by Donte Kirby
Supporting acts Private Instigators, Holy Mess, and Goddamnit put on a show to please the fans of punk legends Misfits at the TLA on Friday night.
You would expect the opening acts of the legendary Misfits would be punk through and through. Whether it be a tinge of alternative in the instrumentation of Holy Mess and Goddamnit or a bit of 50s swing in the sound of Private Instigators, the show offered a wide variety of sound that punk purists might not have appreciated.
Private Instigators’ sound deviated from traditional punk the most, evoking the feeling to jump more than to thrash. Despite what they conveyed sonically their set was home to the first mosh of the night, brief as it was. In the aftermath of the cleared pit a couple did a little swing. At one point, a member of the Private Instigators came out into the crowd and did the twist with the audience.
When the Misfits got on stage, it was pandemonium from the first song to the last. Their set included songs from newer albums like ” Fiend Club” and “Scream” (Famous Monsters) and of course older hits such as “Halloween”. There’s no break in between Misfits’ songs, at least not in Philly on Friday night. They just go one song to the next, giving no rest for the wicked with flashing lights and bodies crashing into each other. It was what the packed TLA crowd had been waiting for all night.