Weston
Highline Ballroom
July 6, 2011

Weston was one of those bands that should have been huge. They had the sound of Blink 182, the lyrics of Green Day, and the look of Sugar Ray. Sadly, the band fell apart after taking a more mature direction, and a whole generation of punk rockers missed out on this awesome pop-punk quartet.

Luckily, the band saw fit to reunite for a few sold-out shows over the past few years, culminating in an opening slot for the Bouncing Souls during the Jersey band’s “We Will Play a Different Album Every Night” Tour. Weston’s set was sadly plagued with technical difficulties, and most kids under 30 didn’t have a clue who they were, but the band played on with a fun set consisting of all of our favorite songs.

On a fun note, this was a nice reunion for two bands that more than a decade and a half ago united for a killer set at William Patterson University. That show was plagued by security that refused to let fans touch one another, let alone mosh or crowd surf. The Highline Ballroom had no such rules and kids bounced off each other’s heads like bunny rabbits on crack.

Here’s a selection of photos from the evening.

The Bouncing Souls, Weston, Black Train Jack
October 12, 1995
William Patterson

The sign read: You must be eighteen years of age to enter the show. No one is allowed to touch each other at any point during the show. Ha! Well that got my evening off with a few strikes against me. First off, I am under 18, second, my friends are under 17. So what else could we do, but get there early, and waIk in with the band.

Weston opened up with “Just Like Kurt,” and played a really calm set. Every time the crowd would start acting up, Weston would plead for them to stop touching each other. It kinda sucked, but Weston was great.

TheBouncingSouls hit the stage with twice the intensity of Weston, and couldn’t give a shit about the no mashing rule. They opened up with “I Like Your Mom,” and ripped through a through a good chunk of their songs. Johnny X jumped on stage to play his part in “The Ballad of Johnny X” I was quite disappointed that through all the Bouncing Soul’s shows that I’ve gone to, they’ve never done “Old School” or “Inspection Station” and they stopped covering “Candy.”

Black Train Jack closed the show out. The crowd that stayed was pretty wild, but there was way too many cops around for my Iiking. There also seemed to be a ton of suits floating around the outskirts of the pit, checking out Black Train Jack. Well, at least no one touched me… I could have gotten cooties, or something.