How quickly we forget...

[1322]

I was browsing through some old pictures that I'd put up on my MySpace, and looking at the comments that'd been left, and I saw one from a friend that died during the year. I haven't thought about him in a while. It makes me sad that some things can be so easy to forget.

Jude, I miss you bro.

[1325]

I found my way out...

[0135]

I got called about my car just before I left work on Monday evening, and was told that it wouldn't be ready until tomorrow (which was today). Bad news. That meant that I had to get the bus from town to here again this morning. It wasn't quite as lame as yesterday, but the train from Skerries to the city was straight up terrible.

But I digress. I listened to Turn It Around on the way into town last night to try to get myself psyched for the Comeback Kid show, because I wasn't really feeling it. To my endless surprise, it totally worked. The show was unbelievable. Including the support bands, there was probably about 220 people there. The atmosphere was as good as Another Breath around this time last year, and that's saying a lot.

Ghundi from Galway opened the gig up. I picked up their CD when I was in Galway last, and thought it was pretty good, but I was (correctly) informed that it was a lot better live. The crows was still a little sparse at this time, so it wasn't too packed, but it left plenty of room for the singer to jump off the stage and run around the audience, singing.

Real Talk! were up next. I like these guys, and they get better and better with each show. They played a new song, that I was later told they fucked up (I didn't notice), as well as the songs off their demo. It's full of little anthemic gang vocals that get people pumped. Iano and I managed to shout 'Irish Gee' into the mic at the appropriate moment, which pleased me greatly. There was plenty of indian noises and a massive 'Milton!' shout out during the lead out from the last song. Good times.

The next band, Find A Way haven't played a gig in a good few months. Most of the members play in other hardworking Dublin bands, not least of all the frontman, Zach Golden, who's easily one of the most likable dudes there is. They're a pop punk band, and while this would normally put me off straight away, Zach's vocals aren't the usual american-aping nasal whine that makes me turn my ears off. The crowd got well behind them, and with good reason.

First Death very recently returned from a two week slew of shows in the UK and it's like they came back a different band. They sounded huge and showed an unbelievable amount of energy, especially from the vocalist Chris, who bounded about the place screaming wildly. I've seen First Death a whole bunch of times, and this was easily the best. My highlight was definitely Yo Drama!, from their new (currently MIA) EP 'Ausgang City', even though it was missing the Cowboys From Hell intro. The song started. The place went mental. Awesome.

Comeback Kid were nothing less than amazing. While I'm not the biggest fan, especially of their latest album, their earlier stuff has the potential to make me lose it completely. They played a decently long set, with songs from each of their records. My highlight was definitely Step Ahead, which was pretty much the only song that I wanted to hear, but wasn't sure they'd play, and it set me off. They finished up, unsurprisingly, with Wake The Dead and everyone went crazy. It was the biggest singalong I've ever seen, with what seemed like constant stage dives. Video here. A perfect end, pretty much.

This show was a testament to the state of Dublin hardcore, with great bands, massive crowd participation, everyone having a good time all without pointless fighting or jerks being the toughest guy in the pit.

Definitely one of the best nights of the whole year, only improved by Laura driving me home so I didn't have to sit on the bus.

If that didn't have me in enough of a good mood, I got a call about noon telling me that my car was ready to be collected and that is was only going to cost ²/₃ of what the full price quote was. I'm not stoked on having to pay money, but having to pay less money is always good.

* all pics taken by Jessebash

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Bands I'm listening to that you should also be the one that's listening to:

• Trapped Under Ice
  

[0225]

Shaved heads and bushy beards...

[1628]

I've had a reasonably eventful couple of weeks, but I'm only going to be updating on today.

Because my car is off the road, I had to suffer public transport from Skerries to my job, which is just outside Mulhuddart. Driving this would normally take between 40 and 50 minutes, but it took 2 hours and 8 minutes from when my train left the station in Skerries.

I was going to listen to Comeback Kid on the way, because they're playing tonight in Eamonn Doran's, but I thought better of it and listened to everything that I have by Blacklisted, which is quite a lot. It made the journey more bearable, but only just.

I'm expecting a call at any minute to tell me that my car is fixed.

Panic are still better than whatever band you're listening to.

[1639]