Matador at 21, the semi-intimate celebration of all things Matador Records which occurred over one October weekend in 2010, certainly didn’t seem at first glance to be something that would break the usual festival mold. But within the festival lay a smaller punk rock gig, a club show taking place in an upstairs meeting room after hours, that proved to be one of the most fantastic things I’ve ever seen.
This intimate show was billed as a “battle of the bands” between two of Matador Records’ more punk-tinged acts – Fucked Up, a Canadian hardcore band with elements of shoegaze and a taste for the experimental who impressed me earlier that year at Punk Rock Bowling – and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, a band that draws influence from 70s punk and 80s indie that had topped my “bands I want to see most” list for nearly a decade at that point. So what exactly was the “versus” all about?
Arriving to the room early I saw that both band’s equipment shared the long stage, but not back to front like most gigs. Nope, the band’s gear was side to side as they were all going to be on stage at once.
The show started not with a song but a coin toss, or at least the Vegas equivalent – a poker chip toss. Thrown by Fucked Up frontman Pink Eyes and called in the air by Leo, the victor was Fucked Up and it was time for the night to begin. I was on the edge of my seat, or at least on my tip toes in my 3 millimeters of space in the packed room, eager to sing, or dance, or I don’t know, pump a fist in the air maybe?
The bulk of the groups’ sets were made up of covers that they alternated in two song chunks, Fucked Up’s guttural screams making way for Ted Leo’s soulful falsetto and back again. Fucked Up showed us what Nirvana would have sounded like if Kurt ran a little further with his Black Flag influence with their aggressive cover of “Breed,” and the audience, well, we collectively lost our minds trying to sing along with heads banging too fast to keep up. Another highlight for Fucked Up was a tribute to their at-the-time-very-recently-deceased friend Jay Reatard – “An Ugly Death.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Leo’s voice did justice to a stripped down version of Liz Phair’s “Fuck and Run,” a song that he’d get to perform with Phair herself on the main festival stage a few days later. His take on one of the best songs from one of the best albums Matador Records has released was beautiful, subversive and provided the perfect sing along. Leo’s fan-requested cover of Billy Bragg’s “Between the Wars” elicited a more subdued response but was nonetheless impressive.
There was an obvious friendly competition going on between bands for who could pull out the coolest surprise, and that’s a competition I can get behind. Seeing that the crowd was equally receptive to both groups, it was time to call in reinforcements.
Comedian/writer/producer Tom Scharpling has proven his ability to belt out a power ballad as Greg Universe on Steven Universe, but did you know that The Best Show host can also handle pop punk? Scharpling was tagged in by Fucked Up to provide lead vocals on a straightforward and fun cover of Superchunk’s “Precision Auto,” a song Pink Eyes referred to as one of the best punk songs ever written and hey, who am I to argue? (seriously, this song should be required listening for every up-and-coming pop punk group)
Scharpling’s Best Show partner Jon Wurster (aka Superchunk’s drummer) was Leo’s ace up the sleeve, but he decided to have a little fun with the audience first. After his introduction – “I saw a bumper sticker that said my boss is a guitar playing song writer from New Jersey” – I feel safe in saying that we were all geared up for Leo’s oft-played take on “Dancing in the Dark.” But this was a night for surprises, after all, and after wrapping his story with “and that’s how I am.. his name is Glen Danzig” he lead the Pharmacists take on Misfits’ “We Bite.” Leo did a fine job providing the repeating “we bite” refrain but that didn’t stop the crowd from helping out, singing in unison over the room’s sound system.
But the best part of the night mirrored the best part of any Power Rangers episode (or Voltron, if that’s more your style) – when the two bands joined forces into one sweet looking behemoth. I like a lot of genres but at the end of the day, punk is where it’s at for me so I was over the moon when the supergroup took us on a punk rock history lesson with Sex Pistols’ “Bodies” (punk rock), “That’s When I Reach for My Revolver” by Mission of Burma (post punk) and a raucous cover of Black Flag’s “Rise Above” (hardcore punk). “Rise Above” is about as close as you can get to a perfect song and the two bands did Black Flag proud, with Pink Eyes goading the crowd to scream louder into his mic and Leo playing guitar while surfing the sweat-soaked crowd.
Years later, this show not only stands out as one of my favorites but it leaves me questioning why more festivals don’t offer up this kind of collaboration, something that should come easy with so many musicians together in one place. Get it together, other festivals!
-Emily Matview
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