The expectation for the Asian Man Records 15th Anniversary Festival was that the Slapstick reunion would be a timeless masterpiece, a reunion for the ages, and that expectation was met...but my friends and I were more excited for the Broadways reunion, a band consisting of Brendan Kelly, Dan Hanaway, Chris McCaughan and Rob DePaola.
A socialist-leaning pure punk rock band, the Broadways never made a name for themselves while they were active. The reunion show, which took place on Friday afternoon, proved that over time, the Broadways had exploded among hardcore Asian Man Records followers. But Brendan, who led the stage banter, couldn't seem to wrap his mind around the sudden following. "Where the f*ck were you guys when we were playing together?" he called out, overwhelmed with the crowd response after the first couple of songs. "Oh yeah...you were seven."
When the band took the stage, the audience let loose an uproarious bellow. The band immediately jumped into the set -- songs taken from the full-length LP Broken Star and the EP collection Broken Van -- and the audience exploded into a tornadic mob of dancing. Crowd members cycled on and off the stage (check out around 2:15 in the vid), diving into the frenzy of the pit where the crowd sang every word to each lyrically-packed song. Brendan continued talking shit about his own band, but even his trademark asshole banter couldn't stop the euphoric feeling that swept through the crowd.
Five other shows featuring some of my favorite bands of all time couldn't compare to the Broadways reunion, a celebration that my buddy Nathan and I agreed was the highlight of the festival and perhaps one of the best shows we'd ever been a part of. Many thanks to Brendan, Dan, Chris and Rob for the memories.
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