Last week I went to see the Anti-Nowhere League at Reggie’s here in Chicago. The band’s first album, We Are… The League, ranks extremely high on my list of favorite punk rock albums of all time so I was very excited to get a chance to see the band play. I took the bus and walked in the rain and got to the club before the doors opened so I killed some time chatting with friends and perusing the record store above the club.
Everybody Out!
Everybody Out!
Everybody Out!
After a pretty good sized line of people went in I made my way to the front to try and get a good vantage point to shoot photos from. I staked out a spot and soon after Everybody Out! took the stage and started playing. Some members of the audience seemed to have arrived at the show pre-inebriated and started slamming and pushing into everyone around them and were generally pissing off everyone around them. Eventually they calmed down and as the band continued playing their energetic brand of UK punk, the crowd really took a liking to them and started going nuts. People were singing along and the band’s singer often hopped off stage and sang from inside the crowd. In between songs he would talk a lot but I swear you needed subtitles to understand a word that he was saying other than asking people to move up closer. The band were very entertaining overall and their set seemed to go by fairly quickly.
Flatfoot 56
Flatfoot 56
Flatfoot 56
Flatfoot 56
Flatfoot 56 were next. They are pretty popular around these parts quickly got the crowd going blasting out one anthemic punk song after the next. Their songs are often peppered with bagpipes played buy a guy wearing a kilt. They always put on a good show but I could do without the religious overtones and the needless Cro-Mags cover. The sad thing was the Cro-Mags cover got a bigger pop than the rest of their set, even though their original songs were far more enjoyable.
Anti-Nowhere League
Anti-Nowhere League
Anti-Nowhere League
As the crowd seemed to increase in size, the Anti-Nowhere League got on stage to find a pretty full room roaring with approval. They immediately started playing a song from their classic first album, then followed it up with another one. Animal announced to the crowd that they planned on playing pretty much all the old material because they know that’s what the people want to hear and he couldn’t have been more right!
Anti-Nowhere League
Anti-Nowhere League
Anti-Nowhere League
They played pretty much the entire, We Are… The League album! Songs like “Snowman”, “Woman”, “I Hate People” and others got the crowd going completely apeshit. People were jumping all over the place and the security couldn’t keep up with trying to prevent all the stage divers from climbing up on stage. They also played, “For You” which is easily one of the band’s best songs ever as well as a couple of newer songs. They sounded great and for an old-punker Animal looked to be in great shape and has held up a lot better than some of his peers.
Anti-Nowhere League
Anti-Nowhere League
Anti-Nowhere League
The crowd were so chaotic that I was forced to shoot from the front corner of the stage to avoid being crushed, or worse having my camera gear crushed. Every single song the band played sounded great and the crowd ate it all up and sang along. I was very happy to witness such a great performance of a band that has been around in one form or another for a quarter century! After a lengthy set which included two encores, the band left the stage and the crowd emptied out sweaty, tired and satisfied. If you missed this show you missed out on a really good time!
Larger photos and some additional shots can be found starting tomorrow on MXV’s flickr stream.
I saw ’em here in Long Beach last night — great show, and I wish you and Thor could’ve been here! The crowd was pretty hectic, but it was at a big venue with lots of safe places for standing. I didn’t spill a single beer!
I have yet to see Flatfoot 56, but they’re pretty much right up my alley, too.
Goodtimes
Wow. I had no idea these guys were still around. Any idea if they’re heading to the east coast? Pollstar isn’t showing anything. I’d be all over it. Great shots, as always.
Work ran long and I had to bail at the last minute. I should have just went late, I should have known better…
God I love that first record…
Nice show review MXV, wish they had come to DC!