9/26/14 12:32
Driving into the city last night
was easy. I didn’t rely on the Waze or
the GPS. I have driven in a few times to
the Bowery Electric. I felt confident in
my sense of direction. It’s perhaps one
of my strongest traits. Leaving New Hyde
Park around 9 meant less traffic. I
drank a couple of beers at a farewell party – some salad and pint of water and
I was off. I was a man on a
mission. Onto the cross island and onto the
LIE and then the BQE and follow the signs to Manhattan. The sparking city was resplendent from the
passing rain. I found a parking spot, paralleled
parked the Charger and walked a couple of blocks to the Bowery. Turned left.
Pass some restaurants and a 7-11 and there it was. Walked in, checked in at the ticket table. Showed ID and headed downstairs. Passed legendary Bad Brain’s guitarist, Dr.
No, but was too shy to say anything.
The
place was packed. SubZero was on the
stage. They played the last two songs of
their set. The lights went on and a
flood of bodies escaped into the night.
It was the time to climb into the heat.
I went in, stepped down into the pit and took a spot in the back next to
the sound board. I was safe. I was back against a wall.
I was there to see Regulator which as members of Bad Brains and Cro-Mags. Dr. No was warming up and high fived Mackie,
the drummer of the Cro-Mags as he sat down behind the drums. A content Daryl Jenifer, bassist for the Bad Brains,
eventually was on the stage and warmed up as reggae music thumped through
robust speakers. It was a few minutes of sound check. The collected and anticipating bodies waited like patient monks till John Joseph,
the singer for the Cro-Mags took the mic and asked, “How’s everyone doing?” Ready
to rip.
The super group piled on the bricks of the Bad Brain’s
classics. Sailin’ on, Don’t Need It, The
Regulator, essentially all of the songs off The Bad Brain’s seminal self-titled
album, but skipped over the soothing (take a break from aggression) reggae
selections. They played House of
Suffering off the album I against I and they nailed it.
Why skip the reggae? My thoughts: the reggae songs were the
influences from their singer (HR and his younger brother Earl Hudson) It was
another reminder this was not the Bad Brains on the stage. Not that it mattered to the crunching horde
slam dancing, jumping, legs over heads, shoving the heavy and solid music board
back. The energy in the room raged.
John Joseph carried the tunes very well, but
the strong vibrato, the classic pristine falsetto of HR’s voice was missing
last night. But considering where HR is
now and what he has been up to recently – performing solo shows to some harsh criticism,
even his voice can’t match its peaked past.
Regulator may be flirting with our nostalgic heart
strings. Is there a possibility they
will continue as a band? I was surprised
how short the set was - as well as no encore. There were so many songs left to play and there was the expectation they'd play for an hour plus. I'd say they played for about 45 minutes.
Before closing, John Joseph thanked Jesse Malin for hosting the event. He explained why we were there – it was a
benefit concert for Children’s Tumor Foundation. Even on his FaceBook page he stressed even if
you cannot make the event, you can make a donation to the foundation and suggested
buying a T-Shirt on the way out. All of
the money is donated to the foundation. I will share a link within this post. Enjoy the pictures.
Thank you for reading this.
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