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Me First And The Gimme Gimmes is just one of those bands that everyone loves. You can't say to yourself, “they have no talent and they need to write their own material." Me first is everybody's favorite punk rock cover band. Period. In fact, I don't even know of any others. When I heard that the gimmes would be headlining the edge's “gimme gimme Christmas show” (local alternative radio station) I knew I had to go. After all, How many opportunities do you get to even see the gimme gimmes?

The show began promptly at 7 o’ clock at Nita’s Hideaway. The venue is pretty large, and in all my shows I’ve seen there, it had never been this packed before. The first band up was Fourbanger.

Fourbanger is a local band that kind of has a Millencolin sound goin’ for them. The only thing missing is the Swedish accent. After 30 minutes smooth punk rock the local heroes were done. I’m not that big of a local music scenester but these guys were pretty talented.

Spindle was up next, another local band; but I’d never heard of them before. When you’re a local band opening for national acts, there are a few important things to remember: you don’t have much time, not many people are there to see you, your main purpose is to get the crowd going. Spindle was smart enough to know all of these things. They didn’t waste there time ranting and raving on stage. Instead they played a half hour set wasting little time between songs. They ALMOST sounded like Bad Religion; they had some really fast and really heavy riffs thrown in the mix. They got the crowd going so I can’t complain.

Up next on the bill was Denver Harbor. For those of you who don’t know, DH came to be after the break up of Fenix Tx. It contains former lead singer Will Salazar at guitar and vocals, Adam Lewis, also of Fenix Tx is also on guitar, and two guys (brothers I think) from a band called F.O.N. but I’m not to positive on that. I was always a huge fan of Fenix Tx, but never got the opportunity to see them play, this was almost as good. Denver Harbor sounds a lot like Fenix Tx. Denver Harbor is a high energy live band that puts on a great show. Their 15 year old drummer is one of the most amazing drummers I’ve ever had the privilege to see and he had a great solo half way through their set. I bought their new e.p. after the show and it is very good. Their set list highlights were: Threesome (yes, the same one from Fenix Tx), Pop Manifesto, Outta my head, Way back home, and Satisfied. If you were a fan of Fenix Tx, you will LOVE Denver Harbor.

Sugarcult was the next band to play. This is my second time seeing them (not intentionally). I’m not a big fan of Sugarcult, so I won’t waste too much time talking about them. Their set list included: Bouncing off the walls (again), Stuck in America, and a bunch of other songs that sounded exactly the same.

Finally, it was time for the Gimme Gimmes to play. I had no idea what to expect, according to their website, this would be their first show since August and I had a feeling they might be rusty. I was wrong. After 25 minutes of waiting, the punk rock cover gods went on stage in some spiffy pajamas. The 5 man rainbow coalition blasted into Danny’s Song, and from that point on, the hits never stopped. Fat Mike can still play bass, Chris and Joey can still play guitar, Spike can still sing, and Dave can still play drums. The boys played songs from all four of their major releases including: Danny’s Song, Rocket man, Leaving on a jet plane, Me and Julio down by the school yard, Seasons in the sun, Nobody does it better, Summer time, Over the rainbow, Science Fiction Double Feature, Phantom of the Opera, Don’t cry for me Argentina, Sloop John B, I believe I can fly, Country Roads, a nasty cover of Stairway to Heaven, Feliz Navidad (where half way through the song Fat Mike interrupted and said he was offended on behalf of the Jewish community, and for the rest of the song Spike sang: Hava N’agila…I wanna wish you a happy Rosh Hashanah, which was cool because I’m jewish too) and many more. If you ever have the chance to see these guys, do it! You won’t regret it.






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    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, December 19, 2003 at 12:48 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    You see, Back in the Day, It was kind of a tradition to put a stupid cover song on an album (usualy at the end) as sort of a joke. Almost every Pop-punk band did it, and it was just dumb fun.

    MFATGG seem to have taken the joke to the next level: Repetition. Kind of Like Norm Macdonald when he did Weekend update. He'd just drive the fucking joke into the ground.

    I hereby christen MFATGG as the Norm MacDonalds of punk.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, December 15, 2003 at 10:24 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    Hey, it's TheNewRevolution again, but I can't sign in, so I'm posting anonymously. Anyhow, sorry CallingLondon, I should have caught that. The gigantic "fuck you" should be extended to the guy you quoted. Also, getting back to Warped, yeah, it's pretty cool, but it's a fucking rip-off and half the bands are shit. Last year there was fucking Rufio, Something Corporate, Sum 41, The Used...fuck that.

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, December 14, 2003 at 4:53 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    Shut up. Kevin Lyman is the man. Look how many kids show up for the warped tour. Its by far the best show of the year.

    Posted by ilikebandssuchasopivy on 2003-12-14 15:52:50
    My Score:

    You spelt epitome wrong.

    Posted by CallingLondon on 2003-12-14 13:20:06
    My Score:

    dude, that's exactly what i said. the first part of my post was quoting someone else. try reading the second part. i the same thing you did.

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, December 14, 2003 at 1:02 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    Dear Calling London,
    You fucking idiot, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are a cover band because all of its members are from other bands that, coincidentally, write their own material. They just decided to go out and form something and have a little fun with it. You see, that's what it's about: fun. You jackass. And for the record, Denver Harbor was the worst band I have ever witnessed live. Oh yes, and on one final note, Kevin Lyman is NOT the king of punk. The Warped Tour that he organizes parades around only huge names in punk, giving no respect to smaller names, and sucks almost $30 bucks out of my fucking wallet just to see Bad Religion and Rise Against. Yeah, fuck that too.

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, December 14, 2003 at 1:57 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    Kevin Lyman is the King of Punk. The Warped Tour is Punk Rock Summer Camp. Thanks to him we get to see our favorite bands play.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, December 13, 2003 at 9:02 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    how come noone has mentioned how bad fenix tx sucked live?

    Posted by rxbandito24 on 2003-12-13 19:52:07
    My Score:

    calling london was right on, this is Strictly a fun side project between friends, all of these guys are in established bands, NOFX, Lagwagon, Foo Fighters, Swingin uttters, its strictly FUN!

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, December 13, 2003 at 5:30 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    Kevin Lyman is king of punk = funny

    Posted by CallingLondon on 2003-12-13 15:59:35
    My Score:

    These guys are LAME!!! Sorry fellas, but cover bands suck. These guys are the epitomy of unoriginalness. They should try writing their own songs, but based on seeing these guys at warped tour they probably cant even write music. I cant believe that Kevin Lyman (King of Punk) would book these drunk idiots on the warped tour. Out of all the narly bands to play last year, why would this coverband get booked???

    you're an idiot. it's a super group. every member is an established musician in a pretty successful band. this band exists purely for fun. that's the thing where people smile. you may have heard of it. you should try it out some time. and the band's talent shows through in how they cover each song as well as integrate small snippets of punk songs into each classic song.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, December 13, 2003 at 1:07 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    These guys are LAME!!! Sorry fellas, but cover bands suck. These guys are the epitomy of unoriginalness. They should try writing their own songs, but based on seeing these guys at warped tour they probably cant even write music. I cant believe that Kevin Lyman (King of Punk) would book these drunk idiots on the warped tour. Out of all the narly bands to play last year, why would this coverband get booked???

    Posted by rxbandito24 on 2003-12-13 10:38:49
    My Score:

    I'm gonna have to go with Hats off to larry, End of the Road, and My Favorite Things

    Posted by ElVaquero on 2003-12-13 04:22:10
    My Score:

    Scott, this is one of those not-so-rare occasions where I dare to agree with you: Country Roads is by far their best. And then Mandy.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, December 13, 2003 at 12:13 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    Me First is beyond gay!

    NEXT!!!

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, December 12, 2003 at 9:52 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    Hi Julian, It's scott. nice review.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, December 12, 2003 at 9:03 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    great review man

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, December 12, 2003 at 7:05 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    I saw the Gimme Gimmes on Monday at a benefit for Matt Gonzalez (S.F's Green Party mayoral candidate), and Warren Fitzgerald (of Vandals fame) filled in for Shifflett on guitar. Fat Mike had to teach him the songs as they played them, but they kicked ass. Gotta love Country Roads man..

    Posted by rxbandito24 on 2003-12-12 17:02:43
    My Score:

    I also forgot to mention that the gimmes played End of the road, and at least three others that I didn't know...

    Posted by rxbandito24 on 2003-12-12 17:00:16
    My Score:

    sorry if the grammer was lousy, this was my first review, and when i copy and pasted it into the box, for some reason it wouldn't indent... oh well

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, December 12, 2003 at 4:32 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    you mus tbe the stupidest person ever, or that was a really bad joke.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, December 12, 2003 at 4:11 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    whoever says me first should write original songs is retarded. a lot of the music me first is playing is their original stuff.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, December 12, 2003 at 3:38 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    saw Me First on Warped back in August, one of the worst performances I've ever seen in my life, out of any band.

    Posted by CrankWillDestroy on 2003-12-12 15:23:48
    My Score:

    good review. and yea sugarcult sucks the big one.

    Posted by maverick on 2003-12-12 15:05:35
    My Score:

    Damn, you got Country Roads? That's my favorite MFATGG song, and they didn't play it at Warped in Chicago a few years ago when I saw them, I was totally bummed out.

    -Scott

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, December 12, 2003 at 2:53 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    this was a nice honest review. it seemed like you had a really good time!

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, December 12, 2003 at 2:34 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    yea u need 2 lern how 2 spell

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, December 12, 2003 at 2:28 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    Your grammar suck, buddy.

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