Mid Youth Crisis

Live at the Arthouse (2003)

Lunk

When I heard this album was out I damn near had a coronary I was that excited. Running home from Resist, I couldn't wait to get it into my stereo. This was what my life had been building up to… The climax… The be all and end all.

Let me fill you in:

Mid Youth Crisis (AKA MYC, AKA OIP, AKA One Inch Punch, AKA Downfall) are perhaps the most respected Aussie hardcore band of all time. They broke up in 1999, and in 2002 they played two reunion shows in Melbourne. They were packed, and by all accounts amongst the best shows they'd ever played. There were rumours that someone had recorded the second show professionally, and that one day it would be mastered and released. Time passed and that particular rumour seemed less and less likely to be true, let alone result in a release.
But here it is. I am looking at it. A year and half after the fact and it's finally here. And was it worth the wait?

Fucking oath it was.

On this bloody ripper of a CD are over twenty tracks, including the vast majority of their classics, and apart from that a fair showing from each of their releases (though there are definitely too few tracks from LIWWL). A minor disappointment is that four covers are included, which in my opinion just represents four less MYC songs that could have been played instead. But yeah, you can't win ‘em all.
The band is amazing live. It's that simple. Time apart did not seem to dull their killer timing and energy. Steve yells and screams his way through the first half of the show without missing a beat, though towards the end he does tire somewhat (there's no hint of an Irish accent though). The mixing, is, for the most part, flawless, though on a few tracks is a bit suspect, with the vocals way too soft, and the lead guitar too loud. But so what? It's still MYC for fucks sake! It still rocks.
If you are or ever were an MYC fan, you MUST get this. If you're into punk or hardcore, yet you've never heard of MYC, I still say you should get this. You'll like it.

From ‘Lost in What We Lack' they only play ‘Escaping the Goat' and ‘Status Remains', which is a bit disappointing, considering it's their best release, and a full-length LP to boot.

From ‘Ignorant Bliss' they play ‘Set Back', ‘Down Syndrome', ‘Stupid Me', and my favourite: ‘Shut Down'. Which is not a bad turnout for a six-track EP.

From ‘Happiness and Authority' they play ‘After You My Friend', ‘Know Something', ‘Between the Lies', the brilliant pair ‘Verbal Diarrhoea' and ‘Community Announcement', ‘Happiness & Authority', ‘Pride', ‘Better Life', and ‘Mid Youth Crisis'. They effectively play the entire LP, which is understandable, since the line-up for this album was the same as for the show.

The covers they play are ‘Virus' (Avail), ‘Try again' (The Spermbirds), ‘Wasted Life' (The Stiff Little Fingers), and ‘Other Side' (Steadfast). Nothing special here.

And the new song they play is called ‘Pat Benatar'. It's slow, but then so is ‘Pride' and that grows on you. This may too.

I can recommend it for the lyrics.
I can recommend it for the energy.
But most of all I can recommend it because it seems increasingly likely that this recording does in fact consist of the last ever MYC gig.

So with equal parts sadness, regret and joy, I leave you with this:
The band is gone, I missed the reunion shows, but at least I have their final show on CD.

This is history, folks.