She goes out dancing with her friends

Sidewalk Driver, Township  @ Brighton Music Hall, Allston, MA (10/1/11)

Soooo I'm at Brighton Music Hall and the place is the most packed I've ever seen it. I mean, realistically, I've only ever seen the place like 5 times, but it's the most packed out of those 5 times, so that's saying something, right? Anyway, I come in during Andrea Gillis' set, but I don't feel like I saw enough of it to make career-making-or-breaking judgments here, so I'll skip right to Sidewalk Driver. I reviewed these dudes' album back in like, 2009, which basically means I'm an expert on their music. I even know some of the words to their songs! These guys seem to have a pretty impressive following, because I see lots of hot chicks dancing around to "She Goes Out Dancing." So thanks to Sidewalk Driver for getting some babes to come out to a metal show, for real. They sound pretty good and I even find myself dancing with my friends a little bit, like the song says. Anyway these dudes are putting on an awesome energetic show and my favorite is when Tad takes off his little top hat. That's when shit starts to get crazy.

If you haven’t seen these guys, you’re missing out on a lot of glitter. See video:

Okay so Sidewalk Driver finishes, and then the room gets all dark and a big screen comes down out of nowhere and there's this completely ridiculous spoof documentary about modern music or something. I don't even know. I went to the bathroom to fix my hair for like 10 minutes and I came back out and this video was still going, and people were starting to be all, "Ugh, less video more rock." Eventually Township complies with the crowd's communal desire for rock by stopping their mockumentary and picking up their instruments. These dudes totally shred with crowd favorites like "Sinister Minister," "Gunning Through the Night," and "Warrior Chief." Like, I'm headbanging so much that I'm pretty sure my neck is going to be sore tomorrow. Also, I don't know what kind of madness comes over everyone, but the crowd actually complies when asked to provide some wolf howls. Awesome. So, in addition to being totally entranced by Mark Pinansky's beard for like an hour, I feel like I have been sufficiently rocked tonight, so I'd say this show was a smashing success.