End Of Summer Jam 2

The day after I get back from vacation, Rob and I head to Massachusetts for the second annual End Of Summer Jam. The show was in Lawrence, which is notorious for being a rough town and Rob and I were not thrilled when we got a little lost once we got off the highway. Nothing to worry about though as we quickly found our way to the Knights of Columbus hall where the show was. We got there a little late, so we didn't have to worry about standing outside in the rain and were able to go right in. First place we headed to was the merch tables. Since this was the record release show for both Have Heart and Verse, we did not want to miss out on that vinyl. The Have Heart record was on the limited pre-order color, and had an X of hearts spray painted on the front cover, while the back cover had "EOSJ2, 8/27/06" spray painted on. The Verse record looked better, with the date spraypainted across the front, and the record sleeve was handnumbered out of 108. Mine was number 83. Other than the Resist demo, that was all that I bought, since money was a little tight. I was also finally able to meet Aram face to face. We had communicated through email a few times, and he was nice enough to send me the 12" of the Addiction EP (more on that in a future post), so it was nice to say hi, and thank him in person for the record.

Tons of great bands played this show...Have Heart, Verse, Betrayed, The First Step, Outbreak, and Resist. Betrayed played the best set for me. Aram had some cracked ribs, and yet he still put so much energy into their set. For their song Understand, Aram told the crowd that "This one goes out to my brother.", and then he rubbed my head. Yeah, maybe it is kind of stupid, but it really made me feel good. Other highlights included finally be able to check out Resist. They are a new band which has Wrench from Ten Yard Fight/Stand & Fight on vocals. It is always good to see Wrench on the stage fronting a straight edge band. The Have Heart set was insane. During Something More Than Ink, kids crowded on to the stage, singing along. It was fun having everyone pack on to the stage for that song, but unfortunately the kids thought it was so much fun that they would do it for each song, even though the singer repeatedly told them to stop so the the band could play and kids could dive. In the end it was a great show. Mark your calendar for the End of Summer Jam 3, next August.

Here is a picture of me screaming along with The First Step.