Gorilla Biscuits @ BB King Blues Club, NYC

Live Reviews | Sep 3rd, 2006

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Opening Bands: Comeback Kids, Leeway, Murphy’s Law
Date: September 2nd 2006
Venue: BB King Blues Club, NYC

My friends from CT ended up getting some tickets for the Gorilla Biscuits Reunion Summer Tour, and asked if I wanted to go. Of course I would, it’s the friggin’ Gorilla Biscuits! I was too young to see them perform in their heyday and I don’t think i’ve been to a full-fledged hardcore show in maybe 7 years? It’s been awhile so I jumped at the chance to see Civ and the gang perform all those songs that made them legends in the NYHC scene.

If you just care what I thought about the show, you should just skip the next paragraph or so because I got to talk about some concert drama. There’s always something going on when I travel to the city to see a show. This was the first time I was going to be going into the city by myself for a show, plus I never took a train to go to a show. I usually just drive in with my brother or whoever is going to the show with me. My CT friends were taking another train in so I was going to meet them at Grand Central around 4:30pm. I get a call on the train, saying they were going to be late. Ok, I guess I can find something to do for an hour since they were the ones with the tickets. I ended up killing time at the pizza place next door to BB Kings; they always end up making great pizza. I sat there killing time, being bored, staring at the walls. One thing I witnessed was seeing people walk in on other people using the bathroom. It’s always fun to sit by the bathroom and see endless amounts of strangers walk in on each other using the crapper.

After that, I just sat outside in the god awful rain with my umbrella. I must have waited a half hour in the rain, waiting for my friends to call me and wondering where they were. I ended up calling them at 5:30ish and they said their train got stuck somewhere in White Plains. I guess trees were down on the tracks and they were delayed. Well that sucked because they had the tickets, plus they really wanted to see this show. So I kept standing around, and walked around the block or so. I just didn’t feel like going into any stores or anything because it was crowded out. Plus it was just nasty out and the rain was horrible. I kept calling my friends to see where they were and there was no progress. So I ended up lingering around the front of BB Kings to see if anyone was selling any tickets. This show has been sold out for awhile now and was a hot ticket I guess. A guy and girl were selling tickets and I asked how much. They said $25 and I said all right. I was sold on that because my CT friends ended up paying a lot for their tickets. I got inside the venue and it was packed, and Comeback Kid was about to take the stage. I went and got some merch from Gorilla Biscuits and headed down to the crowd to see Comeback Kid.

I never really listened to any of their music before so I didn’t know how they were going to be. I liked what I heard and they were better than I thought. It’s been awhile since my last hardcore show but I just love seeing people dance and crowd surf. I was surprised to see that the bouncer/photo pit was missing and it was just a stage. That was cool of the club to do that and Gorilla Biscuits later thanked the club for doing that as well. It just meant that everyone were hanging all over the stage and hard to see from the sides (where I was standing). After Comeback Kid finished their set, I went back upstairs to use the phone, and check up on my friends. They said they were on a school bus, going to the next station, and then hopefully coming in. That still didn’t sound promising to me since Murphy’s Law was up next.

Believe it or not, I never listened to Murphy’s Law besides the track “Sit Home and Rot.” I grew up listening to that song and other old punk & HC bands but that was the extent of it. They have been around a long time and cool to see they are still around. The singer did mention that they have a new album coming out, but that will be the last one and they will probably retire after that. The crowd protested and he said he wants to be a Father and get laid…or something along those lines. I’m not really familiar with the material but I know they played “The Beer Song.” To me, their set seemed a bit short and I guess they only had a half hour to play. The singer was really funny and was constantly making fun of straight edge. I was laughing my balls off and i’m straight edge too! Some of his in-between song banters seemed like stand up material or something. I don’t feel like trying to re-tell them because i’m sure I’ll just butcher the jokes. They put on an entertaining set and the crowd enjoyed it a lot.

Leeway was up next but before they went on, I decided to check in one last time with my friends. They were stuck again on the train and it seemed pretty hopeless for them at this point. I felt pretty bad for them traveling farther than me and ending up getting stuck on our lovely NYC transportation system. But, I saw Leeway once at Sea Seas in Moosic Pa and that was probably about 7 or 8 years ago? I never got into them, not sure why. I liked a few of their songs that they played that night and they got the crowd dancing. I was standing right near a pit (not by choice) but I kind of liked it since there was a lot of open room. I was willing to get punched in the head if I could move around a little bit. I just stood on the outside and pushed people back into the circle. I thought Leeway opened strongly and ended great. I believe they finished with some old material and they got the crowd stagediving like crazy! I was anticipating that the crowd was going to go crazy for Gorilla Biscuits, and they certainly did!

The infamous horns from “New Direction” came over the loud speaker and the place went absolutely ape shit! People were flying all over the place, fingers were pointing, people were swinging their arms into people’s faces, guys were dressed up in banana suits. Yes, someone dressed up in a banana suit and that courageous move worked out for him since he got recognized by the band and the crowd. Civ sounded great and the rest of the band were awesome as well. I wish they would reunite as a full-time band again because people clearly still love the band. Civ had a lot of great stuff to say before each song, and the sound messages still hold up to this day. The band went through a lot of material and these songs stood out: “Two Sides,” “No Reason Why,” “Slut,” “Competition,” “Things We Say,” “Hold Your Ground,” “Big Mouth,” and “Sitting Around at Home.”

Civ mentioned there were a lot of old school HC people in the ground and I noticed quite a few too. You had people from Sick of it All, Madball, Cro-Mags, H20 and I even saw guys from None More Black walking around. I thought it was cool to see guys in bands, just among the crowd enjoying the show as fans. At one point Toby from H20 came out, and brought out…H20. Civ pointed out that he flew all the way out from California just to throw the crowd water. I thought that was funny. Towards the end of the set, Lou from Sick Of It All came out to sing “As One” with the Gorilla Biscuits and that was awesome to hear those guys singing it together. The last song that I stayed around for was “Start Today,” which is the song that got me into the band. The song was the perfect song to end the show for me, and i’m not sure if the band went on after that but I had to catch the train.

I found out that my friends had to go back home after being stuck on the train for hours on end. Such a miserable experience for them I’m sure and I feel bad I went and they didn’t. But maybe Gorilla Biscuits will decide to play more shows and my friends can see them.

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