Tuesday night Firestorm Fest (American Hardcore Lives) rolled into
Chicago. My sons, along with one of their friends, accompanied me into
the city to see the show.
And what a show it was. I think my ears have stopped bleeding and I
think my hearing is beginning to return. We all agreed that it was one
of the best shows we've seen in some time.
New
York's Recon opened the show with a set of metal flavored straight-edge
hardcore replete with such massive breakdowns that Matt Fox of Shai
Hulud remarked during their set that "we had more breakdowns but Recon
took them all." The pit action was fast and furious and got crazier as
the night went on.
Down to Nothing was next with no-frills, straight-edge hardcore. They
played a strong set and propelled the dancers in the pit into a frenzy
of windmills and exuberant two-stepping. I'd go see these guys again in
a minute.
A reconstituted Shai Hulud conjured up a blistering sonic assault that
was staggering. I think it was during their set that I saw my son's
friend go flying off the stage. It seemed as if the roof of the hall
flew off during "A Profound Hatred of Man" and if it had, I don't think
anyone would've noticed. Finally getting to see Shai Hulud was a high
point for me and the boys as we'd always seem to miss them when they
came around in the past.
Sworn Enemy's hardcore influenced metal pushed the show's intensity
even further. They displayed some really good guitar playing and
rock-steady drumming which served their well written songs quite nicely.
"We need to elevate the maximum stagedive potential" could have been
the theme for Terror's part of the show. This is the third or fourth
time I've seen them and their L.A., tough-guy hardcore with a strong
metal sensibility never fails to please. The pit is absolutely insane
during a Terror set and last night was no exception. People were
rushing the stage to "get the mic" and bodies were flying off the stage
left and right. For Terror, hardcore is more than the music and shows,
it is family. I once heard Scott Vogel say at a show, "I never felt
like I fit in anywhere until I went to a hardcore show. I found myself
with a bunch of other kids who didn't fit in either. And we finally
found a place where we fit in."
That sense of family and belonging is what I love about hardcore music.
Just as in our biological families, there are jerks and assholes, but
it's still family.
I didn't think it possible but a reunited Earth Crisis took the
intensity level even higher. They played stuff from most of their
recorded output. A couple of highlights were "Ecocide" from "All Out
War" and "Killing Brain Cells" from "Slither." Now I am not
straight-edge but I couldn't refrain from singing along with the chorus
of their final song, "I am straight-edge."
About midway through the show I started feeling old, like I didn't
belong there. That feeling was gone by the end of the night. As I told
Shai Hulud's Matt Fox after their set, I may be fifty five freakin'
years old, but I'll never stop going to shows."
The show flyer did not lie. American hardcore lives.
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