Allister/Hidden In Plain View/Punchline

live in Philadelphia (2004)

Well the show was at the Trocadero in Chinatown. Arriving at seeing the semi long line, lined up outside of the theatre.

The Prizefight were first on the bill. They came on with the lead singer carrying a horn and also an extra guy carrying a horn. This made there sound kind of interesting, but then the singer informed us that this would be the horn players last show with the band. This made think that unless the lead singer starts using his trumpet a lot more this band will become another bland run of the mill emo band. I only caught one of the song names which was the last song called "Train Wreck."

Right before they took off the stage the singer said Hidden In Plain View was coming up next. To my surprise he was wrong and Punchline started taking the stage to set up.

They only took about 15 minutes to set up, which is a bonus. They came on playing "Open Up" from their new CD Action followed by "Not Afraid." I'm not sure of the order of the set list but i can name most of the songs they played: Getting There Is Getting By", "Play", "Just Getting Started", "The World", "Battlescars", and "Heart Transplant." mostly all off the new album. On a side at one point the bass player call his ex girlfriend and made us yell into the phone "Fuck you, you fucking skank whore… whore", afterwards he informed us he was joking at that we should be bitter about things but i mean come on that was pretty fun.

Next was Hidden In Plain View. I haven't seen these guys before and they really didn't impress me at all. I recently downloaded their song "Shamans Witches Magic" on my computer and it was alright, but nothing too special. They played about 7-8 songs. I think two of them were new so I didn't catch the names of them, but I did hear they played "Shamans Witches Magic", "20 Below", and an old one off their self released album.

Now the moment all the ladies had been waiting for. Allister. The city backdrop came down from behind and they all came out on stage wearing shirts and ties which was wierd because last time I saw them at the Northstar Bar there was nothing of the sort. They did indeed put on a great rock show covering all their 2 albums and adding in a couple new tunes.

Allister's Set list (in no particular order)

New Song
"Overrated"
"Somewhere down on Fullerton"
"Jimmy's Dream Girl"
New Song
"Rewind" - new song
"Radio Player"
"Jacob Thinks I'm Gay"
"None of my friends are punks" - joined by some guys in punchline and their drunken roadie
"Scratch"

Plus a couple more songs that I can't quite remember, but all in all Allister put on a great pop-punk set.