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Murphy's Law/Youth Brigade/Cockney Rejects At Music Hall Of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY February 22, 2013.

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    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Murphy's Law/Youth Brigade/Cockney Rejects At Music Hall Of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY February 22, 2013.



    Ok, first things first, The Templars opened and we missed them. Why? Because parking sucks in Williamsburg and it sucks hard. Lots of things suck in Williamsburg, really, but parking does tend to top the list. Serves us right for driving. At any rate, we came in as they were finishing their set and the one song we heard sounded great, but there wasn't time to take pictures. Also worth pointing out is that the pictures from this show aren't really anything to write home about, because I spaced on getting a camera pass and wound up just taking in a Nikon Coolpix instead of a DSLR. And you know what? Ashton Kutcher is full of shit, because this little Coolpix camera, a backup that fits in my pocket, doesn't really take great pictures, at least not in a dimly lit concert hall full of skinheads. And boy howdy were there a lot of skinheads at this show.

    Murphy's Law came out and played about forty minutes, which was a lot of fun. By the time their set was over Jimmy Gestapo had spent a fair bit of time in and on the crowd, and the saxophone player even went down to the floor to solo in the middle of a pit, which is pretty great when you consider that he's a squirrely looking old black guy decked out like a leather daddy. But he was rad, so were the rest of the band. Jimmy chugged Jagermeister and beer and shared with the crowd, who in turn shared some booze and smoke - his quest for herb was fulfilled about ten minutes into the set. So yeah, Murphy's Law. They're always fun and Jimmy won't shut up but that's half their charm and the crowd ate it up, because they're just a good time all around.

    Youth Brigade came out next, and they were tight for the most part. Shawn Stern is still up front and Mark Stern is still on the drums but the other guitar player and the bass player are newer recruits and not the same guys we saw play with them a few years back at the Mercury Lounge in 2010. Still a pretty great set though, they played for over an hour and played more or less what you'd expect. They haven't had any new material in a long time (though Shawn says they'll get to it eventually) but with one or two exceptions the set list hit every note you'd want it to hit, including Men In Blue (with a half assed rap - but a rap nevertheless). The pit was fierce for this, a guy flew off of the stage and bounced his head off of the railing in front of us and beer was flying but for the most part, their set went off without a hitch even if one guy moved to the side and wobbled for a few minutes looking like he was going to vomit. He didn't, instead he ran back into the pit and fell down. They closed with Sink and a few people got on stage but security wasn't really welcoming to anyone wanting to get involved even if the band did invite people up as they always do for that song. Youth Brigade have been around a long damn time, well, everyone on this bill has, but they still kill live.

    Which brings us to The Cockney Rejects, a band that doesn't often land their feet on North American soil and who have been around. All of those skinheads mentioned earlier? They might have been there for the first three bands but you know they were definitely stoked for the Rejects and if you're at all into old British Oi! and street punk you can't half way blame them. We kept a distance and stayed towards the back of the auditorium simply because there was a ridiculous amount of beer flying off of the mezzanine level but for a band fast approaching forty years in the business they sounded pretty damn good. Loads of energy, great crowd interaction and pretty much everyone was singing along to every song. Jeff Turner is just awesome to watch on stage, pouncing around and boxing his way to the crowd and back while the rest of the band were just tight and completely professional. Unfortunately due to the aforementioned shitty camera issue, we've only got a few pictures of the Rejects but a few are better than none. All in all a great night for anyone with even an inkling of appreciation for punk rock done right.



























































    • Andrew Monroe
      #5
      Andrew Monroe
      Pallid Hands
      Andrew Monroe commented
      Editing a comment
      Cool review. Some of the pictures aren't bad at all...quite nice really. I hope they have good security at that place, I would think twice about a show like that.

    • Ian Jane
      #6
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      Ian Jane commented
      Editing a comment
      It was pretty non-violent. Saw one fight, security had it stopped quickly. Aside from that, just stage divers and a pit, but anyone who went down got helped up. It didn't feel like anyone was really there to start trouble. The Cockney Rejects have a shaky past in that regard, with violent shows, but this one wasn't.

    • Alison Jane
      #7
      Alison Jane
      Girl Boss Jane
      Alison Jane commented
      Editing a comment
      Totally non-threatening. I do get nervous when people talk to me at shows, haha, but that would be the case anywhere.
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