Punk/hardcore joy was brought to Sofia, Bulgria by the Mexican-American punk-skasters gang La Plebe and their straight edge colleagues Strike Anywhere. The Backstage Club hadn't seen so many people in a while… at least at such a show. More than 200 fans came to have fun with the 3 bands and that was pretty much enough for the club to be pretty packed.

The solid punk crowd had settled at the club's entrance a few hours before the time when the doors would open and the local dudes from Empty Face would start playing. At lot of disapproving looks were given by passers to the drinking whatever-they-feel-like hordes of punk rockers in the street and the parks near the venue. But who cares? The scent of the upcoming killer gig was already in the air...

The show itself started around 10:30 p.m. with Empty Face. The half-an-hour delay was completely routine and expected. The Sofia punk rockers who recently released a pretty cool EP, "Waiting for a Sign",В opened with a song from it - "A.R.D.E.F.T.L.W.I.P.D." (All Reckless Drivers Escape from the Law While Innocent People Die). Guitarist Ivan somehow managed to break not one but two (!) strings during the track's 40 seconds. A 10-minute pause followed, and Empty Face continued with songs from the EP and got a pretty good crowd reaction. A few small moshpits were formed in their honor. Empty Face closed with the soon-to-be-hit song "Coming Home" and stepped down the stage...

La Plebe approached the audience with a lot of confidence - after all, they're well known to the local guys since they've played here last year, too. Now they started performing song after song without many pauses and talks. A joyful moshpit was formed while they played their brass-empowered energetic ska/punk rock. This kind of music obviously touches the right strings in the Bulgarian soul, since no one was left indifferent to La Plebe's performance - even the people who spent the whole night at the pool table in the next room...

After the band finished their set they stepped down the stage, but were called for an encore by the enthusiastic crowd - a completely routine scene that seemed somehow more sincere than the way rock stars (and we've seen a few in the last months) do this. La Plebe looked flattered that people wanted more of them.

The inevitable beer recharge followed, while everywhere in the club things like "Duuude, these guys rule!" could've been heard.

Strike Anywhere, on the other hand, started their set rather carefully since it's their first time in Bulgaria. And lets be honest - we look like an enraged crowd of Balkan lowlifes to outsiders, so it might be shocking at first. The audience also was kind of shy in the beginning, as they didn't know what to expect, too, but 1 or 2 songs later both sides understood each other and the real fun began.

What followed was one of the best punk-hardcore performances we've had the opportunity to watch lately. Strike Anywhere gave all they got and played really good. Vocalist Thomas Barnett had a really impressive voice, and the crowd awarded him by going completely nuts - non-stop moshing, stagediving and singing along.

Strike Anywhere really looked as if this was the first time they were forced by the crowd to do an encore by 200 people creating so much noise, yelling, "We want more!" and stomping the floor. The dudes performed two more songs in front of the final moshpit and that was it…

This was definitely one of the best punk and hardcore shows in a while. The main thing that made it so good was probably the cool positive atmosphere that was present, which is a really important thing for such a show. The feeling that every last attendee of the concert was having sincere fun was lurking in the air along with the not so much oxygen and a lot of cigar smoke last night. And that's what's most important!

Words: Stefan Topuzov.

Photos:В Rostoslav BakalovВ / Hardcore Spirit.

More photos are available in the GALLERY.