Live Review: Every Time I Die, Turnstile, Angel Du$t & Vein @ Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA (11/12/18)
The 20 Years of Bullshit Tour. Give yourself a moment and take in that line-up one more time. Every Time I Die. Turnstile. Angel Du$t. Vein. Hardcore legends celebratong 20 years as a band supported by several up and comers doing very exciting things with the genre. Luckily, for me at least, the stars had aligned and it just so happened that I was going to be in Philadelphia just at the right time and, of course, I jumped at the chance to go along.
I'll have to admit that for me the main draw for this gig was the chance to see Turnstile who, quite frankly, I've been losing my shit over all year following the release of their album Time & Space. You can read what I thought of that album right here but this band are adding fun and bounce into hardcore in such a refreshing and addictive way that they deserve to be nothing other than massive. If you haven't seen or heard anything about Turnstile, genuinely what are you playing at?
Despite my over excitement and bias for seeing Turnstile I was still stoked to see the rest of the bands. I own two Every Time I Die Albums (a real afficionado I know): Hot Damn! and The Big Dirty and they fucking slam so I knew there'd be massive riffs and uncompromising brutality and that they would be even more up for it than usual because of their anniversary. They're due an album in 2019 so it's an exciting time to get back up to speed with them.
Angel Du$t, in a similar way to Turnstile, are pulling aspects of alternative rock, punk rock and pop punk into hardcore in a really exciting way and their last record Rock The Fuck On Forever (how's that for an album title?) is a lot of fun. Their recent 2 tack EP was a bit of a softer left turn but hopefully we'll see something special coming from them in 2019 as they've just signed to a huge label in Roadrunner Records.
Vein are another band who have been smashing it this year with their debut album Errorzone appearing on practically everyone's end of year lists and it's hard to argue with their ferocious energy and unique mix of nu metal bounce and hardcore crunch. Their debut isn't perfect but it shows the promise of a band who will go on to produce some seriously good music.
Judging by the bands on offer it's fairly obvious that I was in for a night of very fast, very furious and very loud music but before I get into all that I want to talk a little bit about the venue; Union Transfer.
Union Transfer was originally opened as a farmers market in 1889 and has gone through many incarnations over the years before being reborn as a music venue. Inside it's all exposed beams, polished wood and antique lighting fixtures. It's really a sight to behold. Through the back there's a bar (where you can grab yourself a delicious can of Down East Cider at a not so delicious price of $8) with a set of stairs leading to a mezzanine level, featuring another bar, which then leads to the balcony overlooking the stage and main hall. Towards the back of the main hall there is a third bar. It's relatively big with a capacity of 1,200 but it's quite compact with good views of the stage from all vantage points. All in a all it's a great venue.
For the first band, Vein, I found myself a cheeky spot on the balcony off to the right hand side near the back. At this point the venue was fairly sparsely populated but there were a good few up front and at the periphery of the main hall. Vein came on and immediately exploded with snarling venom and fury and the main floor became a savage pit of deadly spin kicks and whirling fists. This is why I chose the balcony: A) To get a good view of the action and B) Avoid the bruises and black eyes. They are a band that don't just play their instruments, they punish them and this makes them fantastic to watch as well as listen to. They also didn't bother to address the crowd and just let the music do all the talking. I quite like it when bands do this as crowd interaction can sometimes feel forced and lame. There was crowd interaction in a different sense with the lead singer handing the mic to the crowd and getting his shirt half ripped off for the pleasure. Hardcore crowds are nuts! Overall Vein played a great set complete with the weird samples and effects present on the album. The break beats and rolling bending guitars of Virus:Vibrance (which they saved for near the end) and the more melodic elements of album title track Errorzone were real standouts. If you want an idea of what Vein are like live then check out their Audiotree set.
After a short break, a chance to grab another Down East, Angel Du$t came on. After the fury of Vein they brought a more danceable and melodic tinge to preceedings and knowing there would be less punches to dodge, I secured a spot on the main floor right in amongst it. Well...as in amongst it as I can handle...so actually quite near the back. Angel Du$t are just a fun band who play fast-paced hardcore-tinged punk rock. It's all downtuned and fuzzed up riffs and guaranteed to get you moving. During their set the crowd was going mental, taking shots of the mic with tonnes of crowd surfing and general friendly chaos. Songs like Toxic Boombox and the sub 2-min mayhem of Somebody Else (a couple of favourites of mine) went down an absolute treat. Make sure you check out Rock The Fuck On Forever and keep an eye out for Angel Du$t in 2019.
Now for the moment I'd been salivating over for months; Turnstile. I was feeling braver (aka boozy) so edged a little closer to the middle for a better view. By this point the room was fairly packed but I was still able to get a decent spot without too much trouble. As the band hit the stage the lead singer gave a cheerful wave to the crowd, a warm quirk that he would repeat throughout the set. They then blew through a bunch of songs from Time & Space and Nonstop Feeling including the absolute rager that is Big Smile, track of the year contender Generator, the thunderous Out of Rage, Gravity with its bouncy punk rock chorus and the unforgettable I Don't Wanna Be Blind before finishing on Moon with its poppy drums and clean vocals (a song which should have real mainstream appeal). The riffs and drums and rythmns to these songs are just impossible to stay still to and the energy that the band perform with is effortlessly transferred to the audience. I remember at one point just watching the bassist jumping around and I couldn't help but have a massive goofy grin on my face while someone wearing a bmx helmet (safety first) crowd surfed off to my right. They put on a fantastic show. The lead singer also has a unique dancing style where he wriggles, gyrates and bounces around like a demented popstar. Give Time & Space a listen and if you like what you hear get out there and see them live.
Time for the main event. You know it's the main event where the whole place is completely full, elbow to elbow. Did I mention this was a SOLD OUT gig? I decided to retreat a little because I figured I'd get smashed in the frenzy...or my glasses would and you can't crawl around on the venue floor like Velma Dinkley looking for your glasses while ETID are on stage and 1000 people are bouncing on your back. So, anyway, I got a decent spot just in front of the back bar and the band came on immediately launching into two or three ragers making me glad I'd taken a step back. The band then discussed their 20 year anniversary and that tonight they were going to play at least one song from each of their eight studio albums. Having only heard two of those albums I was worried I might not get so much out of their set but each song they played was an absolute monster and the crowd went mad singing the choruses which really was a great experience. The lead singer even said "sing along if you know the words and if you don't, just pretend you do" which is a great way to make people feel included. I even got to sing along to We'rewolf (the lead guitar on the final minute of that song is fucking addictive) and roar along to Floater. Every song they played was utterly brutal with huge riffs, deafening screams and seriously catchy grooves. They may be a heavy band but you can definitely dance to these songs. Highlights for me were Roman Holiday, a slow and dirty groovemonster, Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space a savage face shredder and contender for best title ever and Moor, a slow burning, howling, pounding, grinding beast. This is all before they played anything from their latest record Low Teens but they closed out the set with four furious tracks ending on the stupidly great Map Change. All in all it was a great set and consequently I now have Low Teens on heavy rotation.
So that was my experience of the 20 Years of Bullshit Tour at Union Transfer and I hope that off the back of this review you decide to check out some of these bands you've not heard of or encourage you to get back into an old favourite you'd forgotten about. All of these bands are great live so please get out there and support them.
If you enjoyed this article make sure check out some of my other live reviews.
Peace out.
