There Are No Saints, There Are No Patriots

Last night was the Strike Anywhere show in Columbus, and as always it was an amazing show. It was my first time seeing them with new guitarist Mark Miller and he's an excellent replacement for former guitarist Matt Sherwood.

The opening act was a local C-Bus band called Overated. They were okay and put on a decent show, but I'm worried that once President Bush is out of the White House, they, like many other current politically charged bands, they may not have anything to write about (especially if Hil Rod makes it into the White House and does everything they want). I hope this is not the case, because they were pretty cool dudes (and a dame). Also, for some reason their guitarist/singer decided to announce to the audience that he liked me because I was up front rocking out to their set and that I reminded him of a big, angry looking teddy bear. Side note on their set-Some random dude who apparently knew the band decided to run up onstage during the band's set to their bass player (a girl who is obviously a very forward thinking, feminist type who was wearing a Planned Parenthood shirt) and slapped her on the ass. Way to set gender relations back by about a hundred years, dude.

The next band was Cloak/Dagger. I got really excited because 3/4 of the band looked like the biggest nerds in the world, and for those who don't know, nerds typically play the best punk rock and hardcore music. However, this was not the case. The singer started off doing some Steven Tyler-esque rock god preening during the first few songs, and at one point was holding the mic stand behind his head and shoulders like a weight bar which resulted in a Jesus Christ pose. How utterly droll. Also, the dude doesn't seem to know how to hold a microphone because every time he sang into it the speakers buzzed and my eardrums bled.

Finally, Strike Anywhere took the stage and their set was as follows.

YOU'RE FIRED
SEDITION
INFRARED
LAUGHTER IN A POLICE STATE
LIGHTS GO OUT
HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY
TIMEBOMB GENERATION
WE AMPLIFY/BLAZE
CHALKLINE
EARTHBOUND
ALLIES
TO THE WORLD
PRISONER ECHOES
SUNSET ON 32nd
REFUSAL (encore)

Basically, the only songs they need to play live now are IN THE FINGERNAILS, 'TIL DAYS SHALL BE NO MORE and YOU ARE NOT COLLATERAL DAMAGE and they will have played everything live that I really want to see, barring they decide to do a complete discography show (if only!). As always, an amazing show and still my favorite band.

"There are no saints, there are no patriots, designer gods fulfill their prophecies, but they're not talking to me, how many false enemies will it take 'til we see? Where we fall, where we fight, blackout in the daylight!"