Agnostic Front / Sick Of It All / Crown Of Thornz – The Masquerade, Atlanta, GA, 22nd May 2022

It is the final night of the East Coast leg of the New York United 2022 tour with Agnostic Front, Sick Of It All and Crown of Thornz. The prior evening saw Agnostic Front and Sick of it All, sort of, playing with Guns and Roses at the Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Florida. Sick Of It All was rained out completely. Agnostic Front played for eleven minutes and were cut off mid-song during Crucified.

The first time I saw Agnostic Front was with G.B.H. in 1986 at the Lincoln Theater in Miami Beach. The movie theater seats had been left in right up unto the stage. As soon as Agnostic Front hit the stage the punks and skins proved that doc martens are stronger than movie theater seat ground bolts. It was total chaos with seats flying out of the pit, over and onto the crowd’s heads. My fourth of fifth Agnostic Front show, was my show, at my club: Orbit in Boynton Beach, Florida, circa 2000. A full-on riot ensued. I was punched in the face by a giant guy. One of my security guards was stripped naked. We finally got the hooligans out of the club. We had to chain the doors shut as the hooligans charged the club with swords. SWORDS! So needless to say I was almost nervous going to my first Agnostic Front show in Atlanta, Georgia. The show is taking place at my favorite club: The Masquerade. This show was in Hell; not literally. The Masquerade has three rooms. Heaven (1,200 cap), Hell (550 cap) and Purgatory (500 cap).

The show opened with Crown of Thornz from Queens, New York. I had never really listened to this band. The first 200 attendees of the night were milling around the outskirts of Hell when Crown of Thornz started. Front man Danny Diablo a.k.a. Lord Ezec was having no part of that and quickly derided the crowd into coming up front, including myself. The first two songs were delivered almost stand-offish as were the crowd. Lord Ezec once again had the answer for that with some between song banter. He assured the crowd Crown of Thornz did not care about your race, politics or any B.S., they were just here to party and rock. 

They and the crowd settled in and rest of their set delivered what I expected. A lot of mid-paced bad brains/hip-hop hardcore beats with that crunch, groove and New York attitude. Guitarist Matty Pasta plays a 1992 self-modified Gibson Les Paul studio and has a crunching wrist style which is quite unique. Watching Matty Pasta go into a trance and let loose is worth the price of admission. Listening to these guys I could see the run-down Brooklyn brick buildings, graffiti and street toughs from my childhood there. These guys are so local New York I thought a street plug was going to offer me a dime-bag of weed during their set. Crown of Thornz keep it all on that 80’s to early 90’s tip. I especially enjoyed the song Head Check which borders on a Cro-Mags/Bad Brains tip and also includes a beautiful broken chord melody within it. I had a chance to talk guitar gear with Matty Pasta after the show. He is an engaging individual. Crown of Thornz has a new super fan. That’s me. I’m the new super fan.

Someone fired a shot gun and Sick Of It All flew out the end of the barrel and onto stage. That is the only reasoning scientific enough to explain how these guys, who are my age, have that much energy. Guitarist Pete Koller was attacking and jumping around the stage so much, I was scared for his health. Front man Lou Koller continues to be the most energetic, charismatic, head bopping maniac any scene has ever seen. Songs like Step Down, Sanctuary, Us vs. Them and the show closer Scratch the Surface were all delivered with the enthusiasm of a sixteen year-old at their first show with a hot mate on arm. 

Pete Koller asked the Sunday night crowd of about 400 if anyone in the room was under 25 years old. It was the quietest moment I have ever experienced in mid-town Atlanta. He said that was probably a good thing as Sick Of It All do not play that one Hatebreed riff all the band’s they like play. Pete also mentioned how Covid really “fucked up him up”. He didn’t catch it, but he did have to get a job at a t-shirt factory because of it. Bassist Craig Setari, may also work at said t-shirt factory, or he might just be a slum-lord. Sick Of It All seem confused themselves about this. I thought I heard Pete Koller mention Sick Of It All was straight-edge while gulping down a water. That could explain their incredible stamina and energy. At any rate this band is still on fire and make just about any other band on the planet seem lazy by comparison. 

Agnostic Front took the stage in front of the crowd: equal parts skins, punks and metal heads. Vinnie Stigma immediately grabbed the mic and screamed derogatory comments about our Georgia democratic governor candidate Stacey Abrams. This completely threw me for a loop. And I do not think I was the only attendee that was thrown off by this. The mood in the room went weird. They opened with my favorite song by them ever, Victim in Pain. It was old school glory as they launched into old school favorites from the Victim in Pain album: United and Strong, Blind Justice, and Your Mistake. The Cause for Alarm album was represented equally intensely with The Eliminator and Bomber Zee. Crucified, Gotta Go, For My Family, Old New York and Friend or Foe all were delivered with an evil and anthemic force. Guitarist Craig Silverman is one of their most gifted members they have had. He is the Ron Woods to Vinnie Stigma’s Keith Richards. Craig keeps it all together tightly which allows Vinnie to play around and accent parts as needed. The sound was raw, punk and crisp. 

Still, things were a little weird. Stigma’s opening comment be ignored, the songs and Agnostic Front’s passion, along with their history and meaning to the crowd, had everyone singing and dancing along. Agnostic Front fittingly finished their set off with a tribute to Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy: Blitzkrieg Bop, the Ramones song from the New York band that started it all (at least for me). Roger Miret, who has beaten two cancer surgeries, was told by his doctors not to do this tour. However, Roger, “Listened to all of you, and came any way.” Agnostic Front do not seem like they are slowing down any time soon to spite all their perils.  Maybe some old habits just don’t ever die, i.g., the DMS sticker that still adorns Stigma’s LTD guitar. A guitar which evidently had no guitar stand. Each band had their guitars just leaning up against the amps pre-show. Nary a guitar stand was seen the entire night. Weird. 

I had a chance to speak with Vinnie Stigma after the show, although I did not take it. I did not want to take a chance of one of my heroes becoming anything less in my mind. It was complicated and weird. So although nothing was physically assaulted at my first Atlanta Agnostic Front show; mentally, it may be a different story. At every Agnostic Front South Florida show I ever saw, there was at the very least a fight. Maybe this scene is getting too old for that hooligan shenanigans or perhaps Atlanta is just a less violent scene than South Florida. In conclusion, you can’t stop these New York bands. Their brand of punk and hardcore is legendary and beloved here in Atlanta and all over the world. They may leave N.Y.C. to go on tour but they will never escape being and living New York. And they wouldn’t have it any other way.