the hat doesn't block any sun. Only a few people there were rocking that look. Belly shirts (for chics). Not many belly shirts going around there. The belly shirt has been replaced by a look that I'll talk about in the next section on fashion. It's probably gone because too many people are fat. Muscle ass dudes. Now there were some big people there. But I feel that tough guy hardcore is on the way out and being one big muscle isn't as desired as it once was. White belts. I'm very happy to say that the white belt was almost extinct at This is Hardcore. Very nice. Trucker hats. Now I was wearing a trucker hat, as I do several times weekly. But I do it better than you do! Drooping. The fellas don't have to have their asses hanging out 24/7 anymore. Good.

Fashion trends that weren't very prevalent that I like - Converse AllStars. Not all that many chucks in the building. Def not that many high tops. Lots of people wearing more modern sports shoes and tons of Vans and other loafer styles. Trucker hats. Only sometimes are they decent. Camo pants. Now there was plenty of camo pants there, but it's not what it once was. It used to be the standard, but no more.

Whats in - Sooo many girls wearing the super high waisted shorts that come up past your belly button. I'm not a huge fan of this look. Most of them were so short that you could see butt cheek wrinkles below the pants legs. Then to make it worse, they tuck their band shirt into the waist to make sure everyone knows they're wearing these redic pants. I'm so stoked that my girl doesn't wear that dumb shit. It's just not a flattering look on any skinny chic. On the fattys, I understand why you'd wear that. It's completely killed the belly shirt. I'm very happy that punk style vests are officially back. A bunch of people wearing vests of all festiveness levels. High boots. A bunch of classy to trashy girls wearing high ass boots. Hooker boots or Doc Martins, or other. Vans. Adidas. Running shoes. Cut off shorts of all types. Wearing shirts of popular bands. Hair that you spent time doing even though you're about to swear to death. Shirts that aren't too small for you.

All in all this fest was fantastic. Though, I still prefer smaller shows. the more intimate atmosphere is something I love, I have more fun there, things are cheaper, everything is better. But if next year has a killer day like this one had, I'll be there. They said that Friday's show had over 3000 people there, and it wasn't sold out. Saturdays show was sold out. I would not at all be surprised if over 4000 people were in attendance. That's crazy for a HC show.

Hi's - The whole show was a blast, no fights, reasonable cost of admossion

Low's - No re-entry, the rain, my raw ass feet, Lifetime.

8-8 Earth Crisis, xRepresentx, Menace, Steel City Firm, Vigilant, Pittsburgh @Ironworks/Hideout

I wasn't expecting too much out of this show. I thought that because of poor promotion there would be no one there. Also thought that Earth Crisis would kinda suck, and that the supporting bands would suck too. Good thing I was wrong.

I'm not sure of the order of the bands, because timing was screwy.

Also, what kind of Pittsburgh bar doesn't get the tv channel that the Pirates game is on? Fucking fuck, I was beside myself.

Vigilant - Missed them because we were sitting in the car drinking and listening to the Pirates game. This was pretty much purposeful.

Steel City Firm - Missed them. I have no idea how. They must have started the show extra early or something. We went in at 7:30, thinking the show started at 7. Sucks because I wanted to see them.

Menace - I thought this band would suck ass because they hijacked their name from a classic UK punk band. They were actually pretty good. I enjoyed the set. Up tempo beatdown style, new school. It was refreshing.

I don't know what happened here. We thought xRepresentx would be playing in this slot. But I'm not really sure. After Menace we went to the car to check up on the game on the radio and drink some cheap beers. We were out there for like 30 mins or so. When we came back in xRepresentx was just getting done setting shit up. So either someone played a quick set and bounced. Or xRepresentx took forever to set up.

xRepresentx - I never really did like this band. Mosh and roll style shit. They did play a Hatebreed cover though, which was good. For most of the set me and Evan were in the bar sipping on bottles of money.

Earth Crisis - GREAT set! I was fucking stoked on that. All Out War in the jam. Firestorm is the jam. The new songs from last year's CD are the jams. Everything about what happened during that set was awesome. They were talking about animal liberation shit. The mosh was good but not wignorant. It just strait up ruled. It's been a while since I got down so hard that two hours later I was still sweaty. Also, this morning my back and hands are sore as fuck.

And the Pirates won.

Hi's - everything except that Concert Chaos mother fucker upping the price at the door from $12 to $15. I HATE it when that happens. If you gotta charge 15 then charge 15, dont advertise 12. I've been to several of his shows where that happened. Fucking sleezy ass promoter.

Low's - said price gouging, $4 Yeungling. Thats it!

8-2 Waxahatchee, Run Forever, Swearin, Zeitgeist, Pittsburgh @Mr. Roboto Project

Going to this show I wasn't sure if it was going to be a poppunk show, or a lesbian fest, some punx shit, or what. Eventually I found that it was a little of all of it. It was a nice night. A solid Roboto show

California X - Some band from Massachusetts that jumped on the show at the last second. We didn't watch this band. We were either eating Spaks or drinking beer around the block.

Zeitgeist - My second time seeing this band. They're cool. If I had more money I'd have bought some pins or something. Fast female fronted punk rock. I like the singers voice.

Waxahatchee - I didn't know going into this that this band was really a single person singing folkish songs with her guitar. I normally don't go out for shows like this. But I enjoyed the set. Her voice is real good. Her way of lyricism is neat. And the simplicity of her chords didn't take away from the ambiance. I liked it. Judging by the quality of the bands she played with, I'll probably go see her again the next time she comes to town.

Swearin - The singer and guitar player for this band is Waxahatchee's sister. Cool to be on tour together. I thought this band was good. Though, the female vocalist was pretty much inaudible most of the time. Roboto always has that problem, with vocals fucking unable to be heard sometimes. They were like middle ground between poppunk and punx.

Run, Forever - GREAT local band. So I've tried to see this band like 3 or 4 times, and everything has gone wrong to keep me from seeing the set. But I was super impressed. I like the drummer dude, he's good and entertaining. The singers were both super good. The songs awesome. I'll for sure go to a show again sometime just to see this band again. I'd classify them as poppunk.

Hi's - all the bands, Run Forever, beer

Low's - nothing

6-22 Set Your Goals, Trophies, Mace Ballard, Crash City, Pittsburgh @Rex Theater

I was moderately excited for this show . I knew going in that the openers were most likely going to be poop and SYG may very well play mostly new songs. I was pretty much right. I like going to the Rex but don't like going to the Rex. I like the size, like the slanted floor sometimes, hate the orientation of the bar.

Crash City - We missed almost all of this band except the last song. From what I heard they were pop punk that was too slow. Kinda glad we missed them.

Trophies - The best opener of the night. I enjoyed them sometimes. They tried real hard to sound like SYG at times, though they tried to get a little bit rougher. Didn't work real well, they kinda sucked.

Mace Ballard - I've seen them before and I'm sure at some point they'll be on a show that I go to again. And again I wont enjoy them. Shit band.

Set Your Goals - They were really really good. I love the energy. I was pooped out that they only played a few songs I knew. They didn't play Flight of the Navigator, or Don't Let This Win Over You, or This Very Moment, or How About No Scott, or Latchkey, or Reset. It was a long set, the crowd was into it, and they seemed to enjoy playing here. Some of the new songs I had never heard of before were really good.

Hi's - turnout around 170 at the height I think, weather, everything
Low's - Shit opening bands, douchebags beatdown dancing to poppunk

5-21 First Blood, Path to Misery, Naysayer, Born From Pain, Betrayal, Steel City Firm, more, Pittsburgh @Ironworks/Hideout

Perhaps the venue changed it's name about a week before the show to the Ironworks, but it still says the Hideout real big on the outside. So it's whatever. I was expecting a mosh fest with idiots doing idiotic things. It was pretty close to that. But every band was much better than I figured them to be. Well, every band we got there in time to see at least.

Steel City Firm and the other local opener - We didn't get there in time to see them. Oh well.

Betrayal - I enjoyed this band. Tough beatdowns and fast two step parts. Nothing too original but it was still good. Every band other than PtM was like First Blood Jr.

Born From Pain - Came all the way from Europe for this tour. I'm guessing Belgium or something, but every time they said where they are from they just said Europe. They were the second best band of the night. I enjoyed the fury and the political overtones. I'd like to see them again.

Naysayer - I hadn't seen this band yet and I'm happy to have seen them this time. I for sure thought that people would be more into the sing along, but it was more of a tough mosh kinda show. They were good and I'd like to see again.

Path to Misery - I've seen them tons of times. This is the first time AJ ever headbutted me in the face though. It busted open an old scar that bled really good for about 12 hours. I'm sure I needed a stitch or two, but I don't do that. Also got to watch AJ throw expensive drum equipment into the pit. He's nuts.

First Blood - They were good. Every bit as good as they were 6 years ago in Dayton Ohio. It was a good set. I didn't get into it because I was still bleeding really good. F-em. They'll be back and I'll see them then.

Hi's - Good beatdown bands, turnout
Low's - my face bleeding out