Images: Judge, H2O, Killer of Sheep, Folsom May 24, 2014 at the Las Vegas Country Saloon (Punk Rock Bowling)

The Punk Rock Bowling club shows are pretty predictable. There’s always the one odd hardcore band, the side-project of a bigger band, acoustic sets by some of our favorite frontmen, and, of course, dozens of smaller punk bands who are trying to make names for themselves. So needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised that THE New York straight edge band, JUDGE, would be making an appearance during the weekend…and that they would be joined by H20, Killer of Sheep, and Folsom at Las Vegas Country Saloon – a bar.

Hometown heroes Folsom took the stage first and played a fantastic career-spanning set. This was the band’s second show since reuniting two weeks before and, to my amazement, they sounded as if they haven’t skipped a beat. If it’s any indication of the crowd’s reaction to their set, Punks in Vegas contributor Aaron Bautista suffered a pretty nasty elbow-to-the-eye injury while taking photos. I can’t think of a finer band to represent the Las Vegas hardcore scene.

Pittsburgh’s Killer of Sheep played to a tiny audience that impoverished the energy brought by Folsom’s set. But despite an indifferent audience, they put on a great show, reminding me of Cause for Alarm-era Agnostic Front – a nice precursor for the next two bands on the bill. The vocalist expressed his gratitude numerous times to the handful of people who watched, and it’s a shame they didn’t receive the same attention the other bands did, because I became an instant fan.

The end of Killer of Sheep’s set brought dozens of people into the venue, and chants of “H20! H20!” began. The New York punk veterans opened with the first song from 2008’s Nothing to Prove, “1995,” which resulted in immediate stage dives and singalongs. H20 covered quite a bit of ground, and songs like “Thicker Than Water,” “Guilty By Association,” and “Nothing to Prove” got great crowd reaction. It was surprising to see a venue as large as LVCS welcome the activity and, knowing this, fans took advantage by hurling themselves off the stage and speakers. Even frontman Toby Morse seemed surprised and humbled by how fans received his band. Amidst the chaos, they sounded incredibly clean and guitar solos sounded crisp. Their choice of covers (Black Sabbath, Fugazi, Sick of It All) was the icing on the cake, and this was one of my favorite sets in recent memory – and the clear winner during the festival weekend.

Surprisingly, a substantial group of the audience left after H20’s set which left headliners Judge with a smaller audience. Many of these people flocked to the bars though, which makes sense given that Judge is known as one of the most aggressive straight-edge bands in history. My introduction to the band was their only proper LP, Bringin’ It Down and seeing the first song, “Take Me Away” performed live brought chills to my spine and I was harkened back to when I first listened to the record. It seemed as if only a few people shared this connection with me, however, as only about a dozen people watched the band against the barrier, leaving an awkward circle in the middle and the rest of the crowd in the back. This was the case for most of the set as the band ran through much of their brief discography: playing songs such as “Fed Up!” and “Where It Went.” The lack of energy from the crowd reciprocated in the band’s stage presence and while the songs sounded fine, the band didn’t seem into it. I’ve always thought the two major songwriters, guitarist John Porcelly and vocalist Mike “Judge” Ferraro were yin and yang in terms of stage presence: Porcelly would bring the energy while Ferraro would focus on the performance. I was fortunate enough to see Judge at their first west coast show since reuniting, at the Observatory in Santa Ana – and while this yin/yang symbiote rang true for both performances I’ve seen, they definitely put more into the Santa Ana performance, since the audience was right there giving it back to them. The highlight of Judge’s set was their final song “New York Crew” which was still met with little fanfare, as everyone filed out of the building.

-Ian Caramanzana

Photos by Aaron Bautista | http://www.aaronbautista.net

and Ian Caramanzana