(sorry, no pix yet for this show - send us yours!)

Original Lineup
-Despite (Wisconsin Crust)
-Murder Squad (Toronto Crust)
-HTML (Pittsburgh Political Hardcore)
-Veil (Butler thrash)
-Disinfectant (now deceased local band)

This was a show that I was worried about. May 20th fell on a Monday night and that was pretty much the main reason why I was concerned. I knew about this show long in advance, Bob- the lead singer in Despite, had done a really good job of preparing for it ahead of time. With everything that went down on April 5th and the venue problems that were happening in the area, this show unfortunately didn't get advertised as early as it should have. It took some time to get our partnership set up and confirmed with the fire department, and there was no point in telling people about it until I knew for sure if we had a place to have it at.

Again, this show almost didn't happen because of election ballot people setting up the same night, but a compromise was worked out to be done by 9pm. The show got rolling by about 5:30, and for various reasons there ended up 5 bands on the bill. Once it got under way there ended up about 40 to 50 people that showed up and I was really happy with that number. It seemed less just because the hall is so big and open, but nothing is perfect I guess.

As far as I know, there had never been a weekday show up there, at least not for a very long while, and being that school was still in also had another knock against it for people showing up. I know some people were wondering why there was a show on a Monday, but touring bands need shows on every night of the week, not just Fridays and Saturdays. If touring bands are expected to steadily start stopping up there, shows need to become more common on days outside of the weekends. But still that was enough to cover the expenses for the most part and get everyone some gas money.

Another first came in the form of the lineup. Despite and Murder Squad are strait up crust punk and that sort of thing has definitely stopped up there in quite a while. It was cool though, it seemed that at least some kids dug it and they got the chance to see something different. Veil and HTML both put on a really good show I thought. Unfortunately, Veil's set had to be cut short just to avoid pissing off the ballot people and hence risking the set-up with concerts at the hall, but nothing could really be done otherwise, and unfortunately this was Disinfectant's last show. In the end, it taught me that weekday shows are possible and options for the future, I just have to expect to flier twice as much for half the turnout.