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Big Takeover 30th Anniversary Festival (Night 1)- Bell House (Brooklyn, NY) - Friday, July 30th, 2010

8 August 2010

We got to the venue around 6 PM and we thought that we would see EDP. However, we found out that they had broken up just days beforehand. This left us with an hour to hang out and reminisce with old friends, some of who we hadn’t seen in years, and new ones who we met for the first time. This was a recurring theme throughout both nights of this weekend extravaganza featuring a once-in-a-lifetime lineup.

The first band that did play was FLOWER. Before watching them play, I only knew them by name, but was intrigued since RICHARD BALUYUT and his brother ED BALUYUT went on to form VERSUS, a band I’ve liked since the early ’90s. Playing their first show in 16 years (!), Flower did not disappoint. Much heavier than Versus, they ironically reminded me more of MISSION OF BURMA (after whom Versus are named) than Versus themselves ever did. Other points of reference may include DINOSAUR JR, SONIC YOUTH, HUSKER DU or even BITCH MAGNET. In fact, just like Bitch Magnet being a precursor to the more well-known SEAM, Flower could be construed as a similar precursor to Versus. In short, they were awesome and they hinted that this reunion may not be a one-off, either. My only complaint about their set is something that hindered the next band (THE LIBERTINES U.S.) as well. The sound mix for their set was absolutely atrocious. This surprised me as I thought that Bell House had a reputation for good sound. Fortunately, this problem would be corrected later.

As for The Libertines U.S., I was really looking forward to their set, especially since they had never played in New York (or anywhere on the East Coast) before and thus I assumed as with some of the other artists playing the festival, this may be my only chance to see them. They performed well, opening with “Voices from the Past” and also performed favorites like “Frosted Glass,” “Something in the Water,” “Everybody Wants to Be My Sister” and the scorching “Bad Memories Burn”. Again, though, I would’ve enjoyed their set A LOT more had their vocals not been completely buried in the mix! The energy of “Bad Memories Burn” and the fact that I was even seeing them all, something I thought would never happen, made up for it, though!

Next up was our own JACK RABID‘s band SPRINGHOUSE. The only band to play both nights, on this night the played songs from their 1st album Land Falls as well as their excellent 2008 effort From Now to OK (still my favorite album of that year). This is because the following evening, they played their second album Postcards from the Arctic in its entirety and thus skipped songs from that album on this night. The sound mix was noticeably improved from the previous two bands and I also really enjoyed hearing Land Falls material like “Layers” and “Alley Park” mixed in with From Now to OK material like “Moving Van” and “Passion”.

VISQUEEN was next and they blew everyone away. Only singer/guitarist RACHEL FLOTARD and bassist CHRISTINA BAUTISTA were constants from the lineup we saw back in May as drummer BEN HOOKER returned to the fold. Additionally, they added cellist BARB HUNTER and though I’ve now seen them play 5 times, this was the only time I can remember them having more than 3 members. The combination really worked, as their indomitable energy combined with the cello flourishes highlighted material and really made songs like “Hand Me Down” (from their most recent album Message to Garcia) and “Manhattan” (from 2004’s Sunset on Dateland) soar. They dedicated the aforementioned “Manhattan” to Jack and even made some new fans, as one person who was standing next to me and had never heard them before remarked about how much she loved them! Fantastic!

Next up were Cerritos, California’s CHANNEL 3. Honestly, they were the biggest surprise of the whole evening for me and I mean that in the best way possible. I’d seen them only once before and that was back in 2005 at one of those star-studded CBGBs “benefit” gigs as they were on the bill with a newly reconstituted 45 GRAVE (with RIKK AGNEW on guitar), DI and THE ADOLESCENTS. Perhaps it was because they were overshadowed by some of the other bands on that bill on that evening, but while I really enjoyed their set that time, I don’t remember them being quite so awesome. They opened their set on this night with “Indian Summer”, a scorching, super-melodic 1984 7” that was also on the BYO compilation Something to Believe In. The other highlight, for me at least, was the awesome “You Make Me Feel Cheap”. Still, they sounded incredible with soaring harmony vocals and melody on top of lightning fast music. Along with other contemporaries like DESCENDENTS, TSOL, BAD RELIGION, AGENT ORANGE and the aforementioned Adolescents and DI, they helped lay the groundwork (for better or worse) for the “melodic hardcore” that would go on to sell millions in the ’90s and since then as well.

As great as Channel 3 were, now it was time for the evening’s headliner, THE AVENGERS. After a rousing introduction from Jack, they ripped into “We Are the One”, their immortal 1st (and only) 7” single during their lifetime and just dominated from that point forward. I was grateful that they played my favorite Avengers song, “Corpus Christi”, along with other all-time classics like “Open Your Eyes” and the ad-lib heavy “I Believe in Me”. They even did the little-played “Money Money” with NICK MARDEN (formerly of New York legends THE STIMULATORS) throwing out dollar bills onto the stage. Of the now 4 times I’ve seen the reconstituted lineup of The Avengers, this may have been the best. Original guitarist GREG INGRAHAM still plays his guitar like JAMES WILLIAMSON on speed and singer PENELOPE HOUSTON still sounds great after all these years as well. It was also great to see current bassist JOEL READER and Penelope get on so well on stage, as they have their moves down pat. The thrill that they get from playing with each other and the sheer amount of fun they were having was quite obvious. This was a celebration and everybody had a blast! I couldn’t think of a better way to end the evening, but now it was time to get some rest and get ready for the 2nd night!

The photos of Flower and The Libertines U.S. were taken by ELIZABETH KLISIEWICZ and are used with permission. You can see more of her photos here.

The photo of Channel 3 was taken by ANNE LEAVITT-GRUBERGER.