Ann Beretta

live in Richmond, VA (2002)

Chris Moran

I thought Ann Beretta was dead. All of their recent shows were without longtime drummer Russ, and acoustic sets, and I had heard several rumors about town of their demise. So naturally I was curious to see what the dilly-o was going down when a flyer was posted for a show.

I missed the first 2 bands, so what. Not to knock them but hey, I wasn't in the mood to broaden my horizons. Anywho, I caught most of RPG's set, and I've seen them a dozen times before. Pretty much a crazy mixture between Skynard and Avail….southern punkROCK…really southern.

So Ann Beretta hits the stage with new drummer Matt (formerly of Baltimore's Chernobyl Kids), and immediately blows the roof off. The set included "New Union", "Pulling Teeth", "Eye for an Eye" and even "Love's Easy Tears". Towards the end of the set Russ joined the band to perform none other than…..you guessed it "Russ' Song".

The show was all in all a fun time, lots of young kids dancing around, enjoying the rock. The entire night was rather positive, except for one minor incident. Former Ann Beretta member (and current Sixer frontman) Leer Baker decided to show up. At first I thought that maybe the bullshit between everyone was over. But it seemed Leer was there to do nothing more than heckle AB.

Now this is strictly your humble narrator's opinion, and I don't know all the facts about their storied history, and before this incident I liked and respected BOTH bands, but I find this to be very unprofessional. Robbie from AB even had the courtesy to acknowledge Leer and his band Sixer, but continued to get hooted and hollered at by him.

All in all, I'm glad to see Ann Beretta back with the rock, and they even played a new song "Built to Last" (not related to SOIA). Too bad some musicians just can't just have a good time.