[CANCELLED: May 30, 2020] Against Me! / Baroness / Drug Church
I had a ticket to see Against Me! on their “2 Nights / 4 Records / 48 Songs,” tour.
I was mostly interested in seeing Dilly Dally who was opening, but I thought it would be interesting to see Against Me! as well. My night was for the White Crosses/Transgender Dysphoria Blues albums. I actually don’t know those newer albums (I have New Wave), but I was interested in hearing them.
This show seemed like a good opportunity to check them out
But the main reason I wanted to go to this show was for Baroness.
I saw John Baizley play with Strand of Oaks a few years ago and he was a great addition. I hadn’t heard his band, but I immediately had to check them out. I really liked them. Last year I got to see and meet Baroness at an in store performance at Vintage Vinyl, but seeing Baroness acoustic in a record store (as cool as it was) is nothing like seeming them as full band in concert.
Unfortunately their Philly stop was at the Decibel Metal & Beer Fest that had a good line up but sounded like a nightmare, honestly. But when they set up the rest of their dates, they didn’t do Philly again.
I don’t know Drug Church, but I’ve read that their sound mixes hardcore punk with alternative rock and grunge. I listened to their song “Avoidarama” (love the name) and I really liked it (it’s far more grunge than hardcore and no screaming vocals). “Grubby” has a bit more punk elements, and I liked it too. I hope they tour with them when this gets rescheduled.
This show in Stroudsburg is the closest their were coming and even though they weren’t headlining (double headliner, I guess) it was the best I could do. I’ve never been to a show in Stroudsburg before and I was curious how the commute there would compare to Philly. But I’ve heard the Sherman Theater is really nice.
Since this show was at the end of May, I was counting it as a sort of holding out hopes for shows to not get cancelled. But better safe than sorry.