WRAP-UP: Chaos in Tejas [Part 2]

Chaos has swept the city. Austin felt the presence of some of underground music's finest. In its 6th year, Chaos in Tejas has continued to outdo itself in its magnitude. It is now over, and most of the people who traveled to Austin, TX from all parts of the world have already returned home. Only to await the announcement of next year's events which are sure to surpass expectations.

I spent most of Thursday night at the Mohawk for the UNBROKEN show. Met up with some old friends. I thought I was running late, but I got their just in time. Power Trip opened the show and got the crowd moving. Riffs for days. They never disappoint. Keep your eyes out for the new record. Free Spirit followed and straight killed it. This band is too good. If someone asks you what Hardcore sounds like, show them Free Spirit. DFJ was playing drums for them, so that should tell you something. I don't think the dude has done wrong, musically. He was also playing in Rival Mob and Mind Eraser, amongst others throughout the weekend. The singer of FS was also wearing one of my all-time favorite HC shirt designs. Ill. I watched Ceremony from afar, and mind you, I haven't seen or listened to them in years, but they were better than I thought they'd be. The crowd was eating it up. UNBROKEN was up next. You could see the crowd shift as some of the younger kids made their way to the back and the older heads stepped up. Their set was awesome. Besides Donger, I was probably the youngest dude moshing. No fucks given. xNoblex dusted off his mosh, as did other heads. Omegas started up on the inside stage, and shit got ignorant. There is no other way. I missed Universal Order of Armageddon, and actually, I headed home early that night due to working early the next day. I was bummed about missing Big Freedia, Katey Red and Double Negative.

Photos by Tyler Nutter. Find more on Flickr.

After work on Saturday, I thought I was good on time, so I went home and kicked it for a minute. Then I realized the show at Mohawk started at 7PM, so I bolted out the door headed for downtown. I made it to the venue just after Urban Blight. Shitty. I had been excited about their set. The day before I was talking to my boys from Cutting Losses, and it got brought up that a surprise Step Forward set would be unlikely. We were wrong. "What's up? We're Step Forward." The place went crazy and didn't slow down through the Rival Mob. Raw Life. Their set went hard. Unfortunately, Rampage didn't have as good of a reaction as I thought, but their set was awesome. I attributed it to them playing right before Youth of Today, which is an honor in and of itself.

Finally, the moment everyone had been waiting for: YOUTH OF TODAY. The crowd filled the room. Fists were X'd up and the tension was building. I made my way up front as they took the stage. The crowd took flight from start to finish. There were non-stop stagedives throughout the set. Noble of One Against Many enacted a 3 stagedive minimum for anyone in attendance. He definitely met his quota. Being one of the bigger dudes up front, I was used as a launchpad by most people to get on stage, but I managed to even get one in. I feel bad for whoever I landed on. Oh wait, no I don't. They played most of the hits. A lot of stuff off of Break Down the Walls. They even played Disengage. There were a couple of songs I would've liked 'em to play. They even threw in covers of Minor Threat and 7 Seconds. All in all, one of the best shows I've ever been to.

FLAME STILL BURNS

Unfortunately, I was broke for most of the weekend which resulted in me missing a couple of excellent shows. The one I'm most bummed about was Iron Age's last show at Emo's. Dbag got in and said it was awesome, but I wouldn't know, personally, so here's a video for all those who also missed it:



"RIP! Iron Age is done. Thank you." -Chase Money
The past couple of days had me worn out, so I missed the free day show at Red7 after getting out of work, and I just headed to the Mohawk to catch Fucked Up and Dillinger Four. Fucked Up never disappoints. I've seen 'em many times over the years, and they still put on a great show. I haven't listened to them much after Hidden World, but the newer stuff they played sounded good. They even did a couple of older songs [Police and Baiting the Public]. Damian is always fun to watch. He's just all over the place. He spent most of their set in the crowd giving people hugs and even ended up on the balcony overlooking the stage and jumping in photos. I ran inside and talked NBA with Greg Wilmott while watching the final minutes of Game 3 of the Finals. Fuck the Heat. Found my boy James in the crowd and sang along to Dillinger Four. Their set was a solid mix of old and new. Lots of babes, too. That's always a plus about pop-punk shows: babes. D4 makes their set lively with a mix of humor and high-energy punk ballads. I missed the first 2 songs, but got their just in time to see them play Gainesville, which has to be one of my favorite songs of the past couple of years.

The Black Twilight Circle was having a showcase at Red7, but by this point I was beyond tired. I heard from a few notable heads that the show was real good, despite a weak turnout, but I just had to get some sleep.

With that, Chaos in Tejas was through. Friends headed back home. Locals went back to work. Downtown began to smell better.

Until next year...