Misfits @ Prudential Center (NJ), July 8 2023

I went down to New Jersey to see this lineup with my friend Sol.  But before I cover the show, let's talk about all the great people you meet.  

Sol was hanging with someone he met on the train over, a guy around our age named Sam.  He's a huge music fan and had also seen ZZ Top and Cannibal Corpse in the last month.  Dude loves music! 

The winner of best T-Shirt went to this beaut: 

On the way in I complimented a young kid on his Propagandhi shirt.  It was bootleg he said.  But he had color matched Nickelodeon "Doug" socks.  So there. 

Back to the music:  the lineup for the night: Mourning <something>, FEAR, The Gaslight Anthem and Misfits. 

Lee Ving from FEAR still has it, and he's only like 73 years old.  1234! 1234!  They also had their original drummer Spit Stix, who was tasty as ever.  Seriously, go listen to The Record. 

Gaslight Anthem is from NJ (like the Misfits) and must have been super excited to be sandwiched between two massive legends.  

Now for the Misfits.  Glenn!  Jerry!  Dave Lombardo!  Some other guys on guitar.  What else needs to be said? 

Glenn's vocals were on point and Dave would throw in some Slayer licks every once in a while.  It was a killer set.  It'd post more pictures but we were in the nose bleed section and all the photos are blurry. 

Here's a video of the crowd singing along to "Eagles"

The only downside to seeing Misfits is that you might wake up with the lyrics from "Bullet" running through you head. 

Here's the setlist, stolen from setlist.fm 

Death Comes Ripping
I Turned Into a Martian
Where Eagles Dare
Hybrid Moments
Vampira
London Dungeon
Some Kinda Hate
Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight?
All Hell Breaks Loose
Hollywood Babylon
Who Killed Marilyn
Earth A.D.
Green Hell
Come Back
Violent World
Skulls
Halloween
Teenagers From Mars
Children in Heat
Bullet
Night of the Living Dead
Astro Zombies
Last Caress

Encore

20 Eyes
Play Video
Die, Die My Darling

Bane @ Roadrunner, June 18 2023

This was a bit of a hardcore reunion/throwback show, and my first time at Roadrunner. Killer soundsystem and transgender bathrooms FTW! 

Killing Time - NYHC from late 80s. Great quotes from the lead singer, "I look like a telletubby", "turn down the lights, Im roastin!" He did the last 4 songs from the floor cause no one was dancing. Guitarist got on the floor for the last song too. They brought it! Great NYHC vocal style. 

Stick to Your Guns - Amazing energy. Metal but also melodic. There was an old guy in a red shirt down front who got taken out by a stage diving. Made it out in wheel chair to full applause. People were running off the stage into nothing. There was a rad older dude who grabbed the mic on stage for the pro-union song and they had an awesome vocal pile-on for another song. 

The Suicide File - This is a local band who was around back in 2001. Somehow missed them. Opening music was "We are Family" by Sister Sledge. More punk rock than metal as compared to STYG. 

Had a song called “Fuck Fox News”. Huge crowd energy and the singer talked about being overwhelmed by the reception after such a long time away. Drummer had a killer blue Vista Lite drum kit. They had a set list but also played requests and what ever else comes to mind. Respect for knowing the songs that well! Singer also talked about transgender and inclusivity in the HC scene. "Take care of our smaller brothers and sisters and non binary folks" Memorable songs included Laramie (“There’s a burning cross on the hillside”) and a Blitz cover with Colin of Arabia. 

You can see Colin and Dave up front in this live slapshot show from '97 

In between sets the sound engineer played the Miltown song "Delicate Fiction" (with the memorable line "they say at times like these, human limbs get thrown away"). Shazam failed to recognize the song. 💩

Bane - Great mix of tunes, and a good amount of talking between songs, about HC community, inclusivity, transgender, etc. "Don’t listen to old-ass jaded bitches". Before playing "What Makes Us Strong" Aaron talked about "question the bullshit. think critically. that’s what makes a punk kid. that’s what makes a hardcore kid" He also said that there were folks from Germany, Italy and Australia!! I def saw someone in a white truck with PA plates driving like a maniac at the start of Soldiers Field Rd in West Brighton. Gotta imagine they were heading to the show (which had already started by then).

From the archives - cool shirt design

Here's a fantastic logo from my band Missionshifter, created by our bass player Eric. There are t-shirts out there with this image on them.