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Catch 22 / Bigwig / Punchline

live in New York City
2004
live show

Review by: Brian
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Published on January 9th 2004

Last date of the tour, first show of the year.

Punchline, after opening with the first part of "Bohemian Rhapsody," followed up their version of a classic (even if it was hardly a verse) with the title track off the upcoming full-length Action...which wasn't so classic. Although their live show is worlds better than any studio recording I've heard from them, and their brand of pop-punk isn't too repetitive or derivative...it's still not that good, and the right stage guitarist did this oddly exaggerated leg kick which was just awkward. From the Rewind EP, they also played "Power Off" and "Stop," and another new song, "'Round Here," closing with the last part of the aforementioned Queen song.

Bigwig...was Bigwig. They kept it tight, intricate, and energetic as always, with Tom's constant smile and bulging eyes intact. They also took advantage of the three-band lineup to play a nice collection of songs; "Sink or Swim," "Sore Losers," "Still," "Girl in the Green Jacket," "Moosh," "Freegan," "Waste," "Counting Down," "Hope," and "Numbers." They played the 'instrumental' part from the Chicken dance song so Tom could tell us "handclaps are overrated" (the crowd substituted them for "oi oi oi !"s) and would later place both Coors Light and George W. Bush in a similar light. There was but one disappointment - there wasn't a single trace of new material. Nothing new played, nothing new announced; once the ball is rolling on that, I think we'll all be a little happier.

When I had last seen Catch 22, I went in nervous thanks to all the negative opinions that've come out of recent live reviews, but came out abhorrent of those opinions. Thanks to this set, I'm just a little more aligned with them now. Despite the fact that Catch did play mostly good, and showcased a splendid mix of songs from their discography, there were way too many points I could pick out where they were entirely too sloppy or rushed, or even out of synch. "On & On & On" wasplayedandsungsortoflikethis, the opening of "Sincerely Yours" was so messy it was like it was physically vomited all over the stage, and although it was great to hear "Keasbey Nights" right before the encore after numerous requests from numerous people, the shortened version wouldn't benefited from its normal running time. "Rocky," the Weezer-esque tune from the new album (a FAN FAVORITE!), opened things up, and following (in no particular order) was "Wine Stained Lips," "It Takes Some Time," "Bloomfield Ave.," the "Intro / Point the Blame" pair, "Straight Forward," what the band keeps calling a new song "Chin Up," a hyper tempo "Day In Day Out," "9MM and a 3-Piece Suit," and "Dear Sergio," which they claimed hadn't been played in quite the while. The encore consisted of "Motown Cinderella," and "12341234."

So even with nary a sign of new recordings, Bigwig, suffice to say, owned as usual. However, there is a new web site promised, so perhaps there will be music to go along with that.

Oh, and for some reason Fall Out Boy was supposed to play but didn't. No complaints here!

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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, January 14, 2004 at 11:56 AM (EST)
My Score:

so josh marsh never returned after the broken fingers and then just recently brent left and john from back in the day took over on bass. so they're a trio now of:

1. Tom-vocals/guitar/orginalmember
2. John-vocals/bass/first two albums/orginal member
3. Keith-drums/ex-split50

Is that right? I wish they would just update their website or play near me. I haven't seen them for over a year.

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, January 14, 2004 at 9:02 AM (EST)
My Score:

what about all the josh marsh is leaving the band rumors? i know he had broken fingers, etc. but everyone was speculating that his time with bigwig was over.

Josh never returned to the band after he broke his fingers. I saw them in Poughkeepsie, NY last July and they were a three piece. I thought they sounded just as good as they did when they were a foursome, they played more than 20 songs in well over an hour...

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 at 1:15 PM (EST)
My Score:

bigwig
what about all the josh marsh is leaving the band rumors? i know he had broken fingers, etc. but everyone was speculating that his time with bigwig was over.

Posted by inagreendase on 2004-01-13 10:57:50
My Score:

Make a relevant post and then we'll talk.

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 at 10:26 AM (EST)
My Score:

www.purevolume.com/thebrigade

check it.

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, January 12, 2004 at 3:29 PM (EST)
My Score:

Punchline? I dunno about these guys, Try listening to GUYANA PUNCHLINE and stop stealing the names of good punk bands.

Here is to the Smashismo!

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, January 12, 2004 at 1:04 PM (EST)
My Score:

Word is Brent left the band recently and is moving to Canada to get married and start a custom motorcycle parts company. For real.

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, January 12, 2004 at 10:25 AM (EST)
My Score:

Punchline's "Round Here" cover is one of the best punk rock covers I have ever heard! Right up there with Rise Against's "Fortunate Son" that i was *fortunate* enough to hear one of the only times they played it live. ;)

Anyways, it's one of the few covers that actually manages to capture the emotion of the original song while still taking on a whole new life of it's own in the new arrangement. As a big time Counting Crows fan, it's a pleasure every time I hear it.

The rest of their live set rocks too.. the "exaggerated leg kick" and similar crazy stage antics are that way on purpose.. they don't take themselves as seriously as you seem to take them.

Posted by bigwignj on 2004-01-11 15:55:36
My Score:

John-Bass(original bassist)
Tom-Guitar/singer(the band)
Keith-(Drummer after matt gray god fired....i miss matt gray)

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, January 11, 2004 at 3:29 AM (EST)
My Score:

Wait...

So what is the current Bigwig lineup? I have no idea. Is it:

Tom (original member) on vox/guitar
John (first two albums and now back again) on bass
Josh (overdrives guy who joined in 2001) on guitar
Keith (5 driver guy who joined in 2002) on drums

???????

What happened to Brent?

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, January 11, 2004 at 3:21 AM (EST)
My Score:

the person two spots below has obviously never listened to bigwig and is ridiculously irresponsible with some of the connections he/she is making.

so there were some tools in the audience who like bigwig. that's not the band and it is not the general fanbase.

Posted by bigwignj on 2004-01-11 01:34:15
My Score:

The person below me is a dumbass

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, January 10, 2004 at 7:49 PM (EST)
My Score:

ok I went to see this show for one reason-catch 22.I loved keasby nights, and i had never seen them live so although they are on their tenth singer i thought what the hell. When i came to the show at the wonderful irving plaza i was greeted by the usual fans-mallrats sporting their hot topic accessories. Now i don't care about them that much kinda annoying but whatever, i digress, what pissed me off were these fucking assholes -big fucking jocks. These assholes thought it was really funny to call every passing kid a fag, and i could have sworn they were white supremacists as they went on a whole diatribe to describe how unfair it is that 'a nigger gets to pass a test while a white person fails with the same grade.' Hmm this is a ska concert right? Ska came from Jamaica, made by that’s right black people. Then of course it was popularized by the specials, madness and other British bands that were all about unity. Actually punk rock is also about unity. Oh and these guys were from jersey, I remembered why i hate jersey. Their fav band was bigwig. wow i hate bigwig. There were so many other things wrong with this show like the fact that both opening bands are shitty jock-pop-punk bands that didn’t quite make it, and of course the whole bush bashing thing which so funny. Since it comes from people who live in the suburbs and sing about fun filled topics like i love my girlfriend she's so mean but i dont care cos im a cool jock. I could tell more but why bother.
By the way catch 22 slayed. Everything else was garbage.

Posted by some1 on 2004-01-10 04:30:33
My Score:

this was a good show though

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, January 10, 2004 at 4:30 AM (EST)
My Score:

actually, silence is significantly better than Punchline

Posted by turdcore92383 on 2004-01-10 02:04:53
My Score:

I like Punchline's cover of Round Here. Why wouldn't you say it was a cover since it didn't sound anything like the original? Isn't that the point? Let the band put their own spin on a previously recorded song. As long as the lyrics are the same, I do believe it's a cover. Oh and Punchline's better than your band...

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, January 10, 2004 at 1:45 AM (EST)
My Score:

haha, nice thrice.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 9, 2004 at 10:40 PM (EST)
My Score:

yeah.. i almost went to this.. but i didn't. because i threw a pen at my brother and it just happened to hit him in the eye.. bastard.

-thriceequalsgod

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 9, 2004 at 7:54 PM (EST)
My Score:

This was a good show, I can only hope that I never have to run into punchline again bc their music is just not good at all. Bigwig was really good and catch 22 played music and I commend them for that.

Posted by inagreendase on 2004-01-09 17:14:41
My Score:

"Round Here" is a cover of the Counting Crows song that Punchline does.

That was actually my first thought when they said the title, but the song they played sounded absolutely NOTHING like the real version, so I didn't say it was a cover just to be sure.

Posted by bigwignj on 2004-01-09 16:53:36
My Score:

I should have went, but Bigwig is a NJ band and I'm from NJ...so i dont think i should have to drive to NY and spend $20 to see them play the same songs.

By the way i read on some site that Fearless is releasing some bigwig albumn in 2004 but there were no details under it AT ALL....so it may just be a hope and a prayer on Fearless's behalf. Anywho, BIGWIG OWNS JOO!!!

Posted by SpamMan on 2004-01-09 16:19:21
My Score:

"Round Here" is a cover of the Counting Crows song that Punchline does.

Posted by FortyMinutesWest on 2004-01-09 15:03:27
My Score:

Bigwig is on the only band on this bill that doesn't suck. The guys in Punchline are really nice though, and the address of their website chronicles one of my favorite things to do.