If the east coast vs. west coast debate ever comes to a tiebreaker, I’m pretty sure the number of incredible week long hardcore tours the east coast gets in comparison to the west coast will nudge us up over the top. Last night was a perfect example of just such a tour as Surroundings, I Rise, Meltdown, Wake Up Call, and the almighty Bane took the Ottobar stage as the perfect remedy to a serious case of the Mondays.

So I hate to admit this but I’ve become someone I said I’d never be - I’m the guy who’s “too cool for the opening bands”. I missed my buddies Gavin and Joe in Surroundings for the umpteenth time, and caught only the tail end of I Rise finishing off their set. It was barely enough to pass any sort of judgement, but what I heard sounded dope. The band is definitely in the vein of the newly reformed 108, and I would recommend their heavy and fast, more hardcore, less metal sound to fans of the new Blacklisted album.

I stuck around downstairs to check out Meltdown tear through their Cro Mags influenced set. Personally, I can’t get quite as excited about this thrashier metallic style of hardcore when played live and that seemed to be the case for the rest of the crowd as well. Despite giving it everything they had, the band struggled to get much of a response on the floor. Listening to their jams at home, it’s clear these guys know what they’re doing, I think it’s just not a style that always translates well into a live setting. Next up was Wake Up Call, but unfortunately I was upstairs doing what I feel like I’ve done for the past week - discussing the minutiae of both Iron Man and GTA IV. I’m really looking forward to checking the band out down the line though, but sometimes you just have to be a nerd with your friends at the bar.

Finally the moment everyone had been anticipating as the boys in Bane took the stage. I can’t think of many bands that have influenced and inspired me quite as much as Bane. Opening with Pot Committed, it was on from the start. What was previously an apathetic audience of crossed arm cool guys quickly transformed into a pot boiling over with bodies leaping on and off stage and a backing chorus that supported singer Aaron Bedard throughout the set. As the set rolled into the classic Superhero, I found myself thinking how grateful I am for bands like Bane who don’t let their egos outgrow their back catalog. Instead, it almost always seems that the band favors older jams like Count Me Out, Ante Up, and What Makes Us Strong to “pushing the product” off their most recent 2005 album The Note. The crowd certainly welcomed the setlist and guitarist Zach Jordan even remarked that this was the most fun the band ever had in Baltimore. What was especially awesome was seeing the number of girls taking no prisoners in the pit and diving off the stage. Hardcore is plagued by macho insecurities which normally don’t allow for girls to take part. Call me a fanboy, but there’s a different attitude in the air when it’s a Bane show. Bedard commands the respect of those around him and notoriously discourages the kind of dancing that turns into some weird competition to see who is the toughest dude in the room. As the set came to a close with Swan Song, I walked away soaked in sweat, some blood, and with a few more bruises than I came with, but wouldn’t trade any of that for the experience of having seen Bane yet again. There’s a few more dates on this tour, so check their website for dates.

All the photos of Bane above are from the Ottobar show courtesy of Ann Gav’s Flickr.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 1:25 am and is filed under Music, Lifestyle Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.