Live: Bridge & Tunnel, Yesterday's Ring & Leatherface @ The Knitting Factory 3.5.10

With all the snow and the ridiculousness that comes with it, it seems like forever since I've been to a show. You can also add being fucking broke to the equation, too, but when word came down the pike that Leatherface were touring, you could damn well guarantee that I was going to be there. Adding a rare set of Stateside Yesterday's Ring dates and Bridge & Tunnel to the equation made me reconsider the influence of a higher power in my life.

So I made it across the water as Bridge & Tunnel started their set. Let me state from the onset: Bridge & Tunnel are fucking great. Hands down, no ifs and or buts. Great songs, Rachel plays her ass off and all and all the kids are 100% a good time. They remind me a lot of Braid and in some ways a bit like The Riot Before. Either way, I couldn't be happier that NY finally has a No Idea band. Between them and Little Lungs, all is not lost in the local scene. Not a lot in the way of stage banter, but know that Bridge & Tunnel crushed it from note one to note last. Buy their current release East/West here and see them immediately.

I was a little disconcerted during the backline change and thought there maybe had been a lineup change, but soon the preponderance of Inepsy and Tragedy t-shirts on stage confirmed that Yesterday's Ring was most definitely in the house. I was in Montreal for the record release shows behind their last EP and fell way hard for them. You may be aware that YR is the more rootsy incarnation of Canadian punk mainstays The Sainte Catherines. There are a few different members, but the apples don't fall far from the tree and SC singer Hugo Mudie fronts both franchises. He is as sweet a dude as he is smelly. The six piece ran through a bunch of stuff from their new Suburban Home release Diamonds In The Ditch as well as some chestnuts from the back catalog. I couldn't of been happier, plus I had a couple 'that guy" moments with Hugo, so it was win-win all around. Yesterday's Ring don't make it across the border all that often, but if they come near you, go out of your way to see them. They are one hell of a good time.

Ran into Davey Tiltwheel as I staked out real estate for Leatherface. One hell of a guy, and unsurprisingly tour managing this junket. He had Frankie on in short order, aviator hat, high blood alcohol and all and the suddenly full room promptly went apeshit. There is a delicious point where Frankie gets drunk enough to do his little shuffle dance around that make the Lemmy fronting Husker Du sound Leatherface purveys some of the best music ever. There were many Roach House residents touring the stage and monitors during the set, begging the question (at least in my mind) of how old the kids were in the 80s when things jumped off for Leatherface, but this would be the wrong room to play the agism card, as Frankie makes me look like a spring chicken. He held up for most of the set, but was obviously fading toward the end of the proceedings. That made two of us, frankly, but all in all one of the best shows I've seen this year. Setlist for Leatherface is to the left. Look for a review of the new record The Stormy Petrel soon on JS-NYC.

R