A huge crowd, the smiles of old friends, the camaraderie and the MUSIC… the list of expectations one has when going to the proverbial “Reunion” show. These and more were exceeded by both Left Wing Fascists and Waxing Poetics this past Sunday. Al “Big Al” Staggs (vocals), Scott Carlisle (guitar), Markus Wegener (bass), Richie Bohr (guitar), David Amaleh (drums) and Rick Murphy (drums) gave an exuberant performance. Highlights included Paul Johnson and Jeff Bailey of Waxing Poetics joining them for “I Drive a Yugo”. The dueling guitars licks from Scott and Paul were a blast to watch. The entire crowd was chanting “I ain’t got no quarter” as if they had just heard it yesterday.

The Poetics played a fantastic, tight, two plus hour set that included three new songs written by David Middleton. Dave (lead vocals/guitar), Bill Shearin (drums), Paul Johnson (guitar/vocals) and Jeff Bailey (bass) delivered fan-favorites from each of their three studio albums. Some standouts included “Jet Black Plastic Pistol”, “Where Your Name Is”, “If You Knew Sushi” and many more. As has always been the case, Waxing Poetics’ chemistry with each other and their audience virtually transforms their songs when performing live. Sean Hennessy, original bassist, joined them for the last few tunes including “Iodine” and “Thin Legs”. Wrapping it up with THREE encore sets finally seemed to satisfy the packed NorVa. The house was definitely rocking!

If you were there, none of this is news to you! If you weren’t there and you are local, next time, if there is a next time, don’t stay home!! Check out these photos by the amazing Beth Austin.

• Click to open image!
• Click to open image!
• Click to open image!
• Click to open image!
• Click to open image!
• Click to open image!
• Click to open image!
• Click to open image!
• Click to open image!
•  

Scroll down below to see some video of WP shot by Unger that night...from the Norva photo pit!