Bane -- Lawrence, KS -- August 20th, 2010

I got to the Jackpot just at 6:30 and this weekend was the first weekend after school started, so it took me a while to find a parking space. I lucked out and got one right in front of the venue. The line-up for this show was Bane/Trapped Under Ice/Cruel Hand/Alpha & Omega. It was also all ages. The place was definitely the most packed I've ever seen the Jackpot. Also - undoubtedly the most violent crowd I've ever seen.

Alpha & Omega was the first band of the day and they played metalcore/hardcore (the good kind) but were kind of slow which made for plenty of hardcore dancing. Now, these hardcore dancers weren't the scene kids who pick up change for three seconds then fix their hair, these guys were out to injure whoever. And they did. A girl got knocked out from something and had to be carried out of the venue. But enough about that, let's talk about the music. Alpha & Omega did a good job as a warmup band. When they had faster "hardcore"-sounding songs, they were great. Other than that, nothing special. 7.5/10

First band of the night I was excited to see was Cruel Hand, and the crowd must've felt the same way. For the rest of this show, the pit, the stage diving, the crowd surfing, the singing along was all at a fever pitch. Cruel Hand played a more hardcore punk style and was even better than Alpha & Omega, but were still warming the crowd up. 8/10

The band I was most psyched to see was Trapped Under Ice, and it looked like the majority of the crowd came for them as well. The crowd sang just as much as the vocalist, with some kids even coming on stage to sing for most of a song. I can tell Trapped Under Ice embraces the hip-hop ethos that most east coast hardcore bands seem to have, but it actually made them more interesting to watch. They certainly had the most "groove" of all the bands and even had some solo's! (At a hardcore show? Blasphemy!) Great stuff. 8.5/10

Bane are legends in the hardcore scene, and they play the part well. At times they were definitely the most melodic band of the night, especially when they played some new songs. But I got chills more than once when they started playing a song and the crowd exploded, singing the verse into the mic. Great hardcore that I'd love to see again. They've got the formula down, and it shows. 8.5/10

Set included:

Ante Up
Count Me Out
Can We Start Again

During all this, there were severe thunderstorms in Lawrence that made it humid outside and unbearably hot inside. After the crowd cleared out, there was so much sweat on the floor it looked like someone had spilled water everywhere. But that was cleaned up, and then came part 2 of the night...