My top shows, with blurbs.

1.SnoCore '97 (Roseland, 2/20/97) $17.50 face to face, The Pharcyde, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Less Than Jake, Orange 9mm, The Flip

My first show. I can’t not put it on the list, personally, I was going for VGS, everything else was kind of a bonus. My friend got kicked in the face by the singer of orange 9mm, I got a flashlight shined on me while holding a bowl (I wasn’t even smoking) and I moshed for the first time ever during face to face’s “disconnected”.

9.Ska Against Racism Tour (Montclair State, 4/26/98) $10 Less than Jake, The Toasters, Mustard Plug, Five Iron Frenzy, Mu330, Kemuri, Bruce Lee Band, One Cool Guy

Getting tickets to this show was a nightmare, but it didn’t matter because there were tickets available at the door. I found a ticketstub on the ground and kept it. If anyone was at this show, you’ll know how awesome it was as it was raining the whole time, and was outside. LTJ mosh pit in a torrential downpour? Yes please. The best was when they vented the tarp over the stage and it was like a waterfall.

10.Skapunk Show at Irving (5/16/98) $10 Suicide Machines, Mephiskapheles, Limp, Telegraph

I was a lot more cavalier about things such as leaving my glasses in random places at this time, I left them on some stand or something, and they were still there when I got back to them. My friend made me crowd surf during mephiskapheles. The whole show was cool, one of the first shows with suicide machines’ new drummer.

23.Shillelagh Club (1/22/99) $8 Excess dB Blanks 77, Vision, Violent Society, LES Stitches, Where Fear and Weapons Meet, Banner of Hope, The Skabs

This was a mix of shows, as my friends and I were going to the punk show, and then a show heath had at JT’s fell through, so the hardcore bands were added. Before this show, none of my friends liked LES Stitches, but this show changed it, with the singer hanging from rafters, ETC. Violent society ruled at this show.

31.Teaneck American Legion (3/20/99) $8 Excess dB Dropkick Murphys, Oxymoron, The Ducky Boys, *The Ploys*, *Hudson Falcons*

This show is legendary. The Ducky Boys were awesome, and played a killer “Stand By Me” cover. During Oxymoron, some kids and myself found this awesome table to stand on right by the band, who was playing in the corner. We realized what it was when heath got on the PA telling “everyone please get off the pool table”. Then the Dropkick Murphys played, and it was insanity. I cut my hand on someone’s spike, and who knows how? The angle made no sense. When the cops arrived, dkm said something to the effect of “The cops are here, but we’re going to play until they make us stop.” Like I said, legendary.

41. East Coast Attack Tour- CIH (6/18/99) $8 Aus-Rotten, The Casualties, (Violent Society cancelled), The Unseen, The Devotchkas, Thulsa Doom, The Virus, Society's Failure, The Stand

Your typical coney island high punk show, right? Dropped off by someone’s parents, and picked up by another’s. I got punched in the eye during thulsa doom, and somehow didn’t have a shiner. Even more remarkable was the CIH staff letting me re-enter. Violent Society couldn’t make it because pat had to go to a wedding, so aus-rotten was added. This show ruled.

93. Roseland Ballroom (9/15/00) $14 Less than Jake, The SUicide Machines, One Man Army, Pollen

One Man Army in 2000. The Suicide Machines (DDT CIRCLE PIT?). Less Than Jake, along with pyrotechnics. Rolling apple.

146. The Garage (2/10/01) *Revolution Summer*, Ensign, Strike Anywhere, De La Hoya

Now, I don’t recall if this or the December strike anywhere garage show was better, but this one definitely had a better lineup. Personally, I can recall Mike Mclean on top of the crowd screaming along.

152. The Garage (3/2/01) Rest Assured?, The Assistant, Tear it Up, The Blue Star Diary

Look who played this show! I recall going home to get something after the first band just because it was 5 minutes away. I came back and listened to the down in flames demo tape about 3 times….then TIU covered the DIF theme. The assistant was awesome and leigh yelled at yarm for talking. Then rest assured played, and it was your usual Bergen county random kid/MF mosh. T-shirt.

163. Surprise Birthday party for me! @ Liss's House (4/13/01) Folly, Leftover Crack, Give us Barabbas, The Voicecracks, Sit on it Potsie, It Takes all Kinds, Tommy Lasorda, The Fleshies, Lucas

Well, duh! Barabbas, leftover crack, and most importantly folly playing to just all of my friends after the dumb kids left after LOC. Then stza kicked a hole in the wall, real cool.

191. Hanover House (6/29/01) $8 Bane and we missed or didnt watch the rest of the bands

This show is legendary, but only to davey and I. Bane was supposed to be playing “This Island Earth” Fest this day, but double booked. I decided that I was going to see bane no matter what. Got there at like…830. Bane ended up going on at about 1:30, playing the eeriest set ever. Zach swung his guitar around his neck and the strap came loose and it went flying.

216. Alissa's (8/11/01) $6 BrianSUrvivor GOod Clean Fun, This Day Forward, *Taken*, *The Break*, The Survivors, Oblongata, Folly, Plan of Action

Folly debuted a new song, “Broken”. I really wanted to see this day forward, and they had had a philly show fall through (I didn’t know they were from philly at the time). I told brian to put them on the show, and he told me to get in contact with them. I did, and them and taken ended up on the show. I went to this show after my sister’s wedding. Every band that I saw was good.

267. US Homebase (11/23/01) $10 Converge, American Nightmare, The Hope Conspiracy, The Dedication, Stalemate

Even though I wasn’t into AN anymore and it took them an hour to set up, the rest of the show made up for it. I recall this show being really, really dark.

292. Ethical Humanist Center (1/25/02) $8 From Autumn to Ashes, Most Precious Blood, ETID, On the Might of Princes

No one from this board was at this show. OTMOP was awesome. MPB was awesome. FATA was awesome, LI return home show or something like that. I remember talking to Joe 9 Iron at this show and he was talking about how “That Vicky girl is always following me around.” While I was walking back to my car, I got a call from chris connallon that he and peet Johnson were at my house and where was i? I got home in record time (something like 40 minutes or less), and we all dinered.

304. Krome (2/22/02) Excess dB Thursday, Piebald, MPB, FATA, *The low end theory*

“No stagediving”, the rule was circumvented by erik whaylen quickly. FATA ruled, and played ‘short stories’ for the first time I ever saw it before it was a single on the radio which meant it wasn’t just a bunch of people jumping on stage to crowd the drummer who would sing it then, instead the girl came out and it ruled. MPB also ruled. Thursday was really awesome, and colin and myself also disregarded the no stagediving rule during this side of brightness (definitely a song to stagedive for, really).

410. 113 Louis St. (1/23/03) Homage to Catalonia and the cassettes

Probably not a lot of people remember this show. It was in a living room (or an attic?) everyone had blankets, and it was just really cool. It just sticks out in my mind.

510. CBGBs (10/1/03) $3 Rancid

Rancid. CBGBs. $3. Standing on the box in front of the speaker on the right side of the stage and fingerpointing in Tim (Armstrong AND shaw)’s face the entire time? Yes please. During the last seconds of timebomb, the last song, I jumped off a chair that was on the box, and people actually caught me and held me up. What?

519. Hamilton st. (11/1/03) $8 “7 Seconds” by Scream Hello, “[Early] Black Flag” by Tear It Up, “Minor Threat” by Kill Crush Destroy, “Bad Religion” by The Procedure, *”Bad Brains”* by The Degenerics, “Gorilla Biscuits” by Ensign, *”[Late] Black Flag”* by Tear It Up

Minor Threat by kill crush destroy. The end-all, be-all of cover sets, EVER. I was standing in the back kind of and heard the opening notes of Salad Days, I thought they were still messing around. No. I realized that they were actually opening with it, and freaked out. Awesome set.

542. Ian's House Barley Island (1/17/04) $3 The Fiction Effect, The Little Rascals, A New Enemy

:Originally was at bloomfield ave with: -The Hope Conspiracy-, -a new enemy-, -lords-, -breather resist-

554. Goon Squad (2/21/04) $5 Thumbs Up, Bottom Line, 86 Mentality, Sex Positions, Crime in Stereo, *Kill Crush Destroy*

Both of these shows kind of meld together. A new enemy was awesome, and so was sex posi, 86 mentality, and CIS. This was the first night I saw CIS where I knew the music, and it ruled. They complained about how left turns are illegal in NJ, and I made that crying noise, and a legend was started.

616. Irving Plaza (9/21/04) $45 Green Day

Pay no attention to the ticket price, it was green day, the day their cd was released, at irving plaza, playing the entire record. The stache and I went, along with dave who just went record shopping. This was the craziest I’ve ever seen for a ticket situation, as there was literally NO ONE selling, and ridiculous offers were being thrown out for them: “I’ll give you $200 and the shirt off my back”, “I’ll give you $150 and my shoes”, etc. After all of American Idiot, then they played all the hits I wanted to hear. Some guy in a Tool hat tried to fight me for moshing during Longview, and all I said was “dude, it’s LONGVIEW!” and he backed off. Awesome show.

713. Manasquan Women’s Club (7/23/05) *Go It Alone*, %Allegiance%, %Blue Monday%, Modern Life is War, Kill Your Idols, Forward to Death

Sped here after the avail show at the church in philly, every band we saw was awesome. I think mliw and kyi had the split available early for this show. Also, mliw was playing a bunch off witness since it had just come out. KYI was on point, FTD ruled.

721. Stone Pony (8/21/05) $20 The Loved Ones, Bouncing Souls, Lifetime

Ostracized.

789. Maxwells (4/23/06) $10 *Permanent*, *Pink Razors*, *The Draft*, Avail

Probably the best time I’ve seen Avail. I missed the rest of the show because I was seeing brand new in the city. I heard some people say after this that it was the worst time they had seen avail and that they “[were] done”. Those people shall remain nameless.

825. CBGBs (9/24/06) $10 %Between the Wars%, *band*, *Capital*, None More Black, Grey Area

Probably the first time I saw a lot of people care about None More Black, all the newer songs they played from the second LP were on point. After the show I told Paul they should put out a live record because I felt it really captured the energy of those songs. His response was that they had broken up. Oh, and Grey Area was awesome, but not as awesome as they were when they showed up kid dynamite at cb’s the year before. Ernie even told some of the same stories.

858. 538 Johnson Ave (3/31/07) $5 Paper Dragons, *Mother Night*, *band*, Modern Life is War

This show.

869. Smithtown Masonic Temple (5/13/07) $10 Splitting Headache, %Cranked Up%, *Capital*, %Crime in Stereo% (played ½ song), ---show moved to practice space back lot---, Kill Your Idols (Last show) (Shutdown by police 2x)

Also, this show.

897. Welfare Records (1/4/08) $10 Reprobates, War of Words, Ringers, %Violent Society%, The Pinkerton Thugs


I was so fucking tired at this show. I was literally sleeping inside the show on a couch for like an hour before the first bands, and in between bands, until I was able to snag an awesome balcony-type spot (more lofty than balcony) right before Ringers….who I had never heard and proceeding to be awesome, doing everything how I thought it should sound. Then, the pinkerton thugs went on. I had wanted them to play mostly the new record and definitely the last song on the first. They did exactly that pretty much, closing with that last song ( I believe) and making it simply amazing. Violent Society may or may not have played, if they did they showed up late. I had to get back to NJ to catch a plane in the morning, and most importantly, sleep. I raced home in maybe three or three and a half hours.

924. Safari Sam’s (5/19/08) $12 International Superheroes of Hardcore (first show), New Found Glory

This was like seeing NFG without a bunch of teeny boppers…because it was. Played an actual all-request set. I had an awesome close to the stage high vantage point and kept yelling at chad. Got them to play Vegas….which I have been trying to get them to do for 4 years, after they denied my request of “forget everything”. It was too really really hot in the club and I had to leave where I was to get some air after about ¾ of the set.

927. Alex’s Bar (5/28/08) $20 Girls With Guns, The Mystic Knights of the Cobra, Foxboro Hot Tubs

This show ruled. No tickets, just a mad dash to get on line. Anyone who was there about 30 minutes early got in, I got there like two hours early. Ended up on a couch right in front of the sound booth next to Mike Dirnt’s wife and mother in law. Girls with Guns were terrible two nights earlier, but really really good this night, it was weird. The Mystic Knights of the Cobra were AWESOME/BIZARRE. Really odd, and weird and good. Foxboro, what can I say? Billie Joe literally crowd surfed on a surfboard to the stage, and it was madness the whole night.

#? Reggie’s Rock Club (8/22/08) $? The Repellents, The Chinese Telephones, The Jetty Boys, Ben Weasel and Danny Vapid performing “My Brain Hurts”

Got there a little late, but there was no one there. Saw a space against the stage, and took it. Fought off my hunger (I had only eaten a hot dog at 1030 at the cubs game) and stayed there. Every band got progressively better. Then, after a very long time setting up, the weasel happened. It was magical hearing that record, my favorite (I had said that if sw got back together I wouldn’t go because they probably wouldn’t play any songs I knew since I really only knew that record) for over ten years. Being up front and able to shout and go crazy for it was awesome too.