Leftover Crack – [Live]

Leftover Crack
@ Once Ballroom – Somerville, MA – June 18, 2016

Who would have guessed that the reputation Leftover Crack would have this year in Boston is as the hottest show in town. Sure, they were playing the coolest new venue in Boston (as Stefon would say, “This place has everything!”), but I remember from Punk Rock Bowling in Vegas last month that their show was one of the first to sell out. Let’s be clear here, Leftover Crack playing a show has become a big deal. And even when we arrived at the venue (through Uber, like modern-day punks), there was a sign outside that said, “SHOW ABSOLUTELY SOLD OUT.” Why? Because everyone was trying to find a ticket, and as would happen to be the case, so were we. We only needed one and actually through some finagling, persistence, and band members helping us, we actually found ourselves inside the Once venue 15 minutes before Leftover Crack took the stage.

Now I’m actually at a disadvantage here, because I’m a new fan to the band. Their previous album Constructs of the State released on Fat Last year is a criminally underrated album, that honestly, I’m embarrassed I didn’t hear sooner. Hey, we might feature that album in a retrospect of sorts on our Vinyl Vlog in the future, but for now, back to the show.

Again, I was unprepared because I hadn’t been to a good crusty punk show in a while. Not since Philly actually, and the first thing my wife and I commented on was how the show felt like those Philly shows at the Unitarian Church. Another thing that was noteworthy was how Leftover Crack fans are hardcore and did not get the memo about wearing the band’s own shirts to their shows. A third thing: boy was this place hot and stinky, which actually served to kick my punk rock muscle memory into gear. But it was about to get hotter and stinkier as Leftover Crack took the stage to lay some fun crack rocksteady beats on the lot of us. A tiny stage with little room to maneuver and intense activity was actually superimposed on a large crowd of fun-loving, lovingly-embracing, crowd-surfing, and moshing fans who sang along to every word and cheered and raised their fists at every chorus. Several audio problems unfortunately plagues this new venue including guitars cutting in and out, and the entire sound failing at one point, leaving the crowd a bit perplexed and killing the momentum. However, 10 seconds into the next song and shirts were off again and the stage rushing started once more.

Since I’m new to the band  I mostly recognized the newer stuff like don’t Shoot, Bedbugs and Beyond, Lie of Luck and Vicious Constructs. At these moments I was one with the crowd, smiling, lost in the moment and angrily shaking my fist while singing. I did recognize some older heavily crowd-pleasing material like Rock the 40 oz, however. I’m no philistine…

When the show ended we were outside, among the sweaty punk masses, in disbelief that we were just at a Leftover Crack show, which exceeded all our expectations and left us thoroughly impressed. Leftover Crack shows don’t happen often and these guys are on the road getting it done. Shame on you if you’re not there to see it.

[Ollie Ottoman]

https://www.facebook.com/Leftover-Crack-190096094352619/

Tour dates:

http://www.fatwreck.com/tour/single_artist/87

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