Damaged City Fest 4-13-13

Unfortunately, I only got to go on Saturday to this two day event. Smart move to buy a two day pass and not even go on Friday. To make matters worse, on Saturday, I got to the show late because it was such a nice day outside, that every tourist in the world was clogging up the streets of D.C. and causing traffic. By the time I got to the venue, I had already missed the first four bands. Way to go. To my dismay, the Night Birds were one of those bands. My day is getting better and better.

Anyway, Coke Bust is setting up and I'm a happy camper. They came out and kicked ass. I love this band and they never disappoint. They got a great reaction from the crowd and I thoroughly enjoyed their set. Nick Tape tells a story about running into John Stabb at the metro and then calls him up to a do a couple of songs. Stabb goes up and does a Pentagram cover and Teenager In A Box. Good stuff.

Next up was No Tolerance and they were pretty damn good. Lots of energy and the mosh was in full effect. If you haven't gotten your hands on their 7" No Remorse, No Regret, then go get it. It's pretty bad ass. I think these guys have a bright future ahead of them and i'm looking forward to more shows and records.

(Announcement) "We've got a guy here with a dislocated knee. It's popped out of the socket." This was announced while the next band was setting up. Never heard that one before. Clearly, somebody was trying to pull off their best R.G. III impression. (That's Robert Griffin the 3rd, for those of you not into sports, or just living under a rock.)

Anyway, the next band up was Culo. Now let me get this out of the way. The singer is a bit of an attention whore. He was walking around back and forth on the floor before getting up on stage and wearing sun glasses. IN DOORS... Who does that? That's stupid and just screams "look at me!"

Musically, they were ok, but I couldn't get into Corey Hart's vocals. His vocals were bad. Like Brother's Keeper bad. It just didn't work for me and I love grind core and death metal. Despite my opinion about them, people seemed to be really into their sound, so what do I know?

After that set I decided to go get some eats. By the time I got back 86 Mentality were on stage. As it turns out they were the surprise guest of the night. Yippie... This is one band that I just don't get? I've seen them a few times over the years and never been impressed. But people were losing their shit to them.

Finally, Negative Approach! They sounded pretty damn good, BUT, John Brannon should either learn to sing his songs again or hang it up because he sounded lame. You wanna know what he sounds like? Think of the song Hypocrite where he screams "When. Will. It. Ever. Ennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd?" The way he says "End" is the way he sounds like through every song they played that night. I would venture to say that 95% of the words he needed to say sounded like one long growl. Other than that, they sounded good. People were definitely going off for them. Sing alongs drowning him out made it a more enjoyable experience. Not much banter from John, but I guess he was saving his voice for another long growl. Chalk up another legendary band who's front man is the weak link. If you want to hear Negative Approach live, just listen to Total Recall. Brannon actually sang his songs back then.

Lastly, the guys that put this show together should be commended for a job well done. Props to Nick Tape and Chris Moore and anybody else that helped them put this show together. I am bummed that I missed most of this two day event. Hope they do this again in the future.

D.C.S.