~4/22/02-No way, it's another show review! Further Seems Forever, Hot Rod Circuit, Crosstide.~

One day at 3:30 I sat in my car getting ready to head home, and I had Further Seems Forevers “Moon is Down” cd in my cd player. Then I remembered that they were playing in Portland in 4 hours. It takes 3 hours on average to get to Portland from Bend, and I had a full tank of gas, tons of music to listen to, and a spare $20 to buy a ticket and some Taco Bell. Fast Forward 3 hours and I’m at the Meow Meow in Portland waiting for the opening band, Crosstide, to finish setting up their equipment. The crowd for this show was very clean, very polite, and very Christian. Now I have nothing wrong with that, at all. But it cracks me up when I see a clean cut kid wearing a shirt that says “Freak” on the front, and as he passes I notice that back is for the band DC Talk. This might be a good thing, as there were a lot of really nice kids there. I was sitting at one point frowning and writing something down in my little black book, when I felt a light touch on my arm and a cute little girl sez to me “How are you doing?”. A simple act of kindness that actually made my night way better. Whoa, that sure as hells never happened at any punk show I’ve ever been to before. Crosstide started playing, and put on a great show! I’ve heard of these guys before, but never had a chance to hear them play and I was very impressed. They got the crowd going, and seemed super cool. If I hadn’t been saving my last bit of cash for a late dinner I’d have happily picked up one of their cds. (While waiting for Further to set up for their set I got recognized by someone from Redmond, and I even now I can’t remember his name. I’m an utter bastard people. Redmond guy, if you ever read this, email me and make me remember your name.) Further finally got set and started tearing things up. They were incredible. They put a ton of energy into their stuff, and the crowd just ate it up and screamed for more. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I’m going off the assumption that the singer was Jason Gleason, and he kicked fucking ass. Fucking Ass I tell you. Further kicked out a wide variety of songs and really out on an incredible show. Hot Rod Circuit came up next, and I don’t have much to say. They were ok. I’m not a huge fan of their stuff, and even seeing them live didn’t push me to liking it any more. I wish that Further had been the headlining band for this show, and as it seemed like the crowd thinned noticeably after they got done playing I wasn’t the only one.  I left seconds after Hot Rod walked off stage, and it might have been just a break. I’ll never know as I was on my way home. And thank god for Taco Bells that are open 24 hours.