Day 2 of the Salad Days show with Youth Brigade, Government Issue and Scream. I walked into the Black Cat and the place was buzzing with talk about Dag Nasty from the night before. I definitely heard a few responses like " I can't believe I fucking missed that! " and my personal favorite, " I would have taken a kick to the nuts to have been able to score a ticket! "
I walked over to the merch table because there was a shirt I had to have that I forgot to snag the night before. All the bands had merch ranging from shirts to records, but what I wanted to have was the Youth Brigade shirt that was there, practically begging me to trade my hard earned money for it. Mission accomplished.
After a quick stop at the bar to grab a frosty beverage, I go up front to get a spot close to the stage. Youth Brigade was setting up and I didn't know what to expect. The line up consisted of Nathan Strejcek, Bert Quieroz, Danny Ingram and Steve Hansgen. If you know anything about the band, then you know that Steve was not part of the original line up. But, it was cool to see him filling in for them on guitar.
They opened up with a song by the L.A. Youth Brigade as a goof and I was definitely confused for a minute. I was never a fan of theirs and I didn't know what the DC boys were playing, but I overheard somebody saying that it was a song by the L.A. band. After that gag was over, they tore into their jams and I was impressed with how they sounded. Of all the bands that played this weekend, I was more concerned with how this band would sound like. All the other bands have played together over the years in a limited capacity, but Youth Brigade haven't played together in 30 years!
The highlight for them was Nathan asking the crowd if they wanted to hear " Stepping Stone. " This was met with a round of applause and the next thing you know, John Stabb comes out to do some back ups. Alec Mackaye was asked to come up, but he didn't seem into it. After some pleading from Stabb and Nathan, he comes on stage during the song. It was a great sing along for everybody, but Alec Mackaye was acting weird by going up to people in the crowd and putting his hands over people's camera's or putting his hat on them. I didn't get that at all, but whatever. Maybe he's gotten camera shy over the years. They finished up their set to some big applause and I was a happy camper to have seen them play.
Next up was G.I. and their line up was very similar to the line up they had a few years back when they did the Government Re-Issue show. John Stabb, Tom Lyle, with Brian Baker and Colin Sears pulling double duty for the weekend. Stabb, as usual, was making jokes and telling stories through out their set. He came out in a ridiculous diamond studded jean jacket and I had to laugh. The man is highly underrated as a front man in my opinion. He's like the east coast Jello Biafra, in regards to his witty banter in between and during songs.
They busted into " Religous Rip Off " and proceeded to put together a really solid set of songs from Legless Bull, Make An Effort and Boycott Stabb. The crowd gave them a good response and I was impressed with the way Stabb sounds. For an older fella, he's still got the pipes for his songs. They played plenty of songs, but they left me wanting more. Good stuff.
Last but not least for the night was Scream. I'm a hardly a fan of theirs, but I really wanted to see them play. I know they've played out a couple of times over the last couple of years, but this was my first chance to see them. They got a solid response from the crowd and i really enjoyed their set. I enjoyed it so much so, that I downloaded " Still Screaming & This Side Up " on my phone, during their set. I don't know much about this band in terms of band members, but I did recognize three of the guys in the band as original members. I'd like to see them play again after giving their library of tunes another listen.
H.R. makes another appearance! He comes on stage with a huge wig that just looks ridiculously funny. Everybody around me was either giggling or wondering aloud " what the hell is he wearing? " It was as painful to watch as the night before, but it was still entertaining. I can now say that I got to see H.R. during the " crazy era. " Scratched that off my bucket list!
The weekend was pretty damn cool if you ask me. And I wanna give props to everybody that had a hand in putting this together. Well done.
I was looking forward to having some more frosty beverages at a nearby bar before calling it a night. Off I went...
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