Tag Archive for barbary

The Queers, Teenage Bottlerocket Live In Philly (2/28/13)

/ March 1, 2013 / No comments

I’ve been waiting for this day for months.  Teenage Bottlerocket and The Queers followed by Philly’s premiere 70s punk/rock and roll party guitar army?  Count me the FUCK in.

I headed out to a sold out Barbary and thanks to lovely Philly traffic missed the majority of the openers Masked Intruders set, but from the little bit I heard, I definitely need to check these masked dudes out.  Solid pop-punk.

Teenage Bottlerocket

I’ve said it many times before on this site and I’ll say it again, Wyoming punks Teenage Bottlerocket are my favorite as far as modern pop-punk goes, and was actually my first post ever on this site back in 2007.  I was lucky enough to catch them at The Barbary last August and the fact they came back so soon was just an added bonus.

The band took the stage to a chainsaw wielding masked man with a TBR sign saying “Freak Out”, and blasted straight into the song.  The crowd sung along every word, and they barely let up their Ramones influenced punk rock.  Playing songs from most of their albums with a heavy focus on their latest Freak Out, the band experienced some on stage difficulties when a guitar cut out, but in true punk rock fashion decided “fuck it” and powered through the set (which didn’t deter us fans at all, who kept shouting along every word and getting a small pit going).

They took the time to give a shoutout/lovingly mock their Wyoming punk scene, saying that DC has enough documentaries, and it’s time to have one on the two bands that play in Wyoming.  One thing I have to say about TBR is that they look like they are legitimately having a blast on stage every time I see them, and not just running through the motions.  That alone is is one of the key components to a good show.

Setlist (From what I remember, pretty complete, not in order)

Freak Out
Headbanger
Cruising For Chicks
Necrocomicon
Maverick
Punk House Of Horror
Mutilate Me
Who Killed Sensei
Skate Or Die
Bigger Than Kiss
Fatso Goes Nutzoid
Stupid Games
Crashing
Bloodbath At Burger King
Bottlerocket
In The Basement
Welcome To The Nuthouse
New Song
Lillington High

The Queers:

The Queers have been around since before a lot of you were even born, and have become one of the most well-known names in pop-punk.  Irreverent, crude, and catchy as all fuck, The Queers definitely tore down The Barbary.

One thing I liked about The Queers was the vast age difference in their fans.  You had some 40 year old dudes there who’ve been listening to them since the 80s and plenty of young-ins who got into their later works.

There was a pretty dedicated pit throughout their set, and while I don’t know all of their albums (believe me, they have a lot), the crowd was singing along, dancing, and crowd surfing throughout their set.

I never got a chance to see them before, so it was good to finally see these New Hampshire punks.

Highlights:
No Tits
Born To Do Dishes
Hi Mom, It’s Me
This Place Sucks
Punk Rock Girls
White Minority (Black Flag Cover)
Teenage Bonehead (I think)
Outta My Skull (I think)
Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (Ramones Cover)

MP3:
The Queers – Little Rich Working Class Oi Boi
Teenage Bottlerocket – Be Stag

I Gotta Strangle That Girl:
The Queers – Beyond The Valley…
Teenage Bottlerocket – Freak Out!
Teenage Bottletrocket – They Came From The Shadows
Teenage Bottlerocket – Another Way

Buy:
The Queers

Teenage Bottlerocket

Category: live, music, pop punk, punk, show / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Teenage Bottlerocket Live In Philly (8/24/12)

/ August 26, 2012 / 2 comments


This past Friday, I headed out to see one of my all time favorite pop-punk bands around, Teenage Bottlerocket.  It’s a rare occasion for me to be able to see them (in the years I’ve been listening to them this was only going to be my 4th time… due to the fact they are from Wyoming and rarely make it out to the east coast), and I’ve been stoked for months about this Barbary show.

Add the fact that I love their latest release Freak Out, and you’ve got one fucking winning combination.  Unfortunately, I got there really late and was not able to catch any of the openers due to the fact that I get easily distracted by Philly’s soccer team Philadelphia Union.

Regardless, the place had a decent amount of people packed in, and the band finally took the stage with a skull masked man flashing a neon sign reading “Freak Out” and had the TBR logo.  The band blasted straight into Freak Out (which sounds a lot like their song Teen Wolf I just realized), and in a Ramones-like fashion, the band kept the banter to a minimum and blasted through their hour long set as the crowd shouted every word back to them.

Seriously, Teenage Bottlerocket are simply one of the most fun bands to see live and in general.  They played songs off of most of their releases, even including the song “Rebound” which when I requested the past few shows, they told me they hate playing that one.  So fuck yeah.  We were even treated to a little bit of the Lillingtons with the song “Lillington High”, and were instructed to pogo throughout “Bottlerocket” to which we happily obliged.

One of the more hilarious moments of the show is when they were about to close with So Cool but fucked up the intro 3 times and were cracking up about it, so instead just closed with Repeat Offender (another excellent choice).

Seriously, go see them if Teenage Bottlerocket comes around your parts… and fucking travel to see them if they don’t.

Setlist: (some might not be in order, but pretty accurate)
Freak Out
Bigger Than Kiss
Don’t Want To Go
Stupid Games
Fatso Goes Nutzoid
Welcome To The Nuthouse
——————————–
Rebound
In The Pit
Cruisin For Chicks
Skate Or Die
On My Own
——————————-
Bottlerocket
In The Basement
HeadBanger
Lillington High
——————————
Bloodbath At Burger King
Crashing
Radio
Go Away
—————————–
Necrocomicon
Go Away
Senior Prom?  (I honestly can’t remember if this was played)
Repeat Offender

MP3:
Teenage Bottlerocket – Be Stag

More:
Teenage Bottlerocket – Freak Out!
Teenage Bottletrocket – They Came From The Shadows
Teenage Bottlerocket – Another Way

Buy:
Fat Wreck

Category: live, music, punk, show / Tags: , , , , ,

The Copyrights, The Dopamines, Mean Jeans Live In Philly (6/24/12)

/ June 25, 2012 / No comments

After being in the sun all day at a super last minute Phillies game (don’t care about the Phillies, hoped to see Tampa Bay lose), I headed out to Philly’s Barbary to catch one hell of a pop-punk lineup.  I would have went for The Copyrights or Mean Jeans alone, but having them both on the same set?  Fuck yeah.

House Boat:

I came in about halfway through these NJ guys set.  I caught House Boat at the Asbury Lanes about two years ago, and remember not being that big of a fan, but this time they killed it.  The vocals used to be a lot whinier is what turned me off originally, but at least last night, it seemed like that was toned down and a gruffer sound shone through.

I unfortunately don’t know any of their songs, but there were a lot of people in the crowd singing along.  I’ll have to give these guys a second listen.

Mean Jeans:

I’ve been meaning to see the Mean Jeans for a while now ever since I’ve heard their Ramones influences punk off of Are You Serious and missed their Friday house show they played in Philly before heading off to Baltimore’s Insubordination Fest.  Seeing them open on a Sunday meant it was going to be a lot more calm (I even heard one girl in the crowd say “wait, the Mean Jeans are drinking water? I’m confused”), but no matter, I’ll take what i can get.

Unfortunately I was upstairs talking to a friend and missed their opening song (and one of my favorites “Born On A Saturday Night”) but the band continued to bring the party with songs off of both full lengths (I need to still check out their latest one On Mars) and even threw some in from some early EPs.  Definitely a fun time, wish they’d come to the east coast more often.

Highlights:
Born On A Saturday Night
On Mars
Steve Don’t Party No More
No Brainer
Case Race
Slime Time
Stoned 2 The Bone
Let’s Pogo B4 U Gogo

Unfortunately I missed Dear Landlord’s set as I needed to grab some food, but I made it back in time for The Dopamines.

The Dopamines:

I’ll be honest, I’m not very familiar with these guys.  I know the name, and I know that I would like them if I ever listened to them, but I never got a chance.  Needless to say I was pretty excited to finally get to check them out.  Totally blown away.

These guys played fast paced pop punk in the veins of early Green Day and Teenage Bottlerocket, and had the crowd singing along every word (although being a mixture of the fact it was early, sunday, and hot as shit… people stayed relatively calm).

Definitely need to check these guys out.

The Copyrights:

I’ve always dug The Copyrights and always try to go see them anytime they come to town, but I was honestly blown away by their latest release of North Sentinel Island.  When I first started listening to them after seeing The Copyrights play a show with Teenage Bottlerocket, they played pretty straight forward pop-punk, but their latest album incorporated so much more.  Less I digress though.

The band took the stage and the sing-alongs began immediately.  Again the crowd was pretty mellow (and my attempts to start a pit were for naught… but all good, I’m seeing Municipal Waste tonight.) but that didn’t slow The Coprights down.  They played a mix from the majority of their releases, with the heaviest being off their latest.

The band looked like they were dying from the heat by the end of their last song when the crowd demanded an encore.  They didn’t leave the small stage yet and then proceeded to blast two more, taking the crowd’s request of “Worn Out Passport” as a closer.

Highlights:
Kids Of The Black Hole
Trustees Of Modern Chemistry
Cashiers
Hardwired
Crutches
Weapons Of Math Destruction
Worn Out Passport

MP3:
The Copyrights – Trustees Of Modern Chemistry
Mean Jeans – Rats Roaches And Jeans

More:
The Copyrights – North Sentinel Island
Mean Jeans – Are You Serious
The Lillingtons – Too Late Show

Buy:
Interpunk

Category: live, music, pop punk, punk, show, Uncategorized / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Ceremony, Dead People Screaming Live In Philly (4/21/12)

/ April 22, 2012 / 2 comments


Yesterday evening I headed out to my second home The Barbary to catch one of my favorite hardcore acts around, Ceremony.  It’s been about a year since I last saw them and they always put on a solid show.  As an added bonus, I learned that Philly’s own Dead People Screaming was opening the show and I’ve been meaning to catch these dudes for a little while.

Dead People Screaming:

Singer Ryan came out wearing a drag dress and some Batman undies to the surprise of mostly everyone (possibly including his band) and within the first note jumped down off the stage and into the crowd.   I love this fucking guy.

They blasted through a few heavy hitting, fast paced punk jams that the majority of the crowd seemed to be digging (albeit shielding themselves from the singer who was flying through the crowd).  My favorite jam was a “pop punk” (I use that term loosely) song they did, which featured incredibly catchy melodies with some break-beat breakdowns thrown in.

Definitely need to catch Dead People Screaming play a house show, I’m sure they tear that shit up.

Ceremony:

I missed both Watery Love and Salvation (who I’ve seen before at the American Nightmare reunion up in Boston), but made it back to the venue in time for Cali’s Ceremony.  Known for their power-violence blast beat hardcore, they threw fans a curve ball with their latest release of Zoo.  Zoo has been both critically acclaimed and crucified by fans for a complete change in a direction, and abandoning all their hardcore influences for a more post-punk (think Pixies, Joy Division) sound.

I was cautiously excited for their set as I wasn’t the biggest fan of their latest, and was afraid that the majority of the set would be of the newer influence.  Unfortunately for me, my fears were true.  The band opened up immediately with Hysteria which sent the crowd into a stage diving, pile-on frenzy.

Ceremony followed it up with “The oldest song ever written”, Kersed which had all of us losing our shit.  The band played tight, and Ross’s usual one man ball of destruction/raving lunatic on stage was a little more subdued (but that could be because there were always a minimum of like 6 additional people up there with him just singing along).

Majority of the set was from Zoo and Rohnert Park, with a few songs sprinkled in from Violence Violence and Still Nothing Moves You.  I love Ceremony, and they are still one of my favorite hardcore bands ever, but I personally felt a little underwhelmed by their set (not their actual performance, they killed it with all of their songs, I’m just picky and want more old stuff… but they DID just come out with their new album).

Still, even if I don’t like it, I give the band credit for going out there and trying something different… as in true Ceremony style, I know they’re doing it for themselves and couldn’t give two fucks what anyone thinks.  I just hope they incorporate more of the brutal passionate rage that made me love Ceremony in the first place.    They DID close with Throwing Bricks and I Want to Bring This To An End so i can’t complain too much.

Setlist:
Hysteria
Kersed
Open Head
The Difference Between Looking And Seeing
Citizen
Sick
MCDF
World Blue
The Doldrums
Nosebleed
He-god-has Favored Our Undertakings
Terminal Addiction
Adult
Pressure’s On (Red-C Cover)
5 to 10 (Vile Cover)
Throwing Bricks
I Want To Bring This To An End
Violence Violence

MP3:
Ceremony – My Hands Are Made Of Spite

More:
Ceremony – Zoo
Ceremony – Violence Violence
Ceremony – Scared People EP
Ceremony – Still Nothing Moves You
Ceremony – Rohnert Park

Buy:
Ceremony
Dead People Screaming

Category: hardcore, live, music, punk, show / Tags: , , , , , , , ,