Notes from the Emo School of Rock
Posted By Phil on August 5, 2008
What do a guy eating a lighted cigarette, a guy playing a piano with his butt, and a guy climbing to the second story of a theater before swinging across the rafters and then dropping two stories from that point have in common? They were all sights witnessed by yours truly at a concert Monday night.
The first two guys were both of Foxy Shazam fame. The former is the lead singer, who, besides singing, also danced, did push-ups, jumped on the guitarist’s shoulders, did handstands (see above photo), did The Worm and a number of other odd dance moves, and more. The latter was the keyboardist, who appeared to have a beard similar to Chasidic Jews, only with the hair on his chin trimmed much shorter than his chops. I could barely make sense of any of the band’s music, but they were quite the sight to see. Figures I’d love them, and highly recommend that if you ever have the chance to see them, GO. They’re one of a kind.
My primary reason to go to the show was to see Scary Kids Scaring Kids, one of my current favorite bands. As of last night, I’ve now seen them live three times, and they get better every time. The keyboardist is the third character mentioned above. Towards the end of their set, he climbed to the rafters, swung around a bit, then dropped two stores into the waiting crowd below. Yes, he’s insane. Yes, the band is crazy. And holy crap, do I love them.
The only downside to the show, as usual, is that it’s kind of a drag to love punk rock when you’re 24. That in itself isn’t bad; what sucks is that there’s 13-16 year olds EVERYWHERE. They like to stand around outside and smoke cigarettes and wear black and hate the world. And sometimes, you encounter kids who double-date and make out with their dates RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, for the entire duration of the last band’s hour-long set. Which is why I Twittered the following at 10:08pm, in the middle of the show:
“Very tempted to throw the people sucking face next to me into the mosh pit.”
Fortunately, shortly afterward, the mosh pit came our way and took care of that little problem for me. Who would have thought relief would come in the form of an angry circle of morons pushing each other around?
Eating a lit cigarette?? I’m gagging at the thought!
Sad fact is that in the punk world, anyone over 20 is old… unless you’re on stage jamming away, then you’re immortal.
dude, he ate a lit cigarette?! effin GROSS.
I know! As if eating an unlit cigarette isn’t gross enough as it is. The security guy attempted to take the cigarette away (the place is non-smoking), and the guy ate it before he could grab it. Major ewww.
haha I love punk rock, but sometimes i actually avoid the crowds at gigs because they are teenaged emos.
I would love to see Scary Kids Scaring Kids! The other band sounds nuts!!!
Hmm. Sounds wild/interesting. I would have wanted to hit those kids making out in front of me. It’s just gross having to deal with that in a public place.
Glad to hear you had a good time at the show. I would have thrown the ‘kiddies’ into the mosh pit and made it look like an accident.
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I think all kids sucking face at a concert should be thrown into the mosh pit. You find the most interesting bands, Phil, it’s awesome