| The
Sweethearts / The Ends / The Briefs
Beerland, Thurs, Dec 4, 2003
Somewhere, the ghosts of punk rock past were stirring and
rattling their chains this brisk, downright nippy evening,
celebrating the strains coming from that little cubby next
to Elysium.
The Sweethearts hit the stage to a near-packed house first,
channeling Poly Styrene and her X-Ray Specs (minus the sax)
far more than they came off like No Doubt (whom I had heard
them referred to and, frankly, I was worried about my tenuous
hold on sanity had that been the case). Instead, they pulled
off a set of extremely catchy but at times abrasive tunes,
encouraging sporadic pogoing through nothing more than musical
suggestion. All this and they’re so damn cute you just
want to pat them on the head. Unless you’re some kind
of creep, but I digress.
At this point I wandered down to Emo’s to see the Krumbums
because I semi-drunkenly told them I would. To do this chronologically,
turn to the Emo’s page.
Walking back in just in time to catch the beginning of the
Ends (sorry, Suicides, two places at once, you know). Fairly
drunk and somewhat distracted by this point, I’m still
not sure if they sounded like a more punk rock Attractions
or if the singer’s Elvis Costello Ray-Bans simply planted
that suggestion in my head. Either way, they were energetic
and left me wanting more.
Last came the Briefs (I feel like I’m describing a game
of strip poker). Hailing from San Francisco, these polka-dot
shirt and skinny tie sporting punk rockers took pogoing to
a whole new level, doing the lion’s share of that particular
movement themselves on stage. If you like the Ruts, the Clash
or the Buzzcocks, you should certainly be kicking yourself
if you missed this show.
Ah, 1977, how you still make your presence felt.
–Trevor
Wallace
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