Wow. And it's not really a wow in a good way. I walked away from this show feeling more negative than I initially expected. I never heard of Ilya, I love Counterfit and I wanted to hear some new No Knife. Here's what I think.

Ilya was lame. That's it. I wasn't impressed. Female vocals and boorrring. I had 2 options, sit outside and gag from everyone's smoke, or sit inside and listen to them. I sat outside and took in the almost Carbon Monoxide air.

Now this isn't something I am proud of, but my Counterfit show attendance is in the double digits, so I have plenty to compare to when I make a comparison of this show with others. I've seen better. I pretty much walked away, shoulders slumped and disappointed. I'm usually a satisfied person after seeing them, but tonight, they just didn't do it for me. Mile Marker shouldn't even have been played, and in the middle of the set no less. They should have closed with "Better Late Than Never" only because it's the single and goddammit I like "This Dance". That's the best song on the new CD, why wasn't it played? I'm not upset about their stage performance because they did do well, I'm upset about their play list. Yes, I'm bitter, but I've also had a bad, bad weekend.

On the upside, from my viewpoint, the crowd was rocking hard to the band. They dug it. A few people were singing at the top of their lungs and some were just bobbing to the beat.

Here comes more honesty: I've actually never heard a single No Knife song until tonight, so I was thrilled to get to hear some new stuff, to get a feel for what they're all about, old and new. I also was led to believe that No Knife wasn't putting out any more music, or wasn't a band any more for that matter, but I guess either A) things change or B) I need to be a little more hip to the scene.

No Knife rocked it out, but they scared me a little at one point. Early in the set, they started slamming away on a keyboard or something, and seriously, my "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" abilities are a million times better than that noise. Whoa, don't worry, I'll take it easy. I'm just not into music like that. Yes, No Knife is an influence on Counterfit, so it was thrilling to see them get to play together again for the first time in what? 3 years? They were stoked, I was stoked, it was bound to be good (and it was). I did pick up a hint of Counterfit in No Knife's 3rd song. But it's easy for me to say that I see each band for the individual musicians they are. The sound difference between the 2 bands is obvious. I'm over the comparison because I just wasn't seeing it too much.

I can never stress enough that I like bands that can write songs that all sound at least slightly different from one another. Wow on No Knife's part. They did well in that department. I wish I had more money, so I could have purchased the new CD. It was a CD release after all.