We left for the show a little after 9:00. Ghost Echoes were the openers so they needed to be somewhat on time. The club had a weak, but usable wi-fi signal so I was able to post a couple of things about Murder Burger from there, but limited to only photos on my phone, or on Photobucket.
The show, for the fourth night in a row, had incredible support bands on the bill. Ghost Echoes kicked it off with an aggressive melodic hardcore reminiscent of the Gainesville sound. With two backing vocalists to support the insanely powerful growl of the lead, their sound was so full that I couldn’t imagine what they were like before recently losing their second guitarist.
Suckafish were on next. Bringing a raw, snotty, and in-your-face style of punk rock, this trio didn’t fuck around. The Dead Heads stepped things up one more level by combining the hardcore of Ghost Echoes with the blast-beat tempo of Suckafish, and after a minor guitar glitch in the second song, they proceeded to melt the faces of everyone in the room. I was starting to feel like a bit of a pussy thinking about playing the, self-proclaimed, “adult contemporary” portion of our set.
Lucky for me, Mr. Darryl Murder Burger himself showed up during the third set, and before I knew what was happening I had a whiskey shot in one hand, and a fresh beer in the other. I was ready to melt a few faces of my own by the time band number three finished. I couldn’t promise quality, but the show would make up for what I lacked in playing. ;)
It only figures that we’d hit our stride when we were at the end of the tour. From the first chord of Second Best, to the attention grabbing drive of Appreciation, we were on, and by the reaction and interaction from the crowd, they felt it too. Scott easily changed the “adult contemporary” introduction of More At Home and Retrospective into a “Dance, fuckers!” vibe and we blazed through those without a hitch.
Into The After, Bryan’s Song and Refined closed out the set. Not being much of an “encore” band, we had one last trick up our sleeves, and that was the oft-unknown, but always a hit, One To Two, by Dag Nasty.
Photographs at the top:
