East Coast and West Coast hardcore collide for a monumental tour that should not be missed. California’s Circle Jerks and New York’s Gorilla Biscuits came together for a special East Coast tour that fans will talk about for years to come. With a rotating opener, the first few shows will feature Detroit’s Negative Approach, which will give the audience a taste of Midwest hardcore. Negative Approach came out and went straight to the point. With barely any talking between songs, they played straight through their set and let the music do the talking. A circle pit was created within minutes of their set and wouldn’t close until the last song. Even though the audience was made up of older fans, a good portion of fans were young kids, which was great, seeing that the hardcore flag will continue to be carried.
For Gorilla Biscuits, New York and East Coast hardcore is all about stage diving, the crowd singing along into the microphone, and coming together as one. Having a barricade brings a challenge, but Civ made the best of it and got into the crowd every chance he could get. He would also just throw the microphone into the crowd and let everyone sing the songs. This was good clean fun, but security wasn’t a fan, and Civ had to tell them multiple times that we have it handled. From fans jumping on stage and stage diving to someone climbing up a pillar to crowd surf, you can’t put restrictions on a band like Gorilla Biscuit,s let alone hardcore music. With a fantastic setlist that included a Minor Threat cover of “Minor Threat,” which caused some of the security to get angry, Gorilla Biscuits’ youth crew sound still brings that positive ethos we continue to hold true to today.
As Circle Jerks hit the stage, Keith Morris wanted to give a history lesson on the music throughout the show. He would explain the bands everyone in the Circle Jerks was involved in and how we all ended up here. Along with this, he also gave a history lesson in California hardcore and punk rock. Some may have thought this was too much talking, yet they would still play around 30 songs, but information like this should be noted and documented. Circle Jerks are one of the pioneers of the 80’s punk and hardcore music movement, and as the years go on, these bands will only exist through the recordings. Having this knowledge of what happened during that time and some of the unknown bands that were around for only a month, sometimes, should be celebrated and talked about for younger fans to know and carry on…