After a mad drive home from Lansing and a fun ride to Pontiac from Detroit in the pouring rain, we arrived at Clutch Cargo’s at 4:30, just as The Lawrence Arms were about to play. They played about 8 songs. I wasn’t to into this band. I only recognized a song or two. During one of their songs, the bassist during the breakdown, quoted what the person next to me said was part of an Eminem song. Hell if I know. They ended their set with “The First Eviction Notice” which was probably the best song of the whole set.

Next up was Common Rider, with Jesse Michaels of Operation Ivy fame singing. I was expecting a 3-piece band, but they came out as a 5-piece. Jesse talked between and during songs about peace and unity, and he urged everyone to sign the suicide prevention petition in the back of the room. They opened with “Castaways” and “On Broadway”. They played “Firewall”, “Small” Pebble” and “Midnite Passengers” off their new album. They ended with a flurry of older songs such as “Am I On My Own?”, “Conscious Burning”, “Heatseekers” and “Carry On”. They ended their set with a up tempo rendition of “Classics Of Love”. Overall, it was a short but energetic set with Jesse Michaels doing some weird-looking freestyle dancing on stage.

Third to go was The (International) Noise Conspiracy. Their set was delayed just a little bit because of problems with the monitors but they did make it out to rock out 7 songs. They came out dresses alike in red pants and grey shirts with their CD cover type image on the shirts. They opened with “New Empire Blues” and their new single “Up For Sale”. After that, they played a crowd favorite in “Smash It Up” and then the feminist anthem “Breakout 2001”. At this point Dennis, the singer exclaimed, “A conservative newspaper in Sweden ranked the top 3 best and worst songs about freedom and that this song we are about to play is ranked the worst song.” After that, they busted into “Capitalism Stole My Virginity” where the crowd was almost singing louder then the sound coming out the P.A. system. After that Dennis had everyone in the crowd turn to the person next to them and shake their hand as a sign of unity because these our are brothers and sisters, then proceded to play “A Body Treatsie” and finished with an N.E.R.D. cover of the song “Baby Doll” where Dennis told the room to dance with their hips not their arms. He joked that noone ever taught punks to dance. During the last song, Dennis climbed up to the balcony and was screaming his vocal cords out. The whole band brings so much energy to the stage, where Dennis is a master with the microphone throwing it around every which way. The crowd loved these the blazing but too short of set.

Pat then from Anti-Flag came out and introduced a girl that talked about the suicide prevention program and urged everyone to sign the petition. After a short break, Anti-Flag then took the stage where the crowd had packed the whole floor. Opening with “Tearing Everyone Down” go the crowd singing along. Justin and #2 didn’t talk much between songs due to time constaints but they did manage to get a few points across about looming war and that asshole Dubya Bush. From their they played “Mumia’s Song”, my personal favorite “Culture Revolution”, “The Paname Decpetion”, “Got The Numbers” and “Stars And Stripes”. At this point, they took a short break and talked about not dividing the world with nationalism but coming together in peace and they broke into “911 For Peace” in which the crowd just exploded. After that, they ripped through “You’d Do The Same”, “Underground Network” and then ended on “Die For The Government” like they do every show. They crowd once again just exploded and was singing louder the P.A. It was amazing the energy they have on stage and it spreads throughout the crowd.

The Bouncing Souls closed the show out with set that had to be done by 9:30 because the club had a dance party that night, which was defiantly shitty. Me and my 3 friends that I drove lef the show early because they were complaining about being sore and dehydrated. I wanted to stay but they really wanted to leave. My other friend however, informed me that the Souls played an awesome set, and that Anti-Flag came back on and both bands played “That’s Youth” and “The Freaks, Nerds, Romantics” together with like 3 people playing guitar and 3 people singing. When I heard that, I was pissed that I left early. Never again.

Overall, the show was amazing, the 5 bands that played the show were all great.