New York City’s legendary punk titans, The Casualties ripped through Philadelphia’s Barbary venue last week with an incredibly solid show package featuring Toxic Holocaust, Night Birds, and Combat Crisis brought to you by Philly Hardcore Shows promotion group.
Philadelphia locals and sturdy street punk practitioners, Combat Crisis set the evening off with a blistering set that spanned song selections from their debut LP, Face the Crowd, and latest EP, Philly Streets. One of the best punk outfits in Philadelphia, Combat Crisis has amassed a loyal following of fans from one of the East Coast’s strongest punk holds. Lead by the charismatic front-woman, Elisha Cause, the floor was quickly set on fire for what determined the tone for a fantastic evening of music.
Brooklyn’s Night Birds hit the stage next and more than kept things moving with a thundering set that had all the characteristics of a solid punk rock performance. Blazing riffs, sing-along style lyrics, and energy was through the roof. This band is a breath of fresh air, evoking memories of the poise of bands like the Dead Kennedys (albeit without the political framework) with their snotty, surf-tinged punk anthems as they continue to support their debut record, The Other Side of Darkness, on Grave Mistake Records. We recently caught up with the band for a full feature interview and will be adding a brand new video interview to this gallery tonight (minor delay due to some video formatting issues we’ll have panned out shortly). So be sure to check back later!
Thrash mainstays Toxic Holocaust deliver one of the most crushing sets of any 3-piece band, as they continue to support their most recent LP on Relapse Records, Conjure and Command, which has drawn large amounts of critical praise from fans and critics around the globe. Toxic Holocaust chose a set-list that spanned their musical corpus to the delight of Philly’s rapid fans. Toxic Holocaust just keep sounding tighter and tighter every time I see them and never disappoint.
The Casualties brought the fucking roof down. No two ways about it. Now 22 years deep in the game, the band still decimates stages around the world and does so effortlessly. Philly has always had nothing but love for these street punk mainstays and last week was no exception. The Casualties continue to support their last full length, 2009’s We Are All We Have, as fans eagerly await new material. Their set selection spanned scores of songs that dipped although back into their debut album, For The Punx, and they even busted out rarities at the crowd’s request. Heavy mosh, stage diving, blood, sweat, and few tears were prevailing themes of the evening. Punk is far from dead in Philly.
We know you are here for the pictures, so without further ado..
All pictures by the exceptionally talented Anne Spina of Anne Spina Photography.
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