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« NXNE Day 3: The Anti-NXNE Day | NXNE Day 4 and 5: The End »

Saturday, June 16, 2012

NXNE NXNE Day 3: METZ and The Men

best of the fest

Posted by Alison Lang on Sat, Jun 16, 2012 at 1:23 PM

I'll try and keep this one short because I know you get bored easily and breakfast is calling my name. After biking nearly 15K on Thursday night we decided to stick at one venue the next night. First we met up with some familiar faces at the Exclaim!/Jagermeister BBQ, where free samples were indeed offered and enjoyed. The HPX folks and I marveled at our unintentionally matching tangerine t-shirts. We piled on the lanyards and did our best douchey pose. As there were many actual douches afoot, it was easy to do.

cool story bro

Then a slow stroll down College, where A Taste of Italy was in full swing. This meant steak sandwiches:

yumyumyum

And a packed street, closed off to traffic:

pretty!

And fife bands (loads of fifes! EVERYWHERE.) And little kids jamming with their dads on the street.

We rolled to the venue covered in sweat. I got a beer and realized I didn't smell too great. Whoops. Then METZ started and the entire world imploded.

yeeeeeaaaaahhhh!

Not only were METZ the best band I saw that night but I'm pretty sure they will be the best band I see for the rest of this festival. Sorry, everyone else. Recently and rightfully signed to Sub Pop to record their first record, METZ are piercing hellfire, gnashing skrokky punk, perfect screams, and the wildest, most electrifying presence I've seen in ages. I don't know what else to say. It was unreal. This is the feeling I've been chasing and it was buried in METZ's black scratchy heart the entire time.

The Men came on next and the room filled up. Sweat dripped from the ceilings and down my spine as I watched these capable fellows bust out a set of pure fierce rawk. Pages torn from the Dinosaur Jr songbook, and when I say that, I'm including the heavy influence of classic rock and tasty guitar solos in general - my husband astutely stated that they were a group of punk dudes who never quite shook off their parent's Deep Purple and Creedence playlists on summer car trips. Solid solid set. No photos due to moisture.

Then the Death Set came on. They are basically the Australian Japanther. Not quite the same but you get the idea. The somewhat-emptier room turned into a giant joy-dance mosh pit. We fell into tables and people were flying all over the place. Uncomplicated but very fun, and a great way to round out the night.