Here is a run down of what I saw with some brief reactions....

First off, the crowd was a mix of postcard punk type kids, older people that had actually been to the A7, skinheads, and dude in an awesome "USA for MOD" shirt, and a handful of youth crew kids (I saw a Wide Awake skiz shirt and a TFS hoodie).

There were three stages, with most of the big names on the main floor. I pretty much just stayed at stage #1 on the main floor because I didn't want to chance missing any of the main bands I went there for. The show surprising ran on time!

Fatal Rage - Never heard this band before but they were pretty good.

76% Uncertain - I will admit that I had not heard too much of this band before this set but these guys fucking owned it. They sounded pretty tight and they looked like they were having fun. I believe they played some songs that weren't 76 songs as well (Reflex From Pain maybe? I can't remember).

Payload - Another band I had not heard of before but I enjoyed them a lot.

Jerry's Kids - Unfortunately did not play. The singer of Payload said that they were planning on doing a make up show in the city soon.

At this point this older dude came up to me and asked to see my hand stamp. I showed him and he started drawing the mirror image of one on his left palm. He told me that he used to draw all of the hand stamps on back in the day and sneak into shows at Avenue A and other clubs around the city. When he was done drawing the hand-stamp design, he licked his palm and pressed it onto the top of his right fist and he instantly got a hand stamp that looked better than my legit one! haha...

Antidote - Even though the "Thou Shalt Not Kill" 7in is one of my favorite NYC records (I haven't heard "Return to Burn" and don't plan on it, sorry) remember reading about how they had played a reunion in the late 90s and that it was terrible so I was not expecting much, especially when the singer came out on stage wearing a Run DMC kind of hat and a huge Derek Jeter jersey. However, people were starting to flood into the room and you could tell there was a lot of excitement and anticipation in the room. After a few minutes of set up the singer grabbed the mic and said something to the effect of, "alright, we're gonna play hard and we're gonna play fast and it's not going to last too long." They went into one of the songs off of the 7in (sorry, I was so stoked at this point I can't remember much...perhaps it was "got me on the line" into "Nazi Youth"?) and everyone went nuts! Stage dives, sing alongs...the works. The blasted through a bunch of the other 7in songs and also played some High and Mighty stuff which I had never heard but thought was pretty good. They also played a song about the Road Warrior which was pretty goofy. This was a dip in the set but immediately afterward the singer said "I told you we were gonna play hard and fast...alright, we're gonna close it with "Real Deal", "Something Must Be Done" and "Foreign Job Lot") Needless to say, the crowd went appropriately insane. I think that the band could have been tighter, but much of that was probably due to the fact that people were crowding the stage (way too much of this). I want to say that the singer was the singer from "Return to Burn" but I am not sure...but he sounded pretty close to the record in my opinion.

Pure Hell - appropriately named band.

Ism - I really did not enjoy this band AT ALL.

Urban Waste - definitely a band I was looking forward to and probably one of the most disappointing live bands I have ever seen. The band looked liquored up, they couldn't play their instruments and it didn't help that the sound mix was terrible, the singer sounded like he was giving it no effort, and their stage banter was retarded ("This song is about being an American. I'm an American, you're an American...we don't know what Obama is yet.") I tried to get into the classic songs, but I couldn't even pretend because it was so fucking bad. I literally was just shaking my head the entire time and wishing that they would get off the stage.

After URBAN WASTE played I was pretty fucking down on the show despite the awesome Antidote set. The only other band playing that I really wanted to see was THE ABUSED and I was afraid that, like Urban Waste, my opinion of a formally great and amazing band would be tarnished forever. Boy was I wrong...

THE ABUSED - just before the Abused set my friend Owen, who absolutely loves the Abused as much as anyone, said, "man, I hope they play War Games". A moment later the band stepped on stage and the band went right into "War Games". They sounded tight and heavy. The singer was a big guy and he screamed his fucking head off and still sounded just like the record. They played a bunch of songs, including "Blow Your Brains" out three times just so the crowd could participate in the sing along. They even played a song that they never recorded called "Friend or Foe" which was a departure from the other Abused material but still a pretty good song. I think the song lasted fairly long, maybe two or three minutes with a lot of soloing, but it seems like the singer might have forgotten a lot of the words (he did write them 25 years ago!) so perhaps the band was just jamming. The singer had some pretty funny stage banter and it was obvious that the band had practiced a lot before the show. Unfortunately, there were only about half as many people in the room as when Antidote or Urban Waste played and the crowd wasn't as excited or into it, although several Livewire posters, including myself )(I was wearing a white Unity hoodie) were right up front enjoying every second of it.

At this point all of my friends and I were pretty fucking beat from having walked around the city all day. I knew it was supposed to start snowing and we had to drive back to North Eastern Connecticut so we decided to go, although we would have liked to have seen a few of the other bands (did anyone catch REAGAN YOUTH?)

The Antidote set was awesome, but I would have to say that, for me personally, The Abused stole the show.

Also, based on last night's performance, I think Urban Waste should never, ever play again.

Saturday December 6th, 2008, Complete Control NYC & Guillotine present One Big Crowd: A tribute to the legendary A7 club @ The Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, NYC

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it to the show so I did not have an advance ticket or plans. I woke up on Saturday and decided that I wanted to go, but couldn't find anyone to go with me, so I got in the car solo at around 2:20 pm and heading to NYC. Drove straight to the Knitting Factory arriving at around 4:00 pm. Looped around the club once and got a primo parking space one block down on Leonard Street. Walked into the club which had some art fair or something going on, went to the box office and bought a ticket. The dude only charged me $25.00, so I guess that 2 hours before show time was still considered in advance. I asked him how may tickets were sold and what the capacity was and he said the place held around 600 and there were around 100 tickets unsold.

I left the club and started my walk to VP2. Called Biv on the way and he said that he wasn't going to be able to make it to the show. Got to VP2, which I haven't eaten at in like a year, so I was pretty psyched. I ordered my favorite and staple meal, General Tso's Supreme Chicken! When it arrived, it was all different than it used to be for the past 20 years. No more cashews, a lot of mushrooms, some celery, peppers and carrots and the way the wheat gluten was prepared was totally different... It just didn't have the same texture as it used to. For years I would tell people that this meal was orgasmic to my taste buds and now it was barely mentionable. I started to wonder if this was setting the tone for the night and if the show was going to be as mediocre as my dinner.

I walked to Generation Records real quick on my way back to the Knitting Factory to take a quick look around for like 10 minutes and got back to the club by 6:10. There was a decent size line down the side walk so I got in it. Was an interesting mix of older dudes and really young punk kids, but no one that I recognized. Got into the club and they hand you a program for the show, which lists the bands, what stage they are on and what approximate time they are scheduled to play. I see that Fatal Rage is on the main stage at 6:30 so I find that stage and catch their entire set, which I thought was pretty solid. As they are playing I run into all of the 76% Uncertain guys, who are up next doing an entire CIA set. I got to the front row up against the stage for CIA and they killed it! The entire God, Guts, Guns 7" and Blackout (76% Uncertain). They plan on playing a few more shows doing the CIA set, most likely in CT in the spring of 2009.

Next up was supposed to be Jerry's Kids, but they canceled and Antidote's time was moved up to 8:00. This is when I started to realize that the program in my pocket was useless and I had to constantly walk to the entranceway to see the schedule that was hanging on the wall. I ran into Mike from Welfare Records who was selling merch and was psyched to get copies of the PTL Klub and Psycho cds for air play on the radio show. I bought a t-shirt of the show flyer which has all of the bands listed on it which I thought was pretty cool. I also bought a 76% Uncertain "Estimated Monkey Time" shirt that Bones told me someone in Italy made a batch of and I got a CIA God, Guts, Guns shirt as well. Ran into my friend Alicia, talked a while and then realized that Antidote are going on soon and I don't want to be carrying all of this shit around, so I went to the car, put the stuff in the trunk and headed back for Antidote. The room was packed wall to wall and I could feel it in my bones that shit was going to be insane, so I hung in the back with Al from the Pist and Rich Stremme from the Deacons. Right before the band started Mark Ryan comes walking up and hangs out. Antidote start and I get chills down my entire body and my jaw drops as I watch in awe. They were tight as hell and the room was going berserk... kids were diving off of the balcony, it was shear mayhem and I loved every second of it!

Now this is the part of the evening where I had the dilemma of two bands that I wanted to see playing at the same time and honestly this is the only negative thing that I have to say about the show. There were three stages going pretty much non stop, so bands were playing at the same time. I left the main stage to head to the basement to see Lost Generation, meaning that I would be missing Pure Hell. Lost Gen were great and I am glad that I saw the set. Also, while in the basement I noticed that the Blackout Shoppers were playing and these guys have been emailing with me for the past few years and sending me their stuff to play on the radio show, so I wanted to meet them and try to check out their set. They hooked me up with a copy of their brand new cd called "Pass Out" and said that they were on at 10 past Midnight, so I was going to try and check them out. Back to the main stage, where I was able to catch the last 2 songs of the Pure Hell set. I LOVE the cd, but these songs weren't doing it for me, so I was glad that I decided to not miss Lost Generation's set.

The crowd cleared out after Pure Hell and that's when I headed up to the front row for ISM! This band is/was not very loved and I never understood why, because I have always loved them and was truly excited for their set. I was joined once again by Al from the Pist and Rich Stremme from the Deacons, who were the other rare ones excited to see ISM! They were tight and played all of the songs that I wanted to hear! I was more than happy!

Next up was Urban Waste and Mark Ryan kept telling me how he promised himself not to go into the pit, but knew that he was going to lose it once they started playing. He showed me some cool pics on his iphone of him and Matt Dylan from 1982, hahaha! He also told me that the Urban Waste bass played had died, but the rest of the band was all original guys. They start playing and there goes Mark into the pit, hahaha. Just like Antidote, the room was packed wall to wall and it was sheer madness. 3/4 of the way through their set the guitar amp crapped out and by this point I was extremely hot and tired, so I headed up to the balcony for the rest of their set. Ran into Alicia again, who was with her husband Torsten who was videotaping the set. Had a very good view from the balcony and was also able to take off my jacket and lean it on a post, so I knew that this was where I was going to be staying for the Abused! I thought that Urban Waste were great and tight, despite a bunch of times when there were so many people on stage that the guitar was getting knocked into and cutting out... same thing happened during Antidote, but that's the magic of a live hardcore show. Sure, we can watch a video after the fact and critique the performance note for note, but you cannot harness the excitement in the air and the magic of being there live.

The Abused! All four original members playing all of their songs live for the 1st time in 25 years. The singer said that their last show was at CB's on Dec 4th, so they were literally playing almost 25 years to the date! They looked a hell of a lot different then they did on the 7", but they killed it! The room wasn't as full as it was for Antidote and Urban Waste and I couldn't understand why... I mean it was packed, but not that wall to wall packed. I loved it and watched with a dumb smile on my face the whole time. I was standing next to Torsten who's video camera has a mega zoom, so it was cool from time to time to look over at what he was filming to see some close ups. Tom Lyle showed up during their set because he was scheduled to DJ, so I had the opportunity for a quick hello!

Next, I went downstairs to find where Major Conflict were playing and I ended up in the basement and caught the entire Blackout Shoppers set. I also caught a chair to sit on, which felt amazing after standing up for like 6 hours straight! The Blackout Shoppers were damn good and kids went sick for them... great set!

I headed back upstairs to see what was going on and found out that Major Conflict had played the main stage and that I missed them... damn! On my way though I saw that Major Conflict were selling t-shirts, so of course I bought one. I also spoke with the guitar player briefly and he said that they are definitely going to be playing a few more shows. At this point there were only a few bands left and I decided to check out the Reagan Youth set. They were damn good and very entertaining and by the end of their set it was 1:50 am and I knew that it was time to start heading out.

I went upstairs and caught one Nihilistics song, said goodbye to whoever I knew and walked back to my car. I was happy to see that it wasn't snowing, since back around 10 pm I noticed some flurries coming down. The section of the street that I parked on was all ripped up due to construction and was closed, so I couldn't get out. I walked down the block, moved some cones and reversed it down a one way street in order to get out. Made it to the FDR which was moving rather nicely until about 2 miles from the Willis Ave Bridge exit where traffic was shut down due to an accident. 1/2 an hour later I made it to the Willis Ave Bridge and got home by 3:45 am.

I saw most of the bands that I wanted to see, but wish that I could have seen Ultraviolence, Butch Lust, Major Conflict, Sux, Waste Management, Government Warning, Psycho and Disgrace! I did not bring my camera because I only have a mediocre point and shoot and I knew that would not have been able to get close enough for good pics of the bands that I would have wanted pics of. I did snag a CIA and Lost Generation set list which I may scan in and host somewhere in the future. Unlike my disappointing dinner, the show was far from disappointing and I am happy that I decided to be a part of it! There was a dude in the front row of the main stage with three cameras hanging around his neck. I know that he got some amazing shots and he said that they would eventually be on the A7 Reunion Myspace page. I am also looking forward to checking out Torsten's video footage... his Absolution reunion footage was amazing and I am sure that he got some great shots!

-Jeff Terranova

mindhárom video alapján egy nagy kalap szar lehetett ez a buli. a sok balfaszt a színpadról meg le kellett volna rugdosni, hogy hagyják zenélni a bandákat, ne húzogassanak ki kábeleket stb.
egyáltalán nem bánom, hogy nem voltam ott.

Hát haver...én csak az Urban Waste-n látom hogy valami nem stimm. Én azért igen sokat adtam volna hogy ott legyek.

around 8, and we're rollin' 6 deep.. and Payload was finishing up. They sounded pretty good, but the FU's are one of my all time favorites so take it with a grain of salt. Please no more We're an American Band cover...they need to retire that fuckin' song from music in general!

So i get to now roam around and see who's there. I gotta say, i was shocked at the under 30 Crowd. It was easily 50/50 under/over 30...and some serious underage faces. So as i slowly make my way to what would be the merch section, eyes lock with Tony Ultra Violence/T-Shirt. We shake, say "Long Time..How are ya...this is weird" etc..etc. He leans over and whispers and says I bet kids here think I'm a doctor..and rubs his leather jacket(not a Quincy Punk leather jacket..an Adult one.) He shows me all the shirts that were made up with his old designs..A7..Ultra Violence. The place is fucking hot..already..and it's not even that packed yet.

So i get word that Jerry's Kids is outski..so Antidote is up. I've never seen one good Antidote show before, i wasn't expecting much. They've been horrible, and Drew is way too obsessed with squeezing The High and Mighty into everything he's associated with. Well..whatever was in the air, set the place off..I mean bodies, were everywhere..faces were blurs..my friends glasses flew off his face..and just by blind luck, somehow, his hand was able to hook it before it was out of his reach. He's very talented..taking pictures, with one hand, and snatching glasses out of the air with the other, all after getting smashed in the kisser. My girlfriend was behind me, choking the bejesus out of me..holding on, cause the crowd, was just overpowering those standing anyone near the middle of the floor. Now here is what I'm gonna say..take from it what you want..call me a dick..call me whatever. THe majority of this crowd..was super young..and i would bet my life had no idea who Antidote was. Lots of young kids climbing on stage to sing along..then not singing the right lyrics..and covering their mouths, in a nervous embarrassed way. I don't have an issue with that really, i just thought..why even bother? I don't know if this was a hardcore tryout...or something like that but it's a waste of everyone's time, and they were taking away from the band, in a major way...gitz problems..just real douche like stuff. Eventually some dude just came up..and started huckin' em all off the stage..it was kind of funny. One of the guys thrown off the stage, was a chubby kid that looked like a punk rock Dennis Blunden from Head of the Class, walked to his friend behind us..and his friend said.."Yo dude are you ok?..and then pointed to me and my friend and said, these guys were goofin' on ya. And he gave me the 1000 yard stare. I laughed. in the end..Antidote was really good..as good as i've ever seen them at least. Lots of energy...short and fast HC.

Breather time..head outside. It's snowing..double fisting smokes..to keep this machine runnin'. I watch as a bouncer fights with a kid..telling him, he's too drunk to come into the show. Not sure what this was about..but it was pretty lame on both parts. It was obvious that both the bouncer and this kid were lightweights..and because the scene was starting to get pissy outside..it was clogging up the doorway. BAM ...no re-entry for the rest of the night. For someone who has developed a slight case of claustrophobia..it was a nightmare.

Get back inside...Pure Hell is on. Very cool band having a very bad night. I think they bought into the hype that they were really "wanted" on this bill. I walked back to the bar where i could still watch them curiously..and carry on a conversation with a non mesh shirted Tommy Rat..and long graying haired Big Al. Pure Hell was on forever..too fucking long a set!

I'm tapped on the shoulder and Tony says..hey were going on early. So I go downstairs. I gather through chat that Violent Society has canceled..so now..on the lower stage..Ultraviolence. Other than taking forever to set up..This was the 2nd best set of the night. The crowd was minimal..nothing like Antidote or Waste.. but musically and vocally the band was pretty much on point with the occasional muff. As the set opened..i saw the eyes roll back in Tony's head..and then give you that "your dead" stare... VERY INTENSE. He always reminded me of a shark when he stared out you..i believe the term is " caught in his dead lights." If you don't know much about the UV they were a very simple band..no crazy message..no deep lyrics..straight ahead in your face shit..you like it..cool..you don't..fuck off! During this set is when i made up my mind that these youngsters..must be here..on a dare or to bolster their scene points by 1000... cause i'd say about 25, 20 and unders were dancing for this band, and i can't imagine even one of them ever heard of them before. Who knowS...just interesting. Oh by the way..Tony's fists...still look like bricks when holding the mic..dude has the biggest fists on the planet. Glad i never had to absorb one of those to the face.

Back upstairs..Urban Waste...shit is crazy packed now..can barely squeeze in. Unfortunately this was the biggest let down of the night. I missed the reunion they did in the early 2's..and my buddy said they were horrible. Either way...the Guitar was fucked from the start. Johnny Waste rules..but the head..or the whatever was busted..and they played through about 7 songs..where you couldn't hear dick from the Gitz. If you thought there were a lot of meatballs hangin' on stage for the 'Dote, the pre pube lot on stage for the Waste was 10 times worse. Boys that looked like they were from California, with really pretty wavy hair, and girls who saw Courtney Hole on Tv..and imitated her look, sat like lumps on the stage..screaming out Punk Rock and Fuck You. When someone finally told Johnny the sound was fucked they made a quick adjustment, and it sounded good....for a second. Then it sorta fell back into where it was again. "Blonde chick punches loverboy in the nose" was the highlight of the set. I think it's time for UW to go away forever..

A girl in front of me finds a wet $10 bill on the floor..her friend finds a $5. Very cute..Jet black hair, pig tails, sling bag..she says, "Cool now i can get a drink"..she looks at me and says.."Will you buy me a beer?", while dangling the 10 in front of me. I look at my buddy..and say..nah this guy is a Jewish Lawyer and advises me against this type of behavior. She looks at him, he's got blood dripping down his nose, from dancing during UW.. she shruggs her shoulders and walks away.

Thankfully the place clears out a bit..and the Abused are up. I'm pretty sure the crowd that was there for the Abused was what i thought the crowd would be like for the entire show. It's definitely a chill atmosphere..not like for Antidote. It's like Haley's comet for everyone there, except for the 20 or so people who saw them 25 years ago. My cousin walked up behind me and put his arm around me, big fucking smile. He'd seen them a few times..and it was the first time in a long time, i felt like a little kid. We just smiled the whole time..They were so good. THe vocals..god damn, they were outstanding..and he was so into it. It's hard to believe that this band that was so brutal then..when they were lil kids could carry over. As close to perfect as the night would get. A real treat and worth the admission..if you paid it.

Major Conflict was up next.. and they played a very short 15 min set, but made it count. Dito did a great job singin'...and Johnny more than made up for his UW performance. By now the crowd really had evaporated..and it was nice to breathe again. They really sounded great with a flub here and there. MC..was always one of those bands you either got it..or you were like who the fuck are these guys? A real strong performance..but the night was starting to take it's toll. They were a victim of bad placement..following the Abused..too tough act to follow. Really great mini set..

Back to the bar for ice and water..and to talk to the Pretty Boy, Ron Rancid. The only singer in NY that ever mattered.(- Paul Bearer)

Well i'm talking about jettin' the place is cleared out..my friend wants to stay for the False Prophets..one of his favorites. I like the False Prophets too..but this was some wacky off shoot. They brought the Mac on stage for a slide show..and the performance art came. I was rollin' with it for 2 min or so..and then got word Virus canceled. I was out!

Good times..good people..weird people. We discussed on the way home, how part of the fun for shows (at least here in NY) was the danger and the idea that the mental patients had taken over the asylum and were now running things. That obviously wasn't there for me anymore..but i could see how some younger kids could still be very into it. An interesting experience..at the very least.

Then as i said before..go about 30 down a hill..hit the ice..hit the breaks..i'm not slowing..SLAM! The mailbox(wooden) is smashed into a million pieces..and straight into this lil shed or something like that..out near the mailbox to hold their garbage. THe car is still running but the tire is rubbing against the mud flap.. either the axle is bent or the alignment really got thrown horribly. I was able to roll home (2 miles away) and call it a night..fuckin' HC/Punk ..always getting me into shit!