United Blood Day 2/Heading to Baltimore

Day 2 of United Blood was pretty fucking awesome. We woke up around 8am or so and a bunch of the dudes from Buffalo went to the pool/hot tub. I decided to show instead. After they came back we decided to head with them to Wawa while Eric and his friend, whose name I just forgot because I tend to forget names real fast but I think it was Alex, stayed in the hotel. At Wawa I got this amazing veggie hoagie and a half gallon of the infamous Wawa iced tea. So we all ate and shit and went to Whole Foods after since a few of the Buffalo dudes have never been to Whole Foods. It was cool there and we went to Trader Joes after since they've never been there either. After some horsing around in there and buying a few goodies we briefly stopped at Petco in hopes to see some cool dogs but there were none but greyhounds so we went back to the hotel. We dropped off our shit and headed to the show. Got to the venue and copped some sweet gear, including some from Flooprunch who had stuff set up for some reason though they didn't play that night. I missed Concrete Reality which was a bummer because I recently met one of the members and I wanted to check them out. Next I think was Harms Way and I missed them because I'm not a super huge fan. The order of the rest of the bands are a bit hazy to me so I'll just talk about the bands I remember seeing and liking. Free Spirit killed it. This was the first time I've seen them outside of Massachusetts so I wasn't sure how wild it would get, but it was easily the best time I've seen them. They covered Slow Down by Youth Of Today and a Rampage cover. They also played the new songs from the upcoming 7" and kids went ballistic. Another honorable set was Fire & Ice. I have their 7" and I was really into it as it reminded me a lot of Leeway. It just so happened that they began their set with GI Joe Headstomp exactly how Sick Of It All did it in their early live shows and I lost it. Fire & Ice all around was pretty impressive to me. The Rival Mob completely killed it as well as it was on of the best Mob set's I've seen. Steel Nation was pretty cool. Mind Eraser sounded evil and it was awesome. Wasted Time also killed it. I went to get Falafel sometime after Mind Eraser and once again lost track of time and missed Foundation, which I was later really bummed about. Also missed Maximum Penalty who was someone I really wanted to see, but as it grew later I was just so tired I didn't want to move or do anything. We headed back to the venue to kinda watch Bracewar, then Blacklisted, then Cold World without Dan singing. Something happened with his kid and he couldn't make it so George from Blacklisted sang a couple songs and a bunch of other dudes sang and their set was ridiculous as hell. Then the moment came for Madball. This would be my first time seeing them and I had no idea what to expect and being the wimp that I am I was in the far back where I had a clear view of the stage and pit. After what seemed like forever they finally got set up to play and I could tell it was gonna be nuts. They started playing and kids went fucking chaotic. Lots of ninjas starting spinning and kicking, lots of pile ons, stage dives, headwalks, singalongs, you name it and it was going on. At one point they played some really old stuff like Get Out and I came out from under the shell and had to join in and it ruled. Then the show ended and we all went outside. I said my goodbyes to those I wouldn't see after that night. Then we went back to the hotel, this time with Dan of Future-Breed photography fame and watched videos of some kid called Tsim Fuckis and went to bed. The next morning the first batch of Buffalo kids whose names me and Easy tried to get down the entire weekend: Brian, Shaun, Arty, Mike left a bit early to Buffalo. We sat around the hotel talking about random hardcore stuff and left around 10. Now I'm on the road with Easy driving and Dan sleeping in the back seat. We're listening to Bound (singer of Kid Dynamite's old band 90s vegan hardcore) as we head to DC to eat at a vegan cafe/restaurant/bakery joint called Sticky Fingers, then the MIndset record release, which should prove to be an awesome show for sure.

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So we ended up going to Sticky Fingers and that place was pretty damn awesome. I bought some Clubwich or something which consisted of vegan bacon, ham, turkey with lettuce, tomato, and veganaise which ruled. I also got a cookie cupcake which was sweet. After that we drove to the show in Baltimore and found a nice parking spot. In the show I saw a bunch of familiar faces. Outlast dudes, my friend Ben from Deleware, Nate from New Jersey, and a bunch of others. Eventually the place got packed which was cool because that venue was probably one of the best venues around. So let's fast forward to the bands. Outlast played first and they ruled. I seriously love those dudes. Next band was Force Fed, another band I love. So fast, so pissed, but it seems there's never kids losing their shit, including me, but my excuse is that I usually need someone to ignite the chaos. I join in shortly after. Thought Crusade is yet another current band I fucking love. It appeared consisted of all my current favorites in hardcore, which is awesome. Rival Mob was after that and they fucking KILLED it. I enjoyed their set here way more than at United Blood. United Blood was chaotic, but I like smaller venues where it's more intimate and there's not a million kids in the way. Then was True Colors, who also had an amazing reaction, especially their ending cover of Straight Ahead where I broke my x swatch, unfortunately. It can easily be fixed so that's cool. Last band was Mindset. Best fucking time I've ever seen them. Place went completely nuts with stage dives, sing alongs, and intense pitting. A light was even broken. They also covered Living A Lie by Side By Side which made my night. All around the show ruled. I met some new people, saw a lot of old friends, saw pretty much every band I'm super into these days, and bought some cool stuff. After the show we decided to go get food instead of watching the 2nd show. We went to Brick Oven Pizza and met up with Bobby, Shana, Claire, Chris, Gaby, Nikki, Cendrowski, and some others. It ruled and we ended the night by almost getting kicked out of the place because they had a jukebox and actually had hardcore bands on it. I guess it was online based. So we played Can We Start Again by Bane, Something More Than Ink by Have Heart and ended it with Firestorm by Earth Crisis in which me, Cendrowski, and Chris Alaska, but Chris lost it and ended up moshing until he got outside. Then we all said our goodbyes and Mike started playing the Firestorm intro by beeping his horn and Chris moshed again, throwing his soda all over the place. Now we're driving back. Me, Puffer, Kara, and Dan and we're chatting it up in the car. Peace!