I had been anticipating this show for weeks beforehand because I've been wanting to see Agent Orange for years and my homies The Coltranes happened to be opening up for them here in town. All the pieces were aligned.
We were all gonna pre-game at Mark's house beforehand but that didn't work out because partying the night before had carried into this Saturday afternoon. I ended up rushing to the Vault from my house worried that I would get there and it be sold out. Luckily that was not the case and I headed in partway through the band Slow Children's set. They were cool, not really anything particularly stand out about them but they were a solid punk band somewhere in-between an old school Cali punk sound like Adolescents and street punk/ska stuff like Operation Ivy or The Unseen or something. They were fun, I liked their set but don't remember anything particular about them. I wouldn't mind seeing again, as I spent most of my time in the mosh pit while they played.
Really that's true about most of the bands tonight; I enjoyed all of them, but I can't really make great distinguishing remarks about them because I was in the circle pit the whole time instead of gallantly watching the performances. But thats a commendment to all of them as well that I wanted to be active during their set, usually if I'm staning around all night that means I'm not feeling any of it.
The Coltranes were next, and since a bunch of my friends who had never seen them were gonna roll out to the show for Agent Orange, I told Spencer to lay it down hard for those who had never seen them yet. While he didn't do anything drastically showy like they sometimes do, they did play an excellent set of songs mainly comprised from their 3rd CD "Chrisbenoit" and some other newer ones. As they started the set Spencer came out looking like a goddamn sleazeball wearing some lounge lizard type shirt and some like bomber glasses smoking a cigarette that he threw into the crowd as he began performing. That was cool. The set was great, the mosh pit never started dying down and it was just a fun performance, as these cats are always prone to deliver.
Next up were The Maxies, a really fun - if a bit derivative - pop punk band, that always put on an excellent live show. In the past they've had bubble machines and crazy amounts of silly string and they always streamer the place up in their signature red and white colors. This time they had a guy in a giant polar bear costume dancing around that just made my goddamn day. If your band has a polar bear dressed up to match your band up on stage dancing up a stage, you're getting an A in my book. There wasn't much of a pit for this band but there was a little space up front where kids were dancing and everybody up there was having a grand ole time. The Maxies aren't the greatest band in the world to listen to but their live show is just so much unadulterated fun that I love seeing them every time.
In between the Maxies and the next band, the old school LA band CH3, me and my crew went out to the car to drink for a minute so we didn't have to come back out before Agent Orange. Therefore we missed a good chunk of CH3's set, probably as much as I missed from Slow Children. To be honest I've never heard even one CH3 song, I know they're one of the Cali punk classics but I've never been able to get ahold of their stuff. So I couldn't tell you what they played but it was all good fast-paced stuff. I feel like I'm in the same boat as alot of the people in terms of not really knowing much about them because the pit was kinda going but not much was really happening if I remember correctly. They were good though.
In between CH3 and Agent Orange, the A/V people for The Vault for some reason decided to play like club techno and dance-pop through the house system. Why they weren't playing some old punk or hardcore to fit the night's sound is beyond me, but I was holding down all sorts of hard up near the stage. I was like the only person dancing in the whole place and I was holding it DOWN. Don't try to front.
Finally it was time for Agent Orange. Their first song was an instrumental, one of many they played that night, showcasing their surf influence before ripping into a long set of every Agent Orange song you've ever heard. The pit was starting to get a bit chaotic for them, oftentimes disintegrating from the classic circle formation into a general pit of swarthing thrash. Like I said with the Slow Children set, I was in that swarthing mass pretty much the entire time, so I can give a real great commentary of when they played what, but I remember getting really excited for "Bloodstains" and "Everything Turns Grey." As a trio the band really did a great job of playing all the songs just the way they are supposed to be played and they had numerous breakdown-into-intrumental songs that made it possible for us in the audience to keep going. I was doing my random lounge dancing for these parts and just generally having a good time. I do remember that they appropriately closed with "The Last Goodbye." They played great and it was a really fun set, I'm glad I was in the pit for it because things were getting wild but not to the point of not being fun anymore. Good stuff.
Me and the friends I was there with bolted pretty much right after, and it wasn't until the next day that I remembered how hard I had been hit at the hardcore show the night before Agent Orange. All night I had been in this damn circle pit while my ribs got demolished just the night before, and Sunday morning I felt it. Shoulda given myself a bit of a rest, but come on it was Agent Orange! Overall the weekend was a success, even if I came away a bit bruised. Them's the ropes.
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