It was no lie that Anti Flag wanted to give back to their fans on this tour. The venue they played this time around was a small bar called Top Cats with a capacity of about 300. The stage was a foot high, a backstage was non existant and the lighting, well there really wasn't any...but none of that matters because this is the perfect place for a punk show.
Pipedown went on first and was mediocre at best. The vocalist screamed his head off and drowned out the rest of the band. The crowd had virtually no reaction either. Next was Thought Riot, and they began to get things going. The sound guy finally got the PA working right and TR got a decent pit started. The crowd favorite seemed to be the song "The Patriot" in the middle of their set. These guys (and girl) were perfect openers for an AF show and the crowd seemed to like them. Paint it Black was third, and they could be described as an early Black Flag sound. Some spoken vocals, plus the singer even looked a little like Rollins. They got the whole floor moving and set a perfect mood for AF.
Around 10 Justin, Chris, Chris #2, and Pat emerged from the crowd and set up. I can't remember what the opening song was called, but it was an older one. They followed with Police Brutality and Tearing Everything Down. The sound was awesome and they did a good job of mixing some new songs into the set and teaching the chorus to the crowd to make the songs that much better. New ones included Power to the Peaceful, Fuck the Flag, You Can Kill the Protester..., and Rank n File. The rest of the set was mostly off Underground Network and New Kind of Army. 911 for Peace was a nice surprise as well.
They closed by playing A New Kind of Army, Underground Network, the new opening track Turncoat, and of course Die for Your Government. After the show, all the guys hung around to talk with everyone and sign autographs. On the way out, everyone got the special edition of the new cd for free, and I must say it is almost as good as the show. Another plus was all the merch at the show was under $10 (besides hoodies). Definitely the best show I have seen in Cincy so far.