Two words: radio show.

Though to most of you it might seem like I chose the lesser of two evils, Story of the Year, Kill Hannah, and Three Days Grace was also on the bill, playing in the Met Café down the block, but I sat put in Lupo's for -- besides obvious reasons -- one if its last shows before it moves to the Strand. The Crystal Method also spun between sets at Lupo's. I remember them remixing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at one point and also playing some AC/DC.

Compromising Yellowcard's set for Less than Jake's earlier at Warped this year, it ended up working out anyway, being they opened the whole thing, fucking shit up. And by "fucking shit up," I mean breaking strings. Sean (violinist) broke one on the first song, "Breathing," as did one of the guitarists. Except, fixing a violin string isn't exactly a cut-and-paste job in the middle of a set, so Sean finished the rest of the band's set with the remaining three strings. They covered the three of their "better-known" releases well, also playing "Avondale" off the Underdog EP, and both "Sureshot" and "October Nights" off One for the Kids. Ryan had said they just flew in on a twenty-one hour flight from Japan (thus prompting a "give it up for the Asians" salute), but I didn't notice any fatigue. He also announced their repeat stint on next year's Warped Tour [insert editorial piece on the same bands every year here]. They also played the title track off Ocean Avenue, and closed with "Way Away." No backflip thanks to the size of the stage, but still a more than competent set.

You know, I always wanted to experience fifteen-year-old-girl in surround sound, and Something Corporate made that happen! Now, I don't necessarily have any biases against them, nor do I deny enjoying them on CD, because I do, but their style doesn't quite match up with the live show. The singer Andrew's constant yells of "Let's goooo!" or "Alright Rhode Island/Providence, you ready?!" before every chorus is completely unnecessary knowing that the coming chorus only carries an adagio or andante tempo, and not exactly something's that going to brew a vicious circle pit. The guitars were ENTIRELY too low until halfway through when my friend caught the attention of the right-stage guitarist. They opened with "Straw Dog," and also played (not necessarily in this order) "Fall," "I Woke Up in a Car," "Punk Rock Princess" (in Dolby Digital if you get my drift), "Ruthless," "Space," "Down," "Only Ashes," and closed with "Hurricane." I guess I could've saved a paragraph by just saying meh, although watching Andrew treat his piano keys like a treadmill during the closer was sort of cool.

Brand New walked up, and the opening of "Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" was heard in the air, and "Seventy Times 7" immediately following. With Vinnie spinning in circles, and Jesse doing his "I'm the only person in the room" stares, everything seemed nicely modus operandi for them. Since it was obvious that most of these kinderlach in the crowd were leaving after the set, the emotion in the room was peak. In the post-Your Favorite Weapon era, Jesse is too cool to pretend there's a crowd in front of him and actually INTERACT OR SOMETHING, but his mercurial rising vocals worked admirably as usual. Despite the denial of several requests for "Play Crack the Sky," they split the material from both albums well. The played "Okay I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don't" and "Jaws Theme Swimming" from Deja Entendu, the latter of which had a dose of psychedelia with its extended bridge. From YFW they played the necessary "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad," and also "Mixtape" and "Soco Amaretto Lime." Bass-driven "Sic Transit Gloria" finished up [insert comment about inserting comment about Abercrombie blah blah blah ] a solid set.

Bye kids! I'm not trying to strengthen sweeping clichés and generalizations, but the average age of the room significantly increased, and the majority gender flip-flopped, as Story of the Year had just begun their set at the Met. Nonetheless, there was still an immense crowd ready for an unexpected hour and a half of Rancid. Once again, I had skipped my opportunity to seem them on Warped due to an energy-draining Suicide Machines set, but seeing Rancid in the club setting would make seeing them for the first time worth it. The band came on along with Tim Armstrong's permanent sneer, and went right into "Ruby Soho," and following, "Roots Radicals," the beginning of what would be a LOT of songs off And Out Come the Wolves. Some of the songs from it included "Time Bomb," "Lock Step & Gone," "Listed M.I.A.," "Journey to East End Bay," "She's Automatic," and "The Way I Feel." They covered every major release of their career though, as "David Courtney," "It's Quite Alright," "Hoover Street," "Red Hot Moon," "Tenderloin," and "Hyena" were played as well. They even played "As Wicked," Lars telling us that it was the first time since 1996 they had played it live. They stayed strong throughout the long set, even as Lars started to slur a bit on one chorus. At one point, everyone but him left the stage, and he played "The Wars End," solo and plugged in. Matt Freeman put a few different notes into his extended bass solo in "Maxwell Murder." Live, "Fall Back Down" loses a bit of its pop glamour which translated well. It was twelve-thirty A.M. when the band left the stage, and there was a non-stop cheer of "Ran-cid! Ran-cid!" that only got louder and faster and literally didn't end for a full two/three minutes until they came back on. Lars said, "This is our longest show [indecipherable finish of sentence as he just started to mumble]." They played two more songs, closing with a classic rendition of "Radio," funny considering it was a station that organized this show. There ain't nothing like Rancid on a...Wednesday morning.