Gorilla Biscuits/Leeway at B.B. Kings, New York City—Sept. 2, 2006

It sure isn’t 1992 anymore, but you couldn’t tell what year it was at B.B. Kings last Saturday night as two of the biggest New York hardcore bands of the ‘90s gathered for an evening of nostalgia-core that could bring the biggest tattooed gangsta to tears.

Leeway was up first (at least by the time we got there). The band was always a little more thrash metal than hardcore, more in the vain of The Cro-Mags, but not quite as aggressive. Live, they shredded it, playing most of the hits off their first two albums and a couple tracks off their last record, which got a ton of local radio play over the years. The singer spent plenty of time diving into the audience, who sang along to every word.

The highlight of the night, however, was Gorilla Biscuits. Reunited for the first time in nearly a decade (they did an abridged set at CBGBs in honor of Raybeez in 1997), GB tore down the barricades at B.B. Kings and let the crowd rejoice as they tore through almost everything song off their two seminal hardcore records.

Physically, the band was hardly recognizable compared to their old photos and even the CIV-era stuff. Walter and Arthur look like glorified NYC hipsters, while frontman CIV is significantly larger than when than when he played the Hardcore for Hunger benefit many moons ago. Nonetheless, the band kicked ass, playing like they haven’t been apart for 15 years and smiling through the whole set. From start to finish, kids (I’m being kind here, most of the audience was over 30) bounced of the stage for the entire set. Security stood to the side as fans grabbed the mic, becoming a choir for their hardcore heroes.

Seriously, an hour into, you had to wonder how much longer they could play. I mean, they only have like an hours worth of material between two rather short records. The band did throw in a CIV solo song and a cover or two for good measures. Lou Koller from Sick of it All grabbed the mic for a song, as did Toby Morse of H2O. From the side of the stage, you could see members of Murphy’s Law and Madball getting ready to stage dive. It was just like old times.

The band wrapped up the set with a filler cover of The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” before blowing the place down with “Start Today.” Here’s hoping that the band doesn’t implode in a year, and hopefully gets another record out. God knows it’s been long enough.