Black President

live in Leeds (2009)
Chunksaah Records

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: wearestillalive
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on June 26th 2009

Aside from Green Day and Alkaline Trio, the Bouncing Souls are probably the biggest punk rock band I’ve ever seen live (and yes, this means I haven’t seen NOFX. I know). Together for over 20 years and with more than a handful of great records, they have become one of the genre's institutions. It is no surprise that they packed The Cockpit’s main room with a bunch of excited punks of all ages, and in all shapes and sizes.

It’s also no surprise that a band of such standing can net some pretty good support slots for even a UK tour, and Black President were the first on offer. With their list of ‘associated bands’ stretching on a ridiculously long way, they have always had a lot to live up to, even after Greg Hetson left the band. Singer Christian Martucci took this all in hand, though, striding on stage with a cheerful smile that gave way to an angry glare as appropriate. Unfazed by requests for songs by God knows who (due to the number of possible bands they could have been by, and the amount the guy shouting at them had drunk), they plowed through a blistering set of their admittedly pretty unoriginal brand of hardcore punk as Charlie Paulson threw himself about the stage. Good fun live, regardless of what you thought of the record.

P.O.S. WAS a surprise when he was first announced as support, but after a little thought, it makes perfect sense -- hip-hop and punk music have more than a little in common, held down by the popular clichés that hide a genre full of interesting and intelligent music, and P.O.S.’s music itself is more than just a little influenced by punk music. The perfect artist to start bridging the gap between the two scenes, it was almost heartwarming to hear that his cries of “Two songs in, is anyone still pissed there’s a rapper on the bill?” (or something similar, I’m paraphrasing) were met with an enthusiastic ‘NO!’ Backed by Plain ‘Ole Bill on decks, laptop, etc., P.O.S. spat out rhymes with amazing speed and flow, always trying to get the crowd involved, always trying to keep us entertained. He did nothing but succeed and reminded me that hip-hop can be amazing live and that I wish I could see more of it.

Eventually, the Bouncing Souls hit the stage and, as you’d hope -- nay, expect -- the place took off. The beer started flying and so did the people, with a steady stream of crowd-surfers, people grabbing at the mics/members and even people climbing the lighting rigs. The energy in the crowd was insane, with everyone pushing themselves to the limit. Unfortunately, though, the drunken boys club element of the punk rock crowd was out in force now and then, which meant I eventually got fed up of being headbutted by a large dude and kicked in the face by enthusiastic divers and headed over to the side of the stage for a while.

Removed from the fun and the fury of the mosh pit, I was free to pay a little more attention to the band. Although they sounded great and kept the crowd pleased with a mixture of fan favourites and the occasional new song (though I can’t tell you what they played, as I have a pretty bad memory and, to be honest, I don’t know the Souls’ back catalogue well enough), they appear to be beginning to show their age a bit. Pushing 40 years apiece, the members did not look particularly animated and failed to match the energy that they inspired in the crowd. The handful of stage invaders were also met by a combination of amusement, annoyance and aggressive movements from the crew. The crowd hardly seemed to care, though, and I guess I shouldn’t either -- after all this time, the band still put on a good, long punk rock show, treating us to well over an hour. Few frills, but great fun; may they continue to ‘up the punx’ for years to come.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

ghostdentures (June 29, 2009)

You don't fuck with minneapolis. That's why P.O.S. is good.

drHankMcCoy (June 28, 2009)

holy holy holy smokes:
nevermind anything i said earlier, that M.O.P project is FANTASTIC

rock version of ANTE UP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grIly3ehXd0

they also do No sleep til brooklyn, and imma be listenin to this until i'm sober again

Cos (June 27, 2009)

best punk/rap collaboration might have to be Youth Brigade and whomever did the verse on "Men in Blue". Also, it breaks up their boring live set quite nicely.

wearestillalive (June 27, 2009)

Oh man, I wrote a longish comment and got timed out. So here it goes again, shorter:

Yeah, I haven't seen HWM. They DID split up for a couple years and i don't think they've been back here much since. If they have, I've not noticed.

Black President: I didn't say 'prowled', but you could contest 'threw' I guess. Just trying to say that the most famous member of the band was also the most animated.

P.O.S. was awesome, easily the best of the night. Where I was standing, everyone seemed to be really enjoying him and he seemed to get a great response from the crowd. Though this is probably down to personal opinions so I can't really argue it any more than that, hah.

Maybe I managed to piss some people off, cause I got battered about a fair bit in the pit, hah. As for the beer, I was drenched after about 30 seconds of the souls being onstage, but then it calmed down after that.

If that was them at their best, then i would not have been impressed with them before. They all seemed pretty lifeless to me at times. You'll likely have thought they played better than I did because you're a bigger souls fan and it sounds like you've been disappointed in the past, so you're happy with the best you've got so far. I've got nothing to compare it to, so it wasn't as impressive, if you get me?

So yeah, just goes to show we can have totally different experiences of the same show, hah. I'm sure we'll end up in the same place again when I'm up back up north.

phelansegur (June 27, 2009)

"Aside from Green Day and Alkaline Trio, the Bouncing Souls are probably the biggest punk rock band I’ve ever seen live (and yes, this means I haven’t seen NOFX. I know)"

That means you haven't seen Hot Water Music too ...

Consider_the_ravens (June 26, 2009)

it seems like these guys have mellowed out a bit over the years. im sure touring takes a toll on them.

SteveJ16 (June 26, 2009)

I have to agree with the Damo fella below. POS was absolute garbage and this is coming from someone who doesn't mind the guy on record, in a live setting it was just terrible.

The Souls were decent enough but let down by a pretty poor sound.

Damo (June 26, 2009)

christ you are wrong on so many levels it's insane

Black President - prowling around the stage? no way fella
POS - why was he there. he got some people to swing some arms and chant the occasional bit but most people were non-plussed

Souls - beer flowing? insane pit? you sure? was a decent pit but not insane mate. The Souls actually played much better than the last couple of times they played at the cockpit. i've been very critical of the same old setlist and greg not trying on here but for a change Greg was more into it and they did pretty well considering the sound was so poor that you could hardly hear the guitar or bass. fair play for doing the review and it was pretty well written. i just disagree with your opinions but hey we like the same music and no hard feelings!

SydBarrett420 (June 26, 2009)

Cyrpess Hill and Sonic Youth is the best collab. ever; it's a known fact.

sickboy22 (June 26, 2009)

"The DOOM unit, you better get used to it." DOOMTREE!

shrapnel (June 26, 2009)

P.O.S. DOOMTREE!

givemeamuseumandillfillit (June 26, 2009)

Best Hip Hop/Punk crossover would be Run DMC - Raising Hell, the song.

Such a fucking banger. The delivery is just as intese as any hardcore band at the time.

BREAK!

Torgo (June 26, 2009)

Er, that was supposed to be a 4.5

Torgo (June 26, 2009)

Score is for The Souls in NJ in May:
True Believers
Kate Is Great
I Like Your Mom
Freaks, Nerds, & Romantics
Dubs Says True
Late Bloomer
Here We Go
I Think That The World
Quick Chek Girl
Lean On Sheena
Single Successful Guy
Moon Over Asbury
Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash cover)
Hybrid Moments (Misfits cover)
Ghosts On The Boardwalk (New song)
Joe Lies (When He Cries)
That Song
No Rules
Midnight Mile
Argyle
Say Anything
Manthem (crowd request)
‘87
Punks In Vegas
Sing Along Forever
--
Private Radio
Hopeless Romantic
Gone

mikexdude (June 26, 2009)

best punk/rap collab?

Not punk, but anthrax and Public enemy is the best collab. evah!

drHankMcCoy (June 26, 2009)

best punk/rap collab?

whole wheat bread did some cool stuff with lil john

m.o.p - mash out posse. good album

i think agnostic front did sumpin with b-real... haven't heard

telegraphrocks (June 26, 2009)

Less Pictures, More Set-Lists.

Hey_Asshole (June 26, 2009)

Bouncing Souls > just about everything

Cheesetits (June 26, 2009)

P.O.S. is damn good live.

mikexdude (June 26, 2009)

Remember when that one band couldn't take criticism and called Aubin because I was a meanie... who was that band?

Black something...

Hmmm.....