The 2nd Annual Mass Recovery Fest- Day 1 : A Report

The Second Annual Mass Recovery Fest- Day 1: A Report

Last year I put together a free compilation with a bunch of local/touring bands that I really wanted other people to hear. Mass Recovery Fest was something of a two-night release show featuring all the bands (or rather most of the bands) on the compilation. I generally dislike shows that feature an ungodly amount of bands, but armed with 2 PA systems and a hall big enough to create two “stages” the whole thing went smoothly and everyone I talked to had a lot of fun.

This year, I was a little less ambitious and decided against doing another compilation but wanted to put together another two-night celebration, a concert featuring everyone from the area and a handful of bands from out of state.

The week before Mass Recovery Fest, this year, I got a shock in the form of a message from the Scopes Trial’s Chris Londa, who informed me that Day 2 of the fest was actually the same night as the Lunenburg High track team banquet, which was also set to go down at Andrew Hall. After a week of panic and maneuvering, the track team relocated their banquet elsewhere, so if you are responsible for this move, thank you.

Saturday, Day 1, I got to Andrew Hall early to begin the arduous task of setting up for the show. Luckily, Tim Jobin of Sans Heroic helped me set up the second PA and a bunch of friends helped with setting up tables and all that jazz.

The night began with a set from Andrew Mello, my roommate/bandmate/friend. I am familiar with all of Andrew’s songs as a consequence of living across the hall from him but even those who weren’t seemed to enjoy his Daniel Johnston influenced indie-pop clap-along melodies. After a half an hour, Andrew switched to bass and was joined by Streight Angular, Al Polk’s quirky songwriting vehicle which started the dance party while it was still light outside.

Thunder Asunder, who first played Andrew Hall more than four years ago now, christened the other side of the hall with synth and drums. Thunder Asunder has, over the years, gotten smaller in terms of band members but have only gotten better in terms of not-quite-dance avant-garde songwriting.

The Bynars brought the action back to the other side of the hall and played a set of their signature synth-laced upbeat power-pop songs. The Bynars are both tight and inventive, lacing their love of Next Generation era Star Trek with brilliant songs that are both catchy and tight.

At this point in the night, Roebus One from New Jersey, was supposed to become the first person to ever play a hip-hop set at Andrew Hall, but he didn’t show up. I found out why the next day, when he called me confused and hung-over from his Aunt’s house in Staten Island where he woke up with bruised knuckles and the biting feeling that he got in a fistfight with his dad while black out drunk.

So instead, my band Coalmine Canary played. It was our first time playing an “unplugged” set in such a big venue. But everyone came real close and stayed quiet except for a couple of impressive sing-alongs where the crowd sang louder than I did.

Lima Research Society played next. The other side of the hall was decked out in black lights, illuminating everyone’s teeth a neon purple color. Lima Research was fantastic, they had everyone in the hall dancing, and rarely do I see such an elaborate stage show paired with excellent musicianship. It was at this time I went out to my car and realized that my trunk door was no longer fully attached to my van. I tried in vain for a few minutes to fix it but went inside when I heard Horny Vampyre’s fuzzy synth-dance sound fire up in the PA speakers.

I wrote a pretty extensive review of Horny Vampyre’s debut 10” and this was actually my first time seeing them live. They invited everyone to stand as close as possible to them, erasing the performer/audience divide. Everyone who knew the songs danced and chanted, stomping on a stage light in the process and sending broken glass all over the floor which didn’t deter anyone from dancing. I found a broom and dustpan in between songs and they played an electro-cover of Jawbreaker’s “Boxcar” which prompted my good friend Rob Wilcox to walk through the crowd and stare in awe.

Math the Band headlined the show and had everyone on their feet and dancing. The ceaseless energy of both Kevin and Justin translates perfectly through their songs and prompted everyone to keep singing, stomping, and clapping the entirety of their set. At some point, Mike Ellison grabbed me and lifted me up and, to my surprise, no one dropped me and I made my way through the crowd. It was the first time I, or anyone I can think of for that matter, managed to crowd surf at an Andrew Hall show. Math the Band stopped playing but the audience demanded an encore which they willingly obliged with a cover of Andrew W.K.’s “She is Beautiful.”

I went to thank everyone for coming out and someone started chanting, “Speech! Speech! Speech!” which caught on pretty quickly. I jokingly began, “I have a dream…and Mike Ellison was in it…” and continued with, “but seriously, this whole night was amazing. I’ve been to so many shows where people stand cross-armed and aren’t interested in what is going on musically but you guys danced and that is an amazing, albeit rare, thing. Thank you to everyone who came out tonight, I hope to see some of you tomorrow.” I’m paraphrasing of course, I was probably even less eloquent in person.

Andrew and I cleaned up the hall and several people attempted to help me fix my trunk door which I eventually just bungeed shut.

I’ll post about the Day 2 shenanigans tomorrow evening.

If I forgot to mention you in the Day 1 report, look for your name tomorrow.