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Thanks to Roze over at Absolutepunk.net I managed to score a free ticket for this show. Thanks! Free or not I would have done my best to make it to this show, as two of my fave bands were playing, one opening, and the other headlining. This was my first experience with the Nocturnal in Portland and it's not a bad little venue. It's a multi-use location that serves as an art gallery at times as well. I was amazed to see that many pieces of artwork still hung on the walls even though the show was about to start. The crowd was rather small tonight, but the bands didn't seem to notice one bit. Portland locals Thirty3 began the night and put on a great set as always. Vaux was the next band in the line up and I was pleasantly surprised with their live performance. The recorded works I've heard from them weren't exactly the best things ever, rather generic alterna-rock. But seeing them live was a whole different story. They rocked the stage, even if they all did look slightly similar due to having the same haircuts. It was kinda weird seeing an opening band having a better lighting/smoke set up than the headliners however. At any rate they put on a great show. The Hope Conspiracy set up and proceeded to go full throttle through their set. Hardcore fun, but the lead singer was an angry little man. I find it ironic that Boy Sets Fire made several comments about community and unity, but the singer from The Hope Conspiracy would make comments about people in the audience being assholes. I enjoyed watching the hardcore kids dance during THC's set more than I did watching the band. Good stuff, and even though the occasional spinning kick would land on an unsuspecting bystander the kicker would always make the effort to see if the person was ok. That's always nice to see, as the kids in Bend don't do this at all. Boy Sets Fire took the stage and proceeded to blow me away. They worked through a large number of songs from their entire career and presented some great positive commentary between songs. Their brand of political and social themed hardcore has always been a favorite of mine, and I was pleased to finally get the chance to see them live. It was even better to have my expectations for their set not only matched, but exceeded. The crowd during their set all pushed in and sang along with each song, but there was none of the usual lameness from people who were only there to hurt others by jabbing elbows or push others to the ground. They ended their set with what is perhaps my fave BSF song: "Rookie" from the After The Eulogy disk. Excellent way to end the show in my opinion, and an incredible end to a great evening of hardcore.
