So last week Riot Fest weekend kicked off with a smaller show just like it did last year, this time at the Cobra Lounge. Unlike last year, Naked Raygun didn’t play it though. This time it was a five band bill that consisted mainly of local acts with the exception of the headliner for the evening – The Queers.
Shot Baker
Shot Baker
Shot Baker
When Cheddar Nines and I arrived, it turned out we were very early (the website said 8pm but the show really started at closer to 10) so there was hardly any people there. Slowly as the time passed the place started to fill up and there was a pretty good sized crowd at the place by the time Shot Baker took the stage. I had seen them play a couple times before and really didn’t much care for them, but this time they seemed to have gotten a lot better because I actually found myself kind of digging their set and not just staring at my watch wondering how much longer they were going to play. They must be finding their sound and settling into it better or something since the last time.
Zero to Sixty
Zero to Sixty
Zero to Sixty
Zero to Sixty
Next up were Zero to Sixty. This band featured someone (or maybe two someones) from 88 Fingers Louie. Their frontman was really solid and they played a pretty energetic brand of hard but melodic punk rock. I recognized one of the guys in the band from being in the Naked Raygun documentary so it didn’t surprise me to hear a bit of Naked Raygun influence in the sound. They played about a half hour and they sounded good the entire time.
The Methadones
The Methadones
The Methadones
The Methadones soon followed. They played a pretty sloppy set, made sloppier by the fact that their singer was pretty wasted when he got up on stage. He even admitted to it right before they played. They also must have brought about 100 people with them because suddenly there were a ton of people in that room, all of them dancing and spilling beer all over the place which made for some tough shooting.
The Effigies
The Effigies
The Effigies
The Effigies
After a bit of a delay trying to find their guitarist, The Effigies took the stage and wasted no time in getting to work. They were pretty much business as usual playing some new songs mixed in with the older material in pretty much the same order as the last few times I’ve seen them play. There is no such thing as a bad Effigies show, they always deliver a rock-solid performance and this was no exception. While the crowd was thinner than they were for the Methadones, the people in the room were definitely into it.
The Queers
The Queers
The Queers
The Queers
This just left The Queers. The crowd once again filled in a little more and went pretty crazy once the band started playing. There were people and beer flying all over the place. Why people would throw or shake up and dump full beers is beyond me, I mean you may as well just throw five dollar bills. They were super energetic and rarely, if ever, stopped between songs. It was like the old Husker Du formula of playing your set non-stop. They tried to sneak an Angry Samoans cover in there which bummed me out considering that was three minutes of their set wasted that would have been better served playing one of the songs people were disappointed not to hear them play. I got kind of bored part way through their set because all the songs started sounding the same to me, but the people in the audience who were fans thought they were pretty excellent.
And thus ended the Riot Fest pre-bash. I drove my very tired self and a very drunk Cheddar Nines home and rested up for the start of the big two-day show…
So I’m guessing you left before The Queers did their Undertones cover then? They’ve always done a bunch of covers in their sets, I think most people would be disappointed if they weren’t in there.