LIVE: Anti-Flag

Thursday, March 27, 2008 | 9:19 AM

Wednesday, March 26
New York, NY
The Knitting Factory

Last night's Anti-Flag concert at the Knitting Factory was my first ever "MySpace Secret Show." I'm still confused as to what a "MySpace Secret Show" entails? Besides a small banner hanging from the wall and some extra room in the mosh pit, you couldn't even tell the evening was being presented by MySpace.

Um, I think if you add "Secret Shows" to your MySpace friend-list, you get alerted to the concert a couple days before everyone else?? I don't know what the hell I'm talking about--let's just get to the performance.

Anti-Flag opened the show looking and sounding like a well-seasoned punk band. All the members of the band were dressed in black (nice), all of them had cool-looking haircuts (nice), Chris #2 clocked some major hang-time with his flying scissor-kicks (nice), and to add to the spectacle, Anti-Flag had flood-lights on their amplifiers that nearly blinded everyone in the bedroom-sized Knitting Factory (double nice!).

Those expecting to see a punk show got one. I'm a fan of the brand of punk inspired by the artists of the late 70's and early 80's. Give me a little Ramones-pop, the stage moves, politics, and haircuts of The Clash, and the angry brow of Ian MacKaye and I'm a happy camper. In my opinion, only a handful of current-day punk bands can (sincerely) bring this to the table.

After watching Anti-Flag rip through a few songs, it's obvious to see why they're a cut above their punk contemporaries--they're able to perfectly blend punk, pop, and spit-fire politics, all while bouncing around on stage sounding amazingly tight on their instruments (a talent many young punk bands have yet to master). Bassist, Chris #2, is the group's high-energy showman, the "yang" to Justin Sane's "yin" (it was very fitting that his buzzcut was dyed half black/half white). He also did an impressive job playing traffic cop last night directing the throng of kids being tossed up on stage.

Anti-Flag's new material, "Good and Ready", "The Bright Lights of America", "Vices", and "If You Wanna Steal" fit nicely into their set-list alongside their catalog favorites. In between songs, Chris #2 did most of the talking. A couple times throughout the performance, the banter seemed a little shticky, especially when the crowd was instructed to do a "circle pit" (I'm a firm believer in crowds starting their own "circle pits"), and Chris #2's liberal use of the word "fuck." After a handful of times, the mightiest of expletives, lost its impact. I can overlook this though, because I know Anti-Flag's punk-rock politics stretch way beyond their stage show.

Midway through the set, Chris #2 mentioned, "Usually I'd say Rupert Murdoch was a mother fucker, but he did bring us all here tonight." Justin Sane followed with, "Rupert Murdoch IS a mother fucker. If we can use MySpace for our gains, then it's worth it--fuck Rupert Murdoch!" If you didn't put two-and-two together, Murdoch is the chairman of News Corp., the global conglomerate that owns the Fox Network and, you guessed it, MySpace.

At the beginning of Anti-Flag's encore, Justin Sane finally took some time to speak to the crowd in length. Because he kept silent most of the set, he seemed to have the EF Hutton-effect (when he spoke everyone listened). Sane spoke of a Free Tibet rally which he had attended earlier in the day in New York City, and also talked about the upcoming election--he's not thrilled with Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, but fears that John McCain would just be a further extension of the George Bush presidency. After his mini-speech, Anti-Flag played the quintessential Anti-Flag song, "You've Got to Die For The Government", then wrapped up the evening with "The Press Corpse."

Ah, a nice hearty meal of some good 'ol wholesome punk rock music.