The Fat Wreck Tour invaded a soggy Washington, DC on this Friday night, and it was an excellent representation of what awesome bands FAT has on their roster. Kicking the show off were THE ATARIS, whose infectious brand of pop-punk filled the chambers of the Nation. This was an early show, so the crowd had not fully arrived by the time they took the stage, but nonetheless, after a few songs of just standing around, the crowd finally loosened up and began dancing with no abandon. THE ATARIS have that uncanny ability to have each one of their songs just as catchy as the next one. Their songwriting is exceptionally sharp and consistent. THE ATARIS closed their set with my favorite song of theirs, “”San Dimas High School Football Rules,”" and about 50 people stormed the stage and sang along. It was mayhem, but the love song, sing along type of mayhem. And although they only played for 30 minutes tonight, they left a strong impression on those in the crowd who had never seen them before. Good Stuff.

Up next were the MAD CADDIES, the token ska-punk band on the bill. I’m not really a big ‘CADDIES fan, mainly because ska no longer grips me like it used to and the fact that they also tend to sound like a circus band, but they played an extremely tight and energetic set that would blow apart most other ska-punk band’s live sets. The crowd didn’t seem all too familiar with most of their songs, but every now and then, a song of the ‘CADDIES that had appeared on a FAT comp would show up, and the crowd of course would go wild. Not much else to say about these guys. Sweet live show, but I just have a hard time listening to that “”chinka chinka”" guitar sound.

No Use For A Name played third tonight, and were AWESOME. Not as great as GOOD RIDDANCE, but then again, who is? The last time I caught NUFAN was on the 1998 Warped Tour when they played a small stage to a few hundred dirty kids, so needless to say, I was very much excited to see NUFAN again, and they did not let me down one bit. They aren’t quite as strong sounding as they used to be, and their new material is a lot poppier, but their intensity as a live act hasn’t declined at all. Starting off their set with the furor of “”Savior,”" and then hitting such fan favorites as “”Exit,”" “”Redemption Song,”" “”Soulmate,”" “”Answer,”" and “”Life Sized Mirror,”" among others, the pit was turned into a giant “”fend for your life”" styled frenzy. With bodies flying everywhere, (no thanx to the guy who landed his shoe on my jaw) and nearly everyone singing along in the first oh, 40 rows of people, this was easily one of the most fun sets that I had been up front for in a while. It took awhile for the band to ease into their set though. Tony was well warmed up to the crowd, but the bassist and the guitarist were pretty stiff for the first few songs. Fortunately, NUFAN closed their set with “”Feeding the Fire,”" one of my favorite songs of theirs and both the crowd and the band were going nuts and jumping everywhere. If you get the chance to check out NUFAN on tour, don’t hesitate for even a moment.

Alright, if any of you reading this know me, you know i’m a pretty big GOOD RIDDANCE fan, so I was incredibly psyched to go this show. I got to The Nation almost two hours before showtime to do an interview with them, which was more of a conversation with Russ, talking about everything from hockey to the new ep of theirs coming out in mid May. I got to meet Luke and Chuck too, who were super nice fellas. They were excellent guys to hang out with and I can’t thank them enough for letting me stay with them for a bit. But back to the music. Instead of getting my body torn apart in the pit, I was able to watch the set from backstage, basically giving myself plenty of space to go off during GOOD RIDDANCE. It was kinda like when you listen to a favorite album on your stereo in your bedroom and you close to door so you can jump around, sing along and accidentally break stuff. Starting off their set with the opening track on “”Operation Phoenix,”" GR took control of a crowd yearning to let their screams out. Touching nearly all the hits, GR barrelled through their set of high-octane hardcore, never letting up once. I extremely dug it when they played “”Waste,”" and “”Choices Made”" back to back, probably their two heaviest songs, each with monster breakdowns. Other hits played were “”Mother Superior,”" “”Jeanie,”" “”Dear Cami,”" “”Hersey, Hypocrisy…”" “”Steps,”" “”Weight of the World,”" and “”Think of Me.”" GR have a ton to offer. Highly intelligent lyrics and crushing music make them highly appealing and almost impossible to stop listening to. If you’re a fan of punk or hardcore and you haven’t heard of GR or have been waffling over whether you should get a CD of theirs, get a clue, they rule and so does their live set. Awesome freaking show.