Lineup: Converge/Infest/Wound Man/Burden/Peace Test
Venue: Hardcore Stadium
Note: Infest was the headliner, but I left before they played.
Peace Test: Arrived late and missed their set.
Burden: This was my first time at the legendary Hardcore Stadium, so I had to do some exploring upon arriving. For those who have never there before, Hardcore Stadium is a functioning Elks Lodge that just happens to host shows from time to time. There's members working the door, musty odors protruding from every corner, ceiling fans that may or may not be functional and a bathroom, while surprisingly clean, that looks like it was thrown together by a mediocre, likely intoxicated handyman sometime in the 1950's. It's a DIY paradise and I'm disappointed that it took me so long to attend a show here.
As a result of being sucked into the glorious tacky ambiance and out-of-market baseball games being shown on the TV's in the basement area, I didn't get back upstairs until Burden was just about done playing. From what I saw, they reminded me of some of the old-school punk bands you'd come across on the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater soundtrack. While those songs made for cool, appropriate background noise for a vert ramp shred sash, I never felt compelled to jam them outside of the game. I'll never hate on an act that's spirited and can generate positive energy from a crowd, but there was nothing about Burden's music that I found to be above average.
Wound Man: Holy hell, what a powerviolence band Wound Man is. The balance between grind chaos and gloomy, mid-paced sludge was as clean as I've ever heard in the genre and their vocalist was an intense lunatic who performed just about every song in the middle of the pit. If their studio material comes anywhere close to resembling the freight turn of fury that was their live show, I'm going to become a huge Wound Man fan in no time at all.
Converge: Reliability is something that shouldn't be taken for granted-especially with live music. Not only is a group of musicians being able to bring it every time they take the stage a very impressive feat, it also provides the comforting luxury of piece of mind that your money is being well spent when you go see one of their shows. Metalcore pioneers Converge are flagship members of this special club.
The 50 minutes they were on stage played out like a tutorial on how to make playing extreme music look like the easiest thing in the world. They carry themselves with an easy yet not overbearing confidence, never miss a note and know how to craft a setlist that matches the tone of the bands they're sharing the stage with (in this case, it was a heavy dose of their heavier, spazzier material). Their universal prowess becomes even more jaw-dropping when you consider that most of the band is in there early-to-mid 40's (drummer Ben Koller is the young buck at age 39) and playing super technical music full of frequent, rapid tempo changes. Part of me wishes things got a bit rowdier than they did considering the space they were playing in, but it was still really cool to see them return to their roots in such a lowkey venue and with their 30th (!) anniversary as a band coming next year, hopefully they'll do some more intimate hometown shows like this.
Grades:
Burden: C
Wound Man: B+
Converge: A-
Setlist:
Converge:
A Single Tear
Dark Horse
Aimless Arrow
Under Duress
Forsaken
Reap What You Sow
Cutter
Glacial Pace
Sadness Comes Home
Runaway
All We Love We Leave Behind
Eagles Become Vultures
Concubine
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