Pageninetynine and Majority Rule at Great Scott

....I'm still speechless. Well, grab your black skinny jeans and hold back those tears because we're going back to the late 90's/early 2000's for some skramz. The entire show was as flawless as it was unbelievable. Both Pageninetynine and Majority Rule reunited for the first time in over ten years, (excluding the on off reunion of Pg.99 in 2011) for a short tour to benefit MIRA, a charity for refugees and Immigrants and every show sold out. TAKE THAT DONNIE TRUMP! Feel free to learn more about MIRA and do your part to help the cause.

http://www.miracoalition.org/

Majority Rule
Genre: Chaotic Hardcore/Screamo FFO: Loma Prieta, Kodan Armada, Deadguy

Majority Rule began with their vicious style of screamo immediately roping in everyone's attention. If you've heard their recordings, while the style is incredibly unique, the production and quality is not as good as you would hear today (not a bad thing), however, when played live you hear the full force of the instruments and see the chaotic rage through the body movements of the band. on thing Majority Rule does often is play riffs that can be off time, and each riff that was played was flawless and not a single beat was skipped giving Meshuggah a run for their money. The endless energy coming from the crowd made the experience even more memorable. I'm sure everyone had the same mindset: "This is a once in a lifetime event, I will never see this again" the entire crowd was just as chaotic as the band and screamed every word. At times, the vocalist/guitarist would randomly start playing drums. Majority Rule played a very long set for a hardcore band (over an hour) I looked at my watch and it was already 11:30, and Pg. 99 was just setting up.

Pageninetynine
Genre: Screamo/powerviolence/grindcore FFO: Raein, Orchid, Enemy Soil

I'm still speechless. In order to keep from repeating myself, recording production, and whatever that I said about Majority Rule also applies to Pg.99. That being said, from the very beginning of the first song my only reaction to this set was: "Holy fuck! I'm seeing Pg.99! This is fucking incredible!". The sound was loud and blaring to the point where it hurt (and I was wearing ear plugs) but the sound was so perfect I heard riffs I didn't even know were in half the recordings. The crowd was just a tidal wave of kids going for the mic, even doing back flips off stage, occasionally both vocalists would even join in. It was so energetic that after the second song they band said "We're all here to have fun but keep in mind we are in a small space so please be careful and don't get hurt" Ironically enough I don't think anyone even got hurt throughout the whole show. Pg.99 played probably just as long if not longer than Majority Rule and even got an encore to play two more songs. The set ended almost at 1am which did seem rather appropriate for skramz, then again I am too young to be a skramz kid so what do I know. Tons of energy from everyone in the venue I would put this in the top 3 of the year ( will be posted in December).

Trapped Under Ice, Fury, Freedom, and Firewalker at the Middle East

Hardcore heroes Trapped Under Ice tore up the downstairs venue of the middle east with support. The show was as wild as you would think with TUI's first Boston show since the hiatus and the ever growingly popular Fury and Freedom and the brute force of Firewalker. Part of Triple B records' summer slam, with Big Contest, Glory, and Ammunation playing an after show down the street at HC stadium (unfortunately I did not attend) and Praise, FREE, and Abuse of power w/ support the next day (will be reviewed next time)

Firewalker

Genre: Hardcore Punk FFO: Chain Rank, Leather Daddy, Bikini Kill

Firewalker opened up the night with what I thought was their best sounding set yet. Firewalker played their brand of hardcore with just plain mean sounding riffs, aggressive drumming, and absolutely angry vocals. Unfortunately to the crowd, their sound was not what they were used to and didn't seem to amused compared to the other bands (their loss). There were a bunch of girls, and a few guys, rushing for the mic for certain songs and still moshed. Firewalker has a reputation of getting the girls involved in hardcore and write songs about equality and women's rights. Firewalker played a short set but still filled with just as much energy that they have for any show that they would play. Personally I consider this band very underrated and hope their set left a mark on the crowd that night.

https://firewalkerhc.bandcamp.com/album/firewalker

Freedom

Genre: Hardcore/Hardcore punk FFO: Warzone, Breakdown, Underdog

Freedom was up next. Personally I was surprised at the reaction this band received. To my knowledge I associated Trapped Under Ice fans as the kids who are into the heavier side of hardcore and basically disown the punk side but a great portion of the crowd got down and dirty with them. Freedom broke into their aggressive hardcore songs about perseverance and patriotism with the crowd slamming into each other with just as much energy, especially during Freedom Slam. Primarily they played a lot off of Pay the Price which in my opinion was the best release withe just a few new songs and USA Hardcore songs sprinkled in. They even threw in a cover by the band Rixe and said its for the old school fans, unfortunately this was not a very old school crowd and no one really reacted to the cover. over all Freedom had tons of energy with the crowd with plenty of stage dives, moshing and pile ups for the mic.

Fury

Genre: Hardcore/Hardcore punk FFO: Free At Last, Protester, Abuse of Power

Fury definitely prepared the crowd for TUI. A very wild performance by another band that surprised me with the crowd reaction. The crowd probably had double the energy they had for Freedom during this set. Fury had a strong reaction from the start with the crowd mic rushing for just about every song and tons of movement in the pit. At one point there was a pileup of kids that got too out of hand that a security guard seemed to get pulled into it. Another guard had to come to rescue him and calm everyone down. I remember seeing Fury when they first started out and not many people even knw who they were, they've come a long way since then and it shows. With their growing popularity, I hope it influences people in the heavier side to get into for hardcore on Fury's side (it probably won't but whatever).

Trapped Under Ice

Genre: Hardcore FFO: Turnstile, Angel Du$t (literally the two bands combined)

Trapped Under Ice haven't played Boston since 2013 I believe, and fans have been waiting for them ever since. As soon as Justice walked out, the whole room erupted none stop into endless ruckus. Everyone no matter where they were knew every word to every song and every mosh riff it was ridiculous. Mosh pits formed out of nowhere in random spots, a few people got carried out, a friend of mine told me there was even a fight 10 seconds into the set. Trapped Under Ice proved they are still the kings of modern hardcore joining together multiple crowds from different branches of hardcore and came close to if not selling out the venue. Ending with the song Pleased to Meet You, everyone screamed at the top of their lungs "You Shake my hand, say pleased to meet you, look me in the eyes, I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!" and no matter where you were you were moving. I haven't seen TUI since high school so I'm gald I got to see them once again but deeply regret missing the after show hope you weren't dumb like me.

Negative Approach, Bloodclot, Opposition Rising, and more at Hardcore Stadium

The ultimate hardcore punk lineup in Boston. The legendary Negative Approach comes to the hardcore stadium with Bloodclot, a new band with members of legendary NYHC bands, and of course Boston's very own Opposition Rising, Panzerbastard, Buried Dreams and Ritual Blade. This was another show I was late to, so unfortunately Ritual Blade will not be featured.

Buried Dreams
Genre: Heavy Hardcore/Metalcore FFO: Buried Alive, All Out War, Rude Awakening

Probably the band that stood out the most at the show, Buried Dreams played second this night. You could tell they had a lot of fans in the crowd ready to have fun during the set. Featuring members from other metal and hardcore bands throughout Massachusetts, Buried Dreams play a style that is very heavy and riffy put still remains more on the hardcore side. Frontman, Austin Sparkman, spoke out and asked "how many of you consider us a metalcore band?" not sure if he was kidding or not but it gave everyone a good laugh. With the heavy breakdowns, all the fans were moshing with no remorse and hitting hard, at one point, Austin even joined in on the fun, and moshed while still singing. Tons of people were going for the mic. Buried Dreams ended with the anthem appropriately titled "Buried Dreams" where no mic was needed to hear the crowd scream "BURIED DREAMS MOTHERFUCKER!" and then proceeded into the final song.

https://burieddreams.bandcamp.com/album/winter-demo

Panzerbastard
Genre: Crossover Thrash/Hardcore Punk FFO: D.R.I. Amebix, Motorhead

Panzerbastard was next on the lineup. Another band consisting of members from various metal bands from Boston, Panzerbastard play a brand of crossover thrash metal that is very fast and reminiscent of the 80's. Frontman Kpanzer pointed out how excited he was to be opening for Negative Approach and stated that if it wasn't for them, none of these bands that we know and love would even exist considering it all started with them (amongst other bands). Now having being a band from Boston for over 10 years, they have some loyal fans who are always ready to dance for them. I'm pretty sure every song the played involved circle pits, and everyone spilling beers on the floor from all the ruckus, definitely an eighties vibe from the crowd and music. As many could tell, Panzerbastard are very heavily influenced by the great Motorhead and actually ended with a cover of Iron Fist. Kpanzer said before the cover " if you know the words, there are three available microphones up here" and surely enough members of the crowd got there chance to sing a Motorhead cover.

 https://panzerbastard.bandcamp.com/

Opposition Rising
Genre: this band hates genres and I will respectfully not give them one FFO: Toxic Narcotic, Discharge, Conflict

Definitely another set to remember from the night was the performance by Opposition Rising. a prime example of punk rock at its finest, they would constantly say how much they hate genres, cops, and of course the world. Tons of fans were there circle pitting for every song and dancing for every breakdown, and the frontman would constantly say, "if you don't dance you don't get a cover". with the aggressive fast riffs and catchy choruses, Opposition Rising is the type of band you don't need to hear beforehand to have a good time at one of their shows. You could tell that some of the crowd just wanted to get the mic and only knew the repetitive choruses. When the moment came, Opposition Rising ended their set with the cover they promised and well enough it was the song Asshole by the vocalists old band Toxic Narcotic. If there's one Boston band that represents punk in every aspect, it's definitely Opposition Rising and if you hate everything as much as they do I highly recommend checking them out when they play again. Everything is free on their bandcamp and They will be playing Hardcore stadium again with Kill Your Idols Oct.7


https://oppositionrising.bandcamp.com/

Bloodclot
Genre: Crossover Thrash metal FFO: Cro-Mags, Leeway

Bloodclot is a new band out of NYC featuring John Joseph of Cro-Mags, and Todd Youth of Warzone, Agnostic Front, and Danzig and needless to say, it doesn't sound all to different from any of the bands they were in. If you could imagine Cro-Mags releasing another album but more on the thrash side but still having that NYHC edge, then that would be Bloodclot. Although not very many have listened to the new album, circle pits were still going on for each song with a little moshing every now and then. What peaked my interest was John's comments about punk and hardcore. He would talk about when he would play with Cro-Mags in the 80's in places very similar to the Hardcore Stadium, and pointed out one of the members of Bloodclot was actually in the video for We Gotta Know and now he's playing with one of his heroes. He mentioned a Bad Brains show in boston from the 80's and said who was there... the room fell into complete silence, until one guy said "it ain't Judas Priest". Overall, although Bloodclot's music was very enjoyable, I thought the cool part of the set was hearing about hardcore in the 80's.

Negative Approach
Genre: Hardcore Punk FFO: Black Flag, Agnostic Front, Bad Brains

Of course the real heroes of the night were the almighty Negative Approach. Some could recall when they played the hardcore stadium before at the AHC kick off, the bassist specifically said to keep the light on so he could see. The only reason I bring that up is because it was the first thing that came into my mind and I thought if he is going to still be like that, and right when they started, the lights went out and i saw him looking back and forth realy fast and I just thought, yep. Now personal jokes aside, Negative Approach without a doubt proved that they are still a huge pinnacle in hardcore and punk, there wasn't a single song played where there wasn't a tidal wave of people going for the mic. There were people jumping from the couches (myself being one of them) to get on top of the crowd, people swinging from the ceiling, bouncing off the walls, and just plain jumping from any elevated point they could find just to get a chance to sing. There was so much energy you could see the moisture from everyones sweat building up on the mirror behind the band which was pretty gross but, since when is punk about being tidy or anything. If there's anything else I could say about this band, I guess it would be that 30 years worth of experience in punk definitely pays off. the crowd was as wild that night as it could be back then. I never would've thought I would be lucky enough to see this band twice.