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Gorilla Biscuits, Waterdown, Birds Of A Feather
5/9/07 - Melkweg, Amsterdam It was Wednesday night but it felt like a Saturday night. It was September 2007 but it felt like the summer of 1990. The club was Melkweg Amsterdam but it could have easily been New York City¢s CBGB¢s. To round off my introduction, this show was historical. The last time the Gorilla Biscuits had played the Melkweg was 20 years ago! I cannot believe how lucky I was to stand there, listening to this band. Without sounding like a dickhead, it was an honour standing in front of one of the most important bands to ever come up in hardcore music. Period. Unfortunately the show “started” when the Gorilla Biscuits appeared on stage. The previous two bands basically had no audience. This is understandable in some ways, cause when you go to such a show you basically just want to hear the biscuits. The first band to play was a Dutch straight edge-(vegan?) hardcore act called Birds X of a feather. They are a new band and therefore weren¢t as tight as I one would expect as most members were pretty old. The lead singer was a supporter of the Krishna Consciousness movement. This was a surprise for me as I have never seen any such members of this religious(?) group. The singer has also played in bands like Mainstrike, No Denial and StrikeFirst to name a few, and is an editor for a Krishna Consciousness magazine. Musically I didn¢t like the band. They played simple old school hardcore. The lineup consisted of 2 guitars that basically played the exact same things. If you like Youth of Today check em out. Respect to the singer who preached about the right things but a bit too much. Second band was Germany¢s Waterdown who played something that sounded like metalcore with exchanging melodic and deep screaming vocals with 2 singers. If you like bad metalcore check them out! Haha! When the first bands finished the Melkweg suddenly flooded with people. I could feel the energy and my heart started beating faster. Suddenly CIV ran onto the stage and the noise was unbearable. The lights went off and you guessed it, the intro for New Direction was heard. Already people were stage diving and moshing. UNBELIEVABLE!. When the drums kicked in approximately 10 people stage dived and a massive pit started. People were stage diving with front flips, karate kicks, handstands, back flips, twists, whatever…fucking crazy. The sound was amazing. Gorilla Biscuits sounded like they had been teleported from the past. Every song had sing alongs as CIV was sharing the microphone and stage diving. Everyone knew the words to the anthems they grew up with. CIV¢s words radiated positivity and inspiration. Cats and dogs was dedicated to all the animal rights supporters in the scene, Hold your ground at all the people who stay true in this world full of shit, Sitting round at home to all the people supporting the scene and not sitting at home. One song was also dedicated to all the ladies in the scene and it was the first time I witnessed around 10 different girls stage-diving one after another. A song was even dedicated to Modest Mouse that was playing next door. Songs about a united scene, no racial hatred, loving your family and friends actually sounded true this time. The show was intense but not violent. It was long but not boring. Bottom line it was simply enjoyable and amazing. Every time someone remained on stage after the end of a song; the biscuits would play a small stage diving tune to assist the divers! I¢m going to sound cliché but fuck its true. Such shows remind us of better days (and not necessarily the old days) of hardcore promoting respect for everyone, having fun, being open minded, making jokes, no macho shit and positivity. Unfortunately such shows are rare these days. When Start Today was played (the last song) the club erupted. What a way to end the show! What a way to start living life again. I would just like to say a big thank you to The Amsterdam Underground Collective for organizing amazing shows. That¢s the spirit folks! Gorilla Biscuits will be playing another show in Holland on the 7th of Oktober in Tilburg. It¢s ironic that on the same day at a different city the legendary Gang Green will be playing!
Report by Max
What do you think about it? Posted by Isaak // IP Address: 89.210.213.115 everyone knows from coast to coast that Max is the best! ha!! excellent bro, great you had such a time there! xXx Posted by Aldohxc // IP Address: 213.140.16.184 Hey Max,good review,i'll see "this band" in ten days and hopefully is gonna be a massacre like it was in Amsterdam. |
