Due to a ridiculously 'round the block line and some flyering that needed doing i unfortunately missed the af records' band pipedown and got into the troc a few songs into the arsons set. I had seen these guys open for the souls about a year ago and i must say that i was impressed with how much their live show improved since then. they played about twenty minutes of songs from their first and only full length 'full life crisis' with a decent degree of skill and energy, as the lead singer tried to get things going by encouraging some pit action (with some success) and trying to get past the crowd barrier. i'm not too familiar with their material so i'll just say they weren't mind blowing, but nothing to scowl at either and had a decent group of fans screaming their lyrics.

After a lenghty set up time af's broken guns logo was lowered and they immediately launched into a scorching rendition of 'tearing every one down' which really got the crowd moving. Highlights of the set included the classic 'fuck police brutality' & 'this machine kills fascists' there the audience did a fine job of drowning out justin during the chorus. there was also a nifty vocal exchange between justin and mark defiant from ska-punkers the code (af records) on the new song 'smash it to pieces' off the bouncing souls split. #2 threw some quick political commentary regarding the possibility of war with iraq between songs but overall the band's policy for the night was 'less talk, more rock'. AF ended things off with their usual closer of 'die for the government'which never fails to get the ol' circle pit up and running and the punks screaming back.

The bouncing souls opened up with 'that song' and gave the crowd a pummeling playing doublequick versions of 'cracked' 'no rules' 'hopeless romantic' and their new one 'no security' without a pause in between. One thing you could never accuse the souls of is ignoring their older records and they proved it with 'argyle' 'i like your mom' (dedicated to their co- headliners mamas) and by special audience request 'joe lies'. They also played 2 new songs, 1 about as quick and hardcore as 'no security' and a more mellow one which they said were going to be on their next record ( due summer 03). Greg even took a break from being so damn mellow on stage to throw himself into the crowd during 'true believers' The closer was a more mellow number which im not familiar dedicated to bryan and michaels' mothers who are both unfortunately hospitalized right now. Anyone who wanted the show to go out with a bang weren't disappointed though as both headliners regrouped on stage to form a temporary supergroup dubbed 'the bouncing flags' by justin. In the spirit of the split, both bands covered each other with justin and #2 taking vocals on 'the freaks nerds & romantics' and greg belting out 'thats youth' to the most frenzied moshing of the night, leaving the crowd bruised and satisfied as they ran to the SEPTA station.