Having missed Josh Small due to our (myself and a few other people including SCOTT AUTH KIRBY PUCKETT NAMEDROP NAMEDROP) late arrival, Unarmed was a young local 4-piece that kicked things off, delivering decent, fairly raw and political-minded hardcore punk with a singer who was pretty reminscent of Civ on Start Today, the screaming especially. Though they weren't *really* the initial act of the night, it was one of the better "first sets" of a show for myself in a while.

The Code were next, and weren't bad for what it was: melodic punk rock with Anti-Flag's fingerprints all over it (I mean shit, they even played a song called "Alert Aware Involved") and some OpIvy-flavored upstroke punk segues. They definitely created some centrilical motion in the pit, so it was nice to see the crowd work off some of their energy early on. The singer's general persona reminded me a lot of Dave from future show-mates Big D And The Kids Table for some odd reason.

Anyway, From Ashes Rise took the stage and proceeded to play some pretty good hardcore punk that seemed to draw more from Deathwish (maybe Converge and/or Planes Mistaken-influenced) than their current affiliation. Consistently scramed vocals and cool, drawn out parts were the recipe, and a filling platter it was. Among set cuts was a new song that seemed similar to their other material and a track called "Nightmares" that referenced the medical industry's general carelessness surrounding human empathy. Good set.

After a relatively short setup time all things considered, Strike Anywhere walked up to thunderous applause and the opening chords of "Amplify" rang out, the song appropriately preceding "Blaze." If you go to a show with Strike on the bill, you usually know what to expect: super tight playing, a fairly healthy amount of mic sharing with the crowd, a strong and nicely flowing set, and limited but well-worded social commentary during banter. And here, their set was chock full of those qualities; #2 from Anti-Flag even came out to do guest vocals on one song ("Sunset On 32nd," if I'm not mistaken). As a more important note, though: Amongst said banter, I'm about 90% sure Thomas mentioned they'd be doing a cover record for Fat immediately following this current tour (though I forgot to ask them for confirmation after the set). However, if their "Two Sides" cover from the recent To Live In Discontent compilation is anything to go by, it should be the best punk-related album of its kind -- that being, you know, cover albums -- in quite some time.

Set List:

• Amplify/Blaze
• Timebomb Generation
• --
• Infrared
• Laughter In A Police State
• --
• Aluminum Union
• S.S.T.
• Lights Go Out
• --
• Earthbound
• Chalkline
• --
• Sunset On 32nd
• --
• New Architects
• To The World
• Encore: You're Fired