Earlier this year, The Queers stopped through Madison and played a show at The Frequency. There was a bunch of confusion as to online and early ticket sales, mostly on my part, and I didn’t end up going because it had sold out quite soon after they were released.
Once summer came I was listening to The Leftovers new Eager To Please album quite a bit, and even had a chance to see them at Gnarly House in town with The Transgressions, so when they announced on their MySpace that they were doing a tour with The Queers this fall (and had a Madison show listed) I regained that excitement from seeing that first show listed.
That night I headed up to The Frequency to get tickets but nobody that was working had even heard that the show was happening at that point. So, a few months later, after checking on tickets quite a few times, I had a pair in my hand and was ready to go.
The Transgressions had a sound check with the back room already full of people. After a while, sound check done and new drinks in hand, they took to the stage, playing the most aggressive set of the night (if you can consider any form of pop punk aggressive).
On second were The Leftovers, who, although they’re based out of Portland, ME, feel like a hometown band they’ve played here so much this year.
The Leftovers played a stellar set of bubblegum punk akin to The Queers Don’t Back Down album (swap the sarcasm for more songs about girls, though) meets some classic Cars or Elvis Costello. Always a good time and I’d recommend catching them next time they come to your town. Especially when one of the band members is celebrating a birthday. Lot’s of good-natured teasing on stage.
Finally The Queers came out and played quite a full set of their poppiest tunes. They had the crowd bouncing and dancing around (and that’s a feat in itself for Madison) while handily combining two parts Beach Boys with one part Ramones for everyone’s thirsty ears.
All in all, this was the exact remedy needed for the foot and a half that fell in town the day before, the temperature being around zero, and a distinct lack of decent lineups at shows of the recent past.
Tags: concert, leftovers, madison, music, pop punk, punk rock, queers, the freqeuncy, the leftovers, the queers, the transgressions, transgressions, wisconsin
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