Mass Hysteria / Westbound Train / The Pietasters
Axis - Boston, MA
September 28th, 2002

Boston has long been known as a city with messed up streets. If you've ever been there then you know what I mean. Whoever desigined that city should be publicly flogged. Combine that with Axis making this an early show so they could double book the club, and you have me getting there late. It didn't help that there was a Red Sox game going on and thus NO PARKING to be found anywhere! Don't those people know that they're going to choke in the playoffs anyway? Give it up already!

So yeah I missed the first few songs of Mass Hysteria's set. This upset me, especially after I had a chance to hear a few of their songs and realized that they were wicked good. They really got the crowd a-moving around to their sweet reggae sound. I wasted no time in buying their CD's on the way out, I must say, I'm looking foreward to some good things comming from this band, so keep an eye on 'em. 'specially if you're into the ska/reggae/jazz sound.

After Mass Hysteria, the one, the only, Westbound Train came out. And man, what an entrance. Henrik the drummer started out playing all by his lonesome, and then they came out one by one, each picking up their instrument as they came out. Wow. It was amazing. The crowd was totally into them by the time they started their first song, and the guys were feeding off the crowd. To my suprise, I didn't recognize any of their first four songs. I have practically worn out their CD so I figured that I would know most of the stuff they played. Not so, in fact, they were almost halfway through their set before they played somthing that I recognized. As much as I wanted to hear something that I could sing along with, I was floored by the new stuff. The new songs seemed to be a little closer to the ska/reggae end of the spectrum than the soul side which was awesome as far as dancing goes. Furthermore, Obi was Toasting! That really added alot to their set and really got the crowd going. The second half of the set was more familiar stuff for me. It was great, there is just somthing about hearing music live that makes even the best songs better. I highly recomend seeing these guys if you ever get the chance, trust me, you won't regret it.

This gave the Pietasters alot to live up to, and frankly, I was expecting to be dissappointed, I've seen them in DC and I saw them the week before in New London, and I noticed a disparity between those performances. i.e. They play better in front of a hometown crowd. However, by setting my expectations so low, I left myself open to be blown away. And yep, you guessed it, I was blown away. The crowd was amazing and fueled the band to a fever pitch. I haven't seen the 'tasters that good since the Best Ska Show Ever back in January. They played all the classics, and although the crowd didn't know all the words to every song, they did seem to know most of them. Another cool thing about the crowd was the little dancing circle we had going on in the back of the club. There were a whole bunch of people back there just skanking in a circle, and there was someone dancing in the middle and then they would finish up and go back to the outside, and someone else would come into the middle to show off their moves.

Notes:
Things I learned
1. Obi can toast!
2. As Steve Jackson pointed out, Boston has beautiful women.
3. New York City rhymes with Gwen Stefani
4. Boston drivers suck

Coolest thing all night - Steve handing out beers to the band right after singing "Bring us another beer!"

There was a girl taking pictures of me while I was dancing, if you are her, or you know who she is, please e-mail me. I'm not pissed off or anyting, I just wanna see 'em. Thanks.