MADBALL+Deez Nuts+Your Demise+Nasty
11.12.2013, *MIXTAPE 5*, Sofia

words by Stiff, photo: Elena Nenkova

GALLERY 1
GALLERY 2


Braving the low temperatures, a fat snake like queue stretches from Mixtape 5 club tonight, boding well for the bands on the bill of Enter The Nu Breed Tour.

Entering the tightly packed venue, all available space quickly fills and the hum of anticipation increases. The gig has been sold out..
 


You just can’t retell such a gig, no matter how hard you try and I have always insisted on that. If you weren’t there you wouldn’t care about the attendance figures or the songs played. In fact you wouldn’t care about the gig itself. So if I’m turning this report upside down and inside out, it’s because I’m doing it for the people who actually were there, not the ones, who weren’t. I’m downsizing the facts, the song titles, and the set lists, the timing, etc. I’m concentrating on the energy of the gig.



It’s impossible to overstate just how huge are MADBALL in Bulgaria.

One of the true New York hardcore pioneers they are not so much a band here as a way of life, an ethos for every guy who decided to follow the hardcore philosophy.

As such, it doesn’t really matter who opens for them, which is just as well because NASTY are little more then your average beatdown, or at least that was my impression. Although Freddy from MADBALL was wearing their t-shirt and lots of kids seemed to be really excited about them, to me NASTY sounded like every other band with the same clattering drum sound, the same breaks, the same patterns, the same old, the same old… Sorry, I’m just being honest. If you like them, it’s OK, but to me watching this band was a waste of time.

Enter The Nu Breed Tour has four more dates to go. This means the Brits YOUR DEMISE have four more shows before the end of the tour and about 20 (including 4 in Japan) until they call it quits. Shame, really, as these guys are powerful on stage and the anticipation rippling through the crowd tonight is as tangible as the smarting cold.

“This one is called “Born A Fuckin’ Snake”- shouts frontman Ed "The Man" McRae a second before the band bulldoze a fierce rendition of the song. Actually, they attack every song in the set with an intensity and vitality that brings a new level in interaction with the crowd.

Closing with the hugely anthemic “The Kids We Used To Be…” the band tear every last shred of energy from the audience, slashing with razor-sharp lyrics and twisting riffs. It’s a triumphant performance from a band that reached their prime.
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 Deez Nuts setlist

DEEZ NUTS’ previous gig in Sofia was way too short and smeared with technical issues. Tonight, at least in the beginning, their singer and frontman, JJ Peters, looks like he hasn’t woken up yet.

The band show a certain level of proficiency and energy, but your attention wanders and it’s hard not to think that the previous band did a lot better. Thankfully, at the end of their set (“I Hustle Everyday”, “Band Of Brothers”) it’s getting hotter than hell- bodies flying in all directions, people picking up split lips while crowd surfing or by crowd surfers and stage divers with no regard to their own safety.

By the time MADBALL take to the stage, the place is heaving. From the minute they start it’s clear who is who in this business. The anthems come think and fast..
 


Freddy asks if there are people in the crowd who considered themselves old school and many raise hands. “I’m new school, so fuck you!”- He says with a dry NY humor and reminds us that the last MADBALL album was called “Empire” (2010).

Just before the band attacks the short self-titled song from that album, he also says the band will be recording a new record once this tour ends and everyone gets home. The end of the set is old school, though. You just can’t call songs like “DMS”, “Hardcore Pride” and “Hardcore Still Lives” new school. These guys have been around for a while after all.

When you see a gig like this it’s hard not to get carried away by an ambulance at the end. I mean, by the middle of the set you realize that you are watching something so much more important than simply a good gig: this is the kind of performance that sets MADBALL apart from the rest of the herd tonight. I’m not disrespecting anyone here, but these guys are for real.

Freddy works the crowd as if they are puppets on strings and in the next moment everything breaks loose into a chaotic mayhem. The place is heaving. Even if you tried to run away from the mass mêlée, there was not even room to turn around.

MADBALL deliver what will undoubtedly go down as one of the finest live moments of 2013. Fucking superb!

GALLERY 1
GALLERY 2