SACK brought their sweaty, high-energy street rock carnival to a sold-out O’Brien’s Pub last weekend. It was the last stop on their brief, four-day ripper of a Northeast tour that found them shredding the gnar alongside a couple of Ramonescore-inspired stalwarts – Huntingtons and The Young Rochelles – for the long weekend. Let’s have a look at the evening’s festivities, shall we?
Hitting in the leadoff spot for the evening were The Young Rochelles, who kicked off the shindig in perfect fashion – which we of course mean both literally and figuratively. The Long Island-based trio blistered through a pogo-friendly set that included “E.T. Cell Phone,” “I Need My Mommy To Do My Laundry” and, of course, “I Never Saw The Ramones.” Also, can we give Ricky Rochelle props for manning both lead vocal AND drumming duties, but not doing it with one of those Phil Collins/TED Talk headsets? That shit can’t be easy.
Batting second was none other than Baltimore’s finest, Huntingtons. I lost count (read as: ran out of fingers) but I’m pretty sure the quartet ripped through like 20-ish songs in a set that couldn’t have been much more than thirty-five minutes and featured what may well be the first attempt at a circle pit I’ve ever seen at O’Briens, which is all the more impressive when taking into account that the median age of paid ticketholders was closer to 40 than 20, and it was a Sunday night. In quintessential Huntingtons fashion, the set finished with an extended, stage-crashing singalong rendition of “No Pool Party Tonight” that was one of the highest highlights of the evening.
Last but not least, of course, was SACK. What is there to say about SACK that best puts the band into words for those that haven’t seen them. It’s loud and it’s fast and it’s metal and it’s sweaty and it contains myriad singalongs to such heartwarming classics as “I Used To Give A Shit” and “I Hate The Bech Boys” and “Live Action LARP.” Oh, and of course the tender ballad “I Tried Suicide.” It’s one hell of a party and I totally thought another photographer was going to eat shit with his camera in the pit but he was far braver than I’ll ever be. If you’ve only seen Kody sing while playing lead guitar in TBR or the Lillingtons, seeing him in full-fledged punk rock frontman mode is a sight to behold.
Check out more shots from the raucous evening below!
SACK Slideshow
Huntingtons Slideshow
The Young Rochelles slideshow
