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The Suicide Machines / Rise Against

live in Pontiac, MI (2002)
Tours

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: Hubitcherkokov
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on December 31st 2002

Three friends and I drove three and a half hours from Cleveland, Ohio to Pontiac, Michigan to witness, in my humble opinion, two of the absolute greatest live bands you could ever witness, Rise Against and The Suicide Machines at The Suicide Machines annual Christmas show at Clutch’s Cargo in Pontiac.

Starting the night off was Few and Far Between, a Detroit four-piece with an indy-rock sound. Musically, the band was very talented and the guitars, bass, and drums meshed well with each other. However, my only qualm about the band was the vocalist/guitarist’s voice. He had the same cookie-cutter, high-pitched voice that seems to be predominant in the current “emo”/pop-punk trend. When he did sing with some intensity I became a much bigger fan of their total sound. They had a good stage presence and the highlight of their set was when the bassist essentially told a group of “hardcore, Pontiac street punks” chanting “emo sucks” to more or less fuck off. Hilarity.

Rise Against was the next to take the stage. They arrived to the venue in the midst of Few and Far Between’s set due to confusion among the distance from Chicago to Pontiac and that damn time zone change…anywho, their performance did not disappoint. Their sound levels were also perfect, with none of vocalist Tim’s and bassist Joe’s backing vocals being drowned out by the instruments, which can be a very frustrating thing for me personally. They opened their set with “Alive and Well” and closed it with “Six Ways ‘Til Sunday”, both off of their debut Fat Wreck Chords full-length “The Unraveling”. Other songs, to the best of my recollection, included “My Life Inside Your Heart”, “Reception Fades”, “Everchanging” (all off of “The Unraveling”), “Generation Lost” (off of the new Fat Wreck comp “Uncontrollable Fatulance”), and approximately three or so songs off of their upcoming album “Revolutions Per Minute”, due out April 8th. During “Generation Lost” and a few of the new songs, Tim strapped on a guitar and played rhythm, which was a nice touch to an already awesome sound. These guys tour almost incessantly, and should be hitting up areas of the US and Canada on the upcoming Fat Wreck Chords Tour with The Mad Caddies, so do yourself a favor and check them out. Honestly, my words cannot do this band enough justice to just how much intensity, excitement, and energy their live exerts.

After Rise Against, The Suicide Machines picked up right were those kooky Chicagoans left off. They opened their set with “S.O.S.” and closed with “So Long”, both off of “Destruction By Definition”. Other songs included in their set were, again, to the best of my recollection: “New Girl”, “Break The Glass”, “No Face”, “Islands”, “Face Values”, “Punk Out”, “Vans Song” (all off of Destruction By Definition), “Someone”, “Hating Hate”, “DDT” (off of their second full-length Battle Hymns), “Permanent Holiday” (off of their self-titled effort, and also I think they only song played off of that album), “For The Day” (off of The Least Worst of The Suicide Machines and a Plea For Peace/Take Action! compilation), “Steal This Record”, “Honor Among Thieves”, and “Off The Cuff” (all off of their fourth album, Steal This Record). This was the first time I had seen The Suicide Machines with Rich on bass, filling the enormous shoes that former bassist Royce Nunley left upon his departure from the band, and I would have to say that he filled those shoes quite well and had a very admirable performance. It is blatantly obvious how much these guys enjoy playing: vocalist Jay was constantly jumping and bouncing around and throwing the mic into the crowd, guitarist Dan and Rich were spinning around and rocking out, and drummer Ryan, although behind the kit, also had a great presence. They were talking to the crowd and amongst themselves between songs and were having a great time. After their set, some of the members and Santa Claus came back out to “snow” falling from above and threw out presents to the crowd. Soon after, they played an encore of a Negative Approach cover. When they said they were playing a cover I was hoping for their Minor Threat cover of “I Don’t Wanna Hear It”, but their cover was a very nice consolation. The Suicide Machines don’t have any other tour dates up on their website, so hopefully they’re planning on recording soon for their Side One Dummy Records debut.

Rise Against and The Suicide Machines was more than worth the three and a half hour drive, and the merchandise I bought (including the Baxter CD) made the experience that much sweeter. But honestly, do yourself a favor and catch either Rise Against or The Suicide Machines if they come to within driving distance of your area, both bands are a show you’d have to see to believe.

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Anonymous (February 8, 2003)

Rich is a fucking racist prick

Anonymous (January 16, 2003)

though i couldn't agree with you more about how awesome the show was (i took a greyhound from chicago, which took about 10 hours), they didn't play "steal this records", or "for the day". that's all.

Anonymous (January 9, 2003)

p.s. good review

Anonymous (January 9, 2003)

April 8th is new Rise Against...too long to wait. I 've seen them twice now and they're great, although I would give the nod for a better album to the Killing Tree. Romance of Helen Trent is fucking smokin'.

Anonymous (January 9, 2003)

who cares if he calls himself fat nick, I had an obese friend i called "fat mike" or "big mike" way the fuck before nofx was around..so its not like fat mike has an original, witty nickname in the first place

maverick (January 6, 2003)

To TheBouncingSoul:

What were you wearing at Rise Against's show at the PIT? I was there too, they sounded fucking amazing. Egan's Rats were pretty good, too, and the Methadones were decent.

-Scott

Anonymous (January 6, 2003)

Rise Against sucks ass live they open for every single band that comes to Chicago and From AFI to The Circle Jerks.
I saw them headline with Dead To Fall and D2F blew Rise Against out of the water.
Go See Tim's better band The Killing Tree there CD is Brilliant and there live show it sAweeeeeet

Anonymous (January 5, 2003)

The hilarity of the internet. Proven in the comment threads here.

Anonymous (January 4, 2003)

"Fat Nick" is a retard, and I made a mistake (what the fuck) Destruction by DEFINITION. still a rad live band.

Anonymous (January 4, 2003)

saw Suicide Machines with Small Brown Bike and From Autumn to Ashes. they play a lot of Destruction by Demolition. fuckin awesome live band. jay's vocals are classic and original. aaawwwwesome.

TheBouncingSoul (January 4, 2003)

saw rise against last night....they were the shit

Anonymous (January 4, 2003)

Hey cack, in my defense, I was being called "Fat Nick" since I was 12 just because there were a lot of "Nick's" around me all the time. Of course NOFX was out and about then but I was a fucking 12 year old bitch boy and didn't know who NOFX was (but I'm sure you did when you were 12). It stuck. If it makes you feel any better, I go by "Fun Nick" too. Ha-ha-ha, I crack myself up and you are commenting on something stupid like a nick name. Anyways, I just wanted to comment again for the sake, usually I could give a fuck less because I could be doing two million other things like drinking for example. Anyways, thanks for letting me know that I suck because I just happen to have the same nickname as Fat Mike. Maybe he will email me too and tell me I'm retarded. Just in case, fat_nick@hotmail.com is my email address. Toodles!

Kurt_F (January 4, 2003)

The Killing Tree destroys everything.

Anonymous (January 3, 2003)

TSM are the shit, there's a reason why nobody says shit about them.

They fuckin' rock.

Rise Against puts on a sweet show too, another good band.

drod (January 3, 2003)

dude your name is fat nick? try someting original

Anonymous (January 3, 2003)

Hahaha this had to be one of the guys I went with since there was only 3 Baxter CDs at the show and the guys I went with bought 2. Also, from Cleveland. The forgot to mention the punk elitist assholes that tried to start a fight with us after the show and nearly got beat down. Man my friends are tree-huggin hippies. Senseless violence is stupid but sometimes people do need to be punched in the face, multiple times.

-Fat Nick

pope_schlomo (January 1, 2003)

You know what would've been better? If The Killing Tree were there. They are made up of Rise Against and Baxter. Their CD is one of the fuckin best albums I heard.

Ramo

Anonymous (January 1, 2003)

def looking forward to new suicide machines record this year.

Anonymous (January 1, 2003)

I love both these bands so much. I saw suicide machines back in june and even though there were only like 100 or so people show up they put on an amazing show for us front line singers.There was a propagandi show the night before(fuckin losers in my city couldnt quite make it to two shows in two nights). Anyways I cant wait to hear the new sideonedummy release and catch rise against on the fat tour in march. Happy new year.

Daegan (January 1, 2003)

Remember when people used to talk shit about TSM all over the fucking internet?

^_-...I didn't.

They will always rock harder than you.

Anonymous (January 1, 2003)

damn, i would have drove 3 days to see them both, THOGETHER!
could i feel any worse for living on the other side of the planet?!

Kurt_F (January 1, 2003)

Yea, I saw the Suicide Machines and Catch 22 last year...still one of the best shows I've ever seen, they play such a good mix of songs, and Jason goes freaking nuts.

Anonymous (January 1, 2003)

oh how i would've loved to be at this show

TJmoney (December 31, 2002)

WOW....this show is automatically one of the top 5 shows ever for someone to see. Rise Against puts on one hell of a show and the Suicide Machines are one of the 2 best live bands out there. They're insane. I need to see them again real soon.

Anonymous (December 31, 2002)

i think we're all in agreement here. suicide machines are one of the best live acts around. fucking amazing.

TenderBransonX (December 31, 2002)

The Suicide Machines are so great live. You can't help but smile when you watch them.

Anonymous (December 31, 2002)

i cant wait to see rise against. I have seen suicide machines and they also rock hard live.

Anonymous (December 31, 2002)

I also was at the show. My ONLY qualm was those assholes saying that shit to FAFB. I thought that was really fucked up. But besides that, an amazing night. Especially when the mic flew off of the cord and into the crowd...... Anyway, all bands played amazingly, and i cant wait untill Rise Against come back in March.

Bryne (December 31, 2002)

This sounds like one helluva show.

I envy you, sir.