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Bouncing Souls / Anti-Flag / The Arsons

live in Philadelphia
2002
live show

Review by: Dickey
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Published on October 1st 2002

Due to a ridiculously 'round the block line and some flyering that needed doing i unfortunately missed the af records' band pipedown and got into the troc a few songs into the arsons set. I had seen these guys open for the souls about a year ago and i must say that i was impressed with how much their live show improved since then. they played about twenty minutes of songs from their first and only full length 'full life crisis' with a decent degree of skill and energy, as the lead singer tried to get things going by encouraging some pit action (with some success) and trying to get past the crowd barrier. i'm not too familiar with their material so i'll just say they weren't mind blowing, but nothing to scowl at either and had a decent group of fans screaming their lyrics.

After a lenghty set up time af's broken guns logo was lowered and they immediately launched into a scorching rendition of 'tearing every one down' which really got the crowd moving. Highlights of the set included the classic 'fuck police brutality' & 'this machine kills fascists' there the audience did a fine job of drowning out justin during the chorus. there was also a nifty vocal exchange between justin and mark defiant from ska-punkers the code (af records) on the new song 'smash it to pieces' off the bouncing souls split. #2 threw some quick political commentary regarding the possibility of war with iraq between songs but overall the band's policy for the night was 'less talk, more rock'. AF ended things off with their usual closer of 'die for the government'which never fails to get the ol' circle pit up and running and the punks screaming back.

The bouncing souls opened up with 'that song' and gave the crowd a pummeling playing doublequick versions of 'cracked' 'no rules' 'hopeless romantic' and their new one 'no security' without a pause in between. One thing you could never accuse the souls of is ignoring their older records and they proved it with 'argyle' 'i like your mom' (dedicated to their co- headliners mamas) and by special audience request 'joe lies'. They also played 2 new songs, 1 about as quick and hardcore as 'no security' and a more mellow one which they said were going to be on their next record ( due summer 03). Greg even took a break from being so damn mellow on stage to throw himself into the crowd during 'true believers' The closer was a more mellow number which im not familiar dedicated to bryan and michaels' mothers who are both unfortunately hospitalized right now. Anyone who wanted the show to go out with a bang weren't disappointed though as both headliners regrouped on stage to form a temporary supergroup dubbed 'the bouncing flags' by justin. In the spirit of the split, both bands covered each other with justin and #2 taking vocals on 'the freaks nerds & romantics' and greg belting out 'thats youth' to the most frenzied moshing of the night, leaving the crowd bruised and satisfied as they ran to the SEPTA station.

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, October 5, 2002 at 7:35 PM (EDT)
My Score:

yo, knives out's last show was the sunday show. best philly band of the year. total rock. why hasn't anyone mentioned them? oh i forgot you'rea ll 12.

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, October 3, 2002 at 5:28 PM (EDT)
My Score:

good review. i was there sunday night. knives out opened the show off great, good ol philly hardcore. pipedown was kind of weak, just really boring. i hate anti-flag and their backwards politics, so i sat up in the balcony and yelled at them with my sister and a few other random people up there. the souls rocked as they always do. just a damn good live band.

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, October 3, 2002 at 6:44 AM (EDT)
My Score:

this was a great show, my second time seeing each band. i had arrived a little early, and we got to meet chris the bassist from AF, and bryan from the souls. i lost my shoe during tearing everyone down, but someone grabbed it and held it up. AF played an ok set, but they played it well. souls had the great set i expected. later i met justin, pat, and bryan again. also, ean from pipedown is a cool guy, we talked to him for a while.

Posted by Vien on 2002-10-02 20:46:53
My Score:

I'm jealous.

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 2, 2002 at 9:20 AM (EDT)
My Score:

the second night rocked.

anti flag is just brutal minus a few good songs. and there was a lot of preaching about political shit going on.

but the souls rocked. but did anyone else notice, the bass drum was way too loud? it was quite annoying at first but then you get you to it. the souls never disappoint me.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 1, 2002 at 10:59 PM (EDT)
My Score:

rock the vote yo!

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 1, 2002 at 8:21 PM (EDT)
My Score:

I went to the saturday show and damn I love BS and A-F the same, their 2 of my favorite bands, they were both great. I like how their sets were different for the last time I saw both of them. The pit was fun, I almost lost my shoe. I asked the bouncer for the A-f set list but he said "it was up to high" and then at the end he just reached up and threw it into the crowd..w/e. the ending was great too, I had bar for the end which was cool. I also sung into the mic during true believers and patted greg on the shoulder. Then at the end I met Bryan and talked to him for a little bit, and Pat, that was definally cool. Being that close to a guys in one of your favorite bands that are so down to earth. Well it was great, can't wait till next time. And did anyone else see them recording the show, It would be cool, if they made it into a dvd, god im a loser.
later

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 1, 2002 at 7:46 PM (EDT)
My Score:

I was at the show on saturday night, and it was amazing. Pipedown was pretty good, put on a good live show, although i've never been a fan of their studio work. The Arsons...seemed to be lacking of energy, I had been looking forward to seeing them, as I have never seen them live or heard their album, but I was a bit disappointed, the hightlight of their set was when they said how one of them used to be in warzone.Thats just my opinion anyway. Anti-Flag took some time getting set up, but it was no problem, and well worth the wait. They played some older songs from die for your government and new kind of army,some new songs like 911 for peace and this machine kills facists. Every now and again they'd talk about the situation with Iraq and how Bush is a fuckin idiot. Some kids behind me kept shoutin shit to justin and #2, they played a few more songs, and their set came to an end. Bouncing Souls set up, came out and started with "that song"...at least thats what i remember. anyway, they played a wide variety of their material. I remember seeing them play hopeless romantic, joe lies, true believers, no security, i like your mom, ECFU, K8 is Gr8 and a few others that escape my memory at this point. They closed thier set and came on for an encore as "The Bouncing Flag", later renamed "Anti-Souls" sunday night

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 1, 2002 at 7:33 PM (EDT)
My Score:

i went to the dc show the other night. bouncing souls definitely stole the show. it was my first time seeing anti-flag and they were ok. pipedown was trying too hard to rile up the crowd.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 1, 2002 at 3:49 PM (EDT)
My Score:

this show fucking rocked.

i don't care what you say about A-F, you gotta admit that minus the political bitching, they played a great set. plea for peace and die for the government were kickass.

but the souls...FUCK! what can i say, it was my first time seeing them and they are one of the best bands i've ever seen. greg is one hell of a performer, and when they played true believers, you can't tell me you didn't love it when he dove into the crowd amidst the shouts of "we are the true believers". god, this was such a great show.

arsons were alright, their lead singer was kind of flaming though, and pipedown was trying way too hard to be a-f carbon copy. but judging on a-f and the souls alone, this show as def a 10.

and yea, that line around the block was stupid. the security guards their wouldn't even let you stay on the block until 6 30...tellin us to "take a walk"...asses

FAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRTTTTTTTSSSSSSSSPPPPPPOOOOOOOOOO PPPPPPEEEEEE!!

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 1, 2002 at 2:32 PM (EDT)
My Score:

bouncing souls are cool, but anti-flag sucks now. Justin Sane needs to quit whining at every show. I've seen them a number of times and it was fun at first but at this show i wanted to punch him in his face. I mean i hate gov. too, but it gets really old when at every one of their shows they say "fuck George Bush" or back in 1998 when they were saying "fuck john ashcroft".I got so tired of them that about half way through their set I just rested on the sound booth, watching the young kids in the pit that had prob never seen anti-flag live before. I thought to myself "man that used to be me". They'll grow up soon. Man I say fuck anti-flag

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 1, 2002 at 10:29 AM (EDT)
My Score:

hey editors with whats the removal of the link?

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 1, 2002 at 9:27 AM (EDT)
My Score:

The Bouncing Souls rock your ass...but if you were at the show and didn't nail Justin Sane with anything hard, you lose punk credibility in my book. He needs to be shot in the face.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 1, 2002 at 6:57 AM (EDT)
My Score:

To the guy below me, don't bitch that they were sold out, shit the tickets were on sale for like 6 weeks & the Souls sell out the Troc EVERY time they play there! You had plenty of time to buy them. I love when a bigger show comes to the Troc (or any club in any city for that matter) & as soon as the show is announced you know it's gonna sell out, but there are still jackasses that will wait until the day of the show to get tickets & then are suprised & dissapointed that the show was sold out. Good I'm glad you couldn't get tickets, if you wanted to see them so badly you would've bought tickets weeks ago. "I didn't have the $$" is no excuse, we're talking $12.00 here people

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 1, 2002 at 12:46 AM (EDT)
My Score:

this show was sold out both nights, bahhhhhhhh

Posted by StabbingGoldfish on 2002-10-01 00:40:30
My Score:

I attended the second night of this show. It was awesome, seeing "Anti-Souls" at the end of the set was amazing. Seeing all them play "thats youth" was just perfect. The second night was basically the same as the above, sub a few different songs, so I'm not going to bother reviewing it.