Review: Anti-Flag @ Knitting Factory, NYC on Wed.3/26

The latest MySpace secret show crept up at my favorite venue, with one of the best new political punk rock bands to hit the country in the past 15 years. Knitting Factory would host this event with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Anti-Flag and New Jersey act Static Radio.

I arrived to the venue, actually rushing, at 5pm, 3 hours before doors to surprisingly find roughly 10 people waiting outside. I hung out for a few minutes, before finding out that wristbands were being distributed for the show. I got one and walked around, waiting for my friend Walter to arrive. He would finally show up with one of his friends, Giselle, who is apparently into hardcore- pretty neat.

We entered the venue a few minutes after 8pm. Soon after, Static Radio would hit the stage. As they played their fast, short songs, Walter grabbed me to go dance around, which I of course partook in. At this point not very many kids were in the venue, which was seen when a huge space opened up. The band played a solid set that got me moving.

At 8:50pm, the members of Anti-Flag came on stage one by one to one to tear New York City up! They played “911 for Peace,” which was a total surprise, as well as “One Trillion Dollars,” “War Sucks, Let’s Party,” and “This is the End (For You My Friend)” off their last album, and “Underground Network.” They played some boring songs, which saw me and my friends off to the side recuperating from the craziness we involved ourselves in. The band performed a bunch of songs off their new album “The Bright Lights of America.” There was a fair amount of political preaching from Justin Sane, of course, he is a punk singer.

The ultimate highlight was during “Turncoat,” where I would crowd surf for the first time. It was such a rush being in the air with hands holding me up as the audience would push me to the front of the stage. Walter lifted me up, and I didn’t fall, well except when I landed on stage. I then jumped right back into the crowd, score for the stage dive. For a star that’s been to nearly 100 shows in her lifetime, it’s surprising this was my first interaction with the crowd like this. I’ll definitely do it again. It was fun.

Throughout the set, we all looked out for each other, danced together, grabbed each other, jumped up, raised our fists, sung and shouted out lyrics, clapped our hands, and had a good time. It was awesome seeing everyone, having a good time. Their encore was “Die for Your Government” and “The Press Corpse.”

Before walking out the venue, I was handed a limited edition lithograph of the show. It was pretty sweet. This show was such a release for me, with fun people, at my favorite venue, to sing and dance my heart out, not afraid of anything. It was this night that I realized that I could have good show moments with others.