For what it’s worth, I haven’t been to all that many “”Sunday Matinees,”" since that concept seemed to have vanished quite a bit since it was popular in the late 80s, early-to-mid 90s, but with doors at 6pm on a Sunday, I’ll make an exception and count this one in too. Before this show was announced to the DC area, I was planning on making the trip to Philly to see this line-up, because honestly, look at the top three bands on here – clearly, one of hardcore’s finest tripling of bands. Shortly after doors, a young, local, seriously heavy metalcore outfit called REFLUX took the stage, which I imagine must have been quite humbling for these guys.

Although no one in the crowd seemed to know who these guys were, it didn’t take long for REFLUX to grab their collective attentions and induce them in a 30 minute show of long freaking songs, and obscene amounts of timing changes. The singer’s growls, screams, and so forth were pretty cool, and overall, they seemed to show a lot of talent. If you dig that south Florida, BIRDS OF ILL OMEN type of thing, look out for these guys (even though their name and logo make them seem like a crustcore band, heh).

To my surprise, STRETCH ARMSTRONG played next instead of SHAI HULUD, but whatever, I was more than ready for the almighty positivity and hardcore fury displayed by these guys. With a crowd of maybe 400 people, SAS’ sing-along style qualities were somewhat lost in the huge aspects of Nation, but for those who were up front, it was just as intense as any small club show. Aftering opening with the epic, “”For the Record,”" the band went on to hit, “”Means to an End,”" “”The Truth About Iowa”" (about a winter tour with SHAI HULUD a few years ago), “”When Words Escape,”" the absolutely crushing, “”Second Chances,”" “”Outside Looking In,”" and a few others that have passed my mind. In their 35 minutes or so of glory, STRETCH members proceeded to continually run across the stage, jump up and down like possessed beings (maybe they are taking lessons from Mr. Pete Koller), and sing with the voracity of a drill instructor. After their set, I noticed that the band had quickly packed up and left for their 8 hour drive back to South Carolina, forgoing quality time to sell more merch. I suppose that’s a move a band has to make when three of their five members have to teach a class the next day.

As long as SHAI HULUD has been around (almost five years now), they’ve gone through more line-up changes, band relocations, and other such developments (hmm…like the former singer who’s now in NEW FOUND GLORY…yes….), that they have only succeeded in releasing a spate of material that makes any serious metalcore fan obviously yearn for more. Fortunately, a new full length is only weeks away, and after seeing their current line-up live, this is definitely going to be one saucy record. The relativley hum-drum crowd clearly got going during this set, justifiably so in the theme of “”for those about to mosh.”" Oh yeah…bodies flying everywhere, insane pit action…this felt good. I’m no expert on all of SHAI HULUD’s songs, but the classics, “”My Heart Bleeds the Darkest Blood,”" “”A Profound Hatred of Man,”" and the killer, “”This Wake I Myself Have Stirred,”" were devastating in nature. I’m so looking forward for another SHAI HULUD show after their new disc comes out.

It’s funny thinking about how different SHAI HULUD and SICK OF IT ALL are: technical/metal/very esoteric lyrics vs. brutally honest/virtual inventors of NYHC/straight-ahead lyrics. In any rate, good music is good music no matter what way you slice it and more so, SICK OF IT ALL’s brand of hardcore will most likely outlast nearly every other kind, based on the fact that no pretensions surround it. I’ve never played in a band, but SICK OF IT ALL inspires me to get on a stage. Vocalist Lou Koller is one of the funniest people I’ve ever watched, he just cracks me up, and more so, seems to have an absolute blast on stage, even when he knows that there was probably a time and place when SICK OF IT ALL came to DC and sold-out every show, or packed in 1000 plus. Regardless, SICK OF IT ALL never cease to amaze me, and after completing a sterling set this evening, every word of theirs rings true tenfold.

After starting off with an oldie in “”Clobbering Time,”" SOIA quickly moved through their set, covering material from all of their full-lengths, including a song they rarely play from “”Scratch the Surface,”" ‘Goatless.’ As these guys are still touring their recent album “”Yours Truly,”" many of these tunes were touched on, and it’s definitely cool to see the progression in song-writing style, as stuff like, “”Blown Away,”" “”Hello Pricks”" (which created a massive pile on), “”America,”" and “”Disco Sucks Fuck Everything,”" are all so bouncy, and groove laden – certainly a concept that any nu-metal band could learn from. One humorous moment was when SOIA played “”Hindsight”" from the “”Call to Arms”" disc and the crowd kinda seemed out of the loop. Lou quipped, “”does anyone know where that song is from? “”Call to Arms.”" Anyone know of that disc? Anyone? You guys don’t like when I actually sing. We’re actually all really sensitive guys.”" Another “”Lou”" moment of the night was when he dared all of the “”pit-people”" up front to start chasing all of those of where hanging around the back, “”too cool to be up front,”" which many of those in attendance decided to act upon after Lou issued his dare. Then there was the “”Braveheart”" floor dance, which divided the room in the half, and at the start of a song, had both sides runs towards each other in medieval-clash form. That was just hilarious, and I wonder if that was caught on camera by anyone – kinda remind me of going to Bar Mitzvah’s in middle school and playing Coke and Pepsi. Anyway, Craig Setari performed his killer “”Busted”" from the “”Built to Last”" album, which was rockin’ as always, and as expected, SOIA ended the evening with the all in good fun, “”Step Down.”"

So in summary: support these bands, and someone hire Lou Koller for color commentary at the Superbowl of Hardcore in DC on January 13th, 2002.