Making An Effort

So the day after I received the Mindset records from React, I was headed to Haverhill, Massachusetts to see them play at Anchors Up. They were playing with The Effort and Alert, and I was looking forward to seeing them as well. I took off for the show immediately after Sam's basketball practice, skipping the ritual of shooting around until all the kids have cleared out. I thought that I was getting to the show a little late, but when I walked in the door, I think I was the first one there, and some bands were still bringing in their equipment. Since I didn't know anyone, I didn't want to hang around, so I went back to my car and read the book that I had brought along (total geek, I know). While I was waiting, there was a lady whose car wouldn't start, so I helped her out with jump starting her car. I finally got up to the show, and to my surprise No Shit was already playing. They sounded really good. After that I sat through a couple of bands that did not do much for me. The Effort went on early, and played a good set. The last time I saw them play was Edge Day '07, and there was a lot less people at the show this time around. Still the band played with passion and energy which was cool. I believe that after they played their set, some people took off which left the crowd size around 50 people. Alert were really cool. I like their demo, but like Mindset, I wasn't able to get too familiar with their songs before the show. Thankfully they did a Youth of Today and Judge cover, so I was able to get up front and sing along. I'm looking forward to the vinyl release of their demo. Mindset went on last, and regardless of how many people were there, they just went off and played with such energy. At one point the singer said, "This next one is dedicated to the Boston Crew.", and they then busted into Wolfpack by DYS. Holy shit, I fucking lost it...pushing my way through the handful of people to the front of the stage...screaming along at the top of my lungs. At one point I was moshing across the floor and found someone on the floor under my feet, which sent me sprawling backwards, landing flat on my ass. Shit was awesome, as they ended the tribute covering DYS's (The Girls Got) Limits. Cool show...I'm glad that I made the trip.

Mindset only had white and black vinyl, which I already had, but I did pick up the new 7 inch from The Effort. I got one on clear vinyl with the cloud variant silk screened cover (limited to 200), plus the red vinyl pressing with the fire variant silk screened cover (limited to 225). Wow, the packaging on these is amazing. Damn, I wish that I had pre-ordered this record when it was first released on Hellfish.