Last  Saturday night I headed down to The Bowery Dublin to what I can honestly say was the most brutal savage show I have been to so far. U.S.A Punk giants Leftover Crack were headlining along with All Torn Up with support from The Dubtones, DEATHBUS and The Divils. I knew it was going to be crazy but this was insane. Firstly, a venue that looks like the inside of a ship…. epic idea, the stage was the bow, canons around the walls lanterns above your head and wood décor you couldn’t ask for a better venue. Feeling like a shifty pirate from Pirates Of The Caribbean I settled in nicely.

Dubliners The Divils warmed up the crowd with a reggae hint to their punk rock. Light and bouncy they have the crowd bopping to their tropical toned guitar riffs and moshing to the punkier tunes. They brought a danceable fun atmosphere with humorous banter and solid energetic catchy tracks. Each track takes a heavy aggressive turn adding a bit of grit to the set and giving the crowd something to mosh to. Acting as the calm before the storm they deceive us with sunny holiday vibes. That is until DEATHBUS swarm in playing “some really stupid music really f***ing fast”. It’s a fierce growling set of heavy ear bleeding metal. What the lyrics are I couldn’t tell you, but it set the crowd alight in an insane fury of headbanging. There was hair swishing everywhere one guy was so entranced and heavily moshing I thought he was going to bash his head off the stage. Shrilling guitars with a neck snapping speed their set was brutal, blood thirsty and adrenaline pumping lunacy. The Dubtones follow with an equally energetic but less slaughterous set. With rock and roll hints and groovy rhythm they bring back a taste of the boppy bubbly vibes causing a wiggle-like mosh dance among the crowd.Cracking pirate ship jokes and all “cos we arrr!” it’s an entertaining set. Brassy NYC punk band All Torn Up follow. Interacting directly with the crowd frontman Joey Steel jumps into the audience to mosh along with them before preaching about the wretched world and “backward pieces of sh*t”. His sweat flicking everywhere as the crowd laps up his enthusiasm. These guys have a demanding stage presence and relentless stamina as they jump shout and swear with compelling endurance. It’s a slick brisk set bursting with fiery attitude. The audience erupt into spasms of madness. Jumping pushing headbanging and just plain going crazy. Each track is a battering assault to the senses but an invigorating experience for sure. Punk mammoths Leftover Crack take over the stage like a kraken. With literally a bruising set, crowd members are bashing into each other throwing one another to the floor. There is a strange sense of  comradery amongst these heavy moshers once they fall down they get picked up to be bashed to the floor again. Their rapturous set drives the crowd wild. These guys provide one of the most involving satisfying raw live sets I’ve experienced. They are musically airtight and enraged with brutally efficient riffs, pummeling drums and dynamic vocals that alternate between raspy roars and croons. Unfortunately much to my frustration my battery died before their set so I couldn’t take any pictures, but these guys are larger than life and put on a fantastic show.

It was a night of beards,badges and denim with pulverizing music to batter your eardrums and slick grooves. Don’t you just love it when a bunch of fierce throttling mighty bands get together and put on a thrilling show- vocal growls, head-splitting tunes, sweat and all. Unforgettable.