by Holli Stephens
I awoke Saturday morning to three fresh bruises on my legs. Thinking back to the Andrew Jackson Jihad concert Friday night at Union Transfer, I’m surprised that no one was sent to the emergency room.
The crowd was a mixture of black-rimmed glasses, tie-dye, and artificial hair coloring. The vibe I got from my fellow audience members was quite mellow, but I guess I completely oversaw the punk element to Andrew Jackson Jihad music.
As Dogbreth started their set, a small mosh pit began to form a few rows in back of where I was standing. The band had a shaky beginning and it seemed like there were technical difficulties after their first song, but they got it together to play a new song, “Cups and Wrappers”. Personally, I preferred the slower songs in the set; you could really separate the different instruments and hear the rhythmically appeasing guitar parts of Tristan Jemsek blend with the bass line of Erin Caldwell.
I caught up with Caldwell after the set and she joked about our matching little black notebooks before saying a few words about the night. “I think that it’s amazing to be able to tour with some of our good buddies, Jihad and meet Cheap Girls. And I love the crowd in there. It was huge like, so big.”
The trio of Adam Aymor and brothers Ian and Ben Graham that makes up Cheap Girls felt the love as soon as they got on stage to set up, and even more so when they began warming up their vocal chords. A loud pound of Ben Graham’s drum set startled but got the audience attentive for the set to come. When a jam band meets classic rock, beautifully articulated guitar riffs overpower all. The band played songs back-to-back that included “Gone All Summer” and “Communication Blues”. I would only see them stop to get a sip of beer and then pick up right where they left off.
Thus far, the mosh pits had been light, and I was enjoying my spot in the center third row in front of the stage. As lead vocals Sean Bonnette and bassist Ben Gallaty made their way on stage to help set up, numerous shouts of “I love you!” could be heard and fans who had come in late were trying to push their way to the front, regardless of who was in their way. Bonnette began placing bouquets of flowers on various instruments and equipment and Gallaty brought out the set list, which was written on a paper plate.
I’m not even sure how Andrew Jackson Jihad started its set. As the first chord was struck, I was pushed so hard to the point that I flew towards the right end of the floor area and then was shot back to the left where I lost my balance and almost fell on my camera. I looked over my shoulder to try and find my friend and realized a very large man had fallen on top of her. Her outstretched arm was the only visible part of her body. After regaining my balance I continued to be thrown onto the ground and realized that having a view from the middle was not the most logical idea. We made our way toward the doors on the right-hand side of the stage and assumed a spot near the door.
Even Andrew Jackson Jihad was surprised by the crowd’s behavior. When I think of folk punk, I’d expect the audience to be a more tame version of what I’ve experienced at actual punk shows, but I was gravely wrong.
Besides the moshing, stage diving was beginning to become a problem as well as people moshing. People threw shoes on stage and at one point Bonnette picked them up one by one and asked the audience to hold up the corresponding shoe to try and get them back to their original owners.
After the first couple of songs, Gallaty politely asked the crowd to refrain from this wild behavior and try to enjoy the music. But when that didn’t seem to work he said, “Seriously guys, stop fucking crowd surfing.”
The set was packed with songs off almost every album. From my new spot I was able to comfortably hear “Kokopelli Face Tattoo”, “People II: the Reckoning” and “Bad Bad Things”. The untiring audience was full of diehard fans who sang along to every word of almost every song and the energy was consistent during the set which lasted almost two hours.
The humorous anecdotes between songs that Bonnette crafted made anyone in the audience feel like they were having a one-on-one conversation with him. After “American Tune” someone threw a video game on stage that was “nontendo” themed and based on the band called “Action Jackson”. Bonnette commented, “Maybe it’s a game where we can shoot crowd surfers.”
The musicianship of Preston Bryant on keys and guitar, Gallaty on upright bass, Deacon Batchelo on drums, and Mark Glick on an extremely streamline cello was truly something magnificent to see. Each was able to bounce musical phrases off eachother in the most seamless manner to connect their parts and create such a rhythmical flow in “The Michael Jordan of Drunk Driving”, “Rejoice”, and “People II 2: Still Peoplin’”. Add in the lyricism of Bonnette that educate and entertain on personal and world issues and you’ve got a band that has genuine talent.
The show ended with “White Face, Black Eyes” and a slew of punk rockers stayed in the floor area to try and encourage an encore, but were unsuccessful. Bonnette mentioned earlier in the set that Philadelphia is always a city where they look forward to performing and from this night I can see why.
