Black N Blue Bowl, Brooklyn NY 2009

Matt BOLD in front of the Brooklyn crowd, Photo: Future-Breed.com

Here's a breakdown of the bands I was able to catch at this past weekends 2009 Black N Blue Bowl in Brooklyn New York. Big thanks to Future-Breed.com for the photos that I snagged to dress this piece up. For more photos from all the bands that played, go to Future-Breed.com -Tim DCXX

Due to prior engagements, I wasn't able to make it out to the show until about 7:30 PM and considering the show started at 2:00 PM, it was inevitable that I was going to miss a good chunk of the bands. Not that I was all that familiar with the majority of bands that I was to miss, but I probably would have caught a few of them had I been able to get there earlier.


Kenny Aherns with an Urban Waste sing along, Photo: Future-Breed.com

So the first band I got to see was Urban Waste and I was pretty stoked that I was able to get there in time to catch them. The Urban Waste EP is a classic piece of New York Hardcore vinyl and It's been a favorite of mine for a long time. Line up wise, they had three original members, singer-Kenny Aherns, guitarist-Johnny Waste and drummer-John Dancy and the bassist looked to be a relatively young kid. They opened the set with "Police Brutality" and the crowd got into them from the first note. They sounded great and there was a fair amount of stage dives, sing alongs and dancing, so the combination made it fun to watch.


Jimmy Gestapo with Murphy's Law, Cavity Creeps style, Photo: Future-Breed.com

Murphy's Law went on next and had it not been for Jimmy Gestapo, I wouldn't have recognized any of the members. Crazy to think about how many different line up changes Murphy's Law have had over the years. I will say, Jimmy manages to find solid bands to back him and this line up was no different. They played a decent mix of the first two albums and what I would assume was post-Back With a Bong material, although I couldn't swear to it considering I've never heard any or their releases after Back With a Bong. The highlight to me was "Cavity Creeps", which is always a crowd pleaser. Jimmy carried a a beer in his hand almost the entire set, only to put it down to swill back a bottle of Jagermeister or to smoke a joint. Age apparently has not softened Mr. Gestapo or affected his love of booze and weed. My only complaint was with the drunken meat head that felt it was necessary to climb on stage for every song, put his arm around Jimmy and proceed to wave and preform the whole "raise the roof" gesture. Dude was obviously fueled by Schlitz and it appeared that even Jimmy was becoming annoyed. It didn't take long before Jimmy would just push the dude off the stage and back into the crowd. Overall an entertaining set, but when is a Murphy's Law set not?


The Search continues, BOLD at the Black N Blue Bowl 2009, Photo: Future-Breed.com

Next up was the band of the hour, for me at least... BOLD. Let me assure you, they fuckin' destroyed. It's been way too long since BOLD has played and I was psyched to to be seeing them again. With a tweaked TC3-less lineup, Porcell brought in long time friend and Swedish import, Daniel Larsson to fill out the missing TC3 guitar work and the chemistry was obvious. Completing the rest of the line up was drummer Vinny Panza, and K-Town originals Tim Brooks on bass and frontman Matt Warnke. BOLD opened with "Talk Is Cheap" and the crowd responded immediately. Sing alongs and stage dives were plentyful and the band continued to demolish through each and every song. All the songs were stand outs, but my personal favorites like "Search", "You're The Friend I Don't Need", "Clear", "Having My Say" and "Wise Up" inspired me to smash my fists on the stage, just as they did 20 years ago when seeing BOLD. They finished the set with "Wise Up" and the crowd kicked it up a notch to give BOLD their due send off. Through the mayhem I managed to pull myself on stage and jolt across the stage to dive over Matt's back and into a pile of people singing, "It's time to WISE UP, you must WISE UP!". Words can not describe just how heavy, tight and powerful BOLD sounded and to all those that were slighted by the poor recording quality of Speak Out, hopefully Saturday's set helped set the record straight and you could hear just how those songs are and were suppose to sound. People really seemed to connect with what was happening on stage and after the set, I heard nothing but positive BOLD talk. Hopefully we see more from BOLD this summer.


Porcell in the face of the Brooklyn crowd deliviering some New York Crew, Photo: Future-Breed.com

In the past for the BOLD encore, Porcell would take the mic and sing "Nailed to the X", but this night in Brooklyn New York, the band had different plans. Porcell put down his guitar, Matt passed him the mic and the pre-song banter began. A fired up, X'ed up, Porcell with mic in hand shouted something along the lines of, "This song goes out to all the guys that welcomed me into the New York Hardcore scene, guys like Vinny Stigma, Harley, Raybeez, Jimmy Gestapo... this one is for them and it's for all of you, it's called "New York Crew". Before the first note was played, chaos erupted. Bodies were flying everywhere, screaming voices sang along to every note from every direction, Porcell threw his body into the crowd over and over again and quite honestly I could do very little but stand there and stare. Partly because things were so chaotic and I wanted to minimize bodily injury and partly because I just wanted to watch and soak it all in. Towards the end of the song, Daniel's guitar went out, he dove into the crowd and the crowd continued as if it never missed a beat. Those days are gone man, but they're not forgot... and this just reinforced that.


Anthony Communale with Killing Time at the Black N Blue Bowl 2009, Photo: Future-Breed.com

Had it been any other band, I would have not wanted to see them hit the stage after what had just gone down, but with Killing Time going on next, I knew the crowd had been properly warmed up. Now I haven't seen Killing Time in quite awhile, but man... they have not missed a step. Still as great as always and the crowd ate them up. They tore through all the "Brightside" classics as well as a handful of newer tracks and I had a great time just hanging back and watching everything unfold. With the exception of a few drunken meat heads that felt the need to hang around on the stage and try to pal up with Anthony arm in arm for sing alongs, the set was pretty spot on.


A fired up Porcell at the Black N Blue Bowl, Brooklyn NY 2009, Photo: Future-Breed.com

My friend Karl who I had come to the show with, was looking to bail after Killing Time's set and considering how exhausted I was, I was completely fine with that. On our way out we ended up running into Porcell and catching up with him for awhile, as well as the rest of the BOLD guys. An early exit turned into a not so early exit and after stopping in Manhattan for some late night eats, I didn't get home until close to 3:00 AM. When all was said and done, I had a great time, saw a handful or awesome bands and was stoked I made the trek.


Murphy's Law mayhem in Brooklyn, Photo: Future-Breed.com