Antagonist A.D.
30th July 2022
Galatos, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Courtney Newbold. Photography by Rachel Matthews.
Walking into Galatos on this Saturday night, you’ll find a crowd that almost single-handedly keeps the tattoo industry alive in New Zealand. A tight knit group of people with similar values and a passion for one type of music: Hardcore. Tonight is a sold out show that was put off for two years, and a tribute to a fallen brother (Leon Taylor, R.I.P.) – the anticipation is humming through the venue.
Drop Off Point opens the night to a great turnout for the first of the opening bands. Their energy is interwoven with an enthusiastic crowd ready to kick off the night.
Next is Pale Flag, a five piece Auckland band with fantastic shredding. The singer has a good stage presence and great growls. I was impressed by the substantial sets from the opening bands – I really liked that each band was given an ample amount of time to perform.
As Bleeders start to play, the floor is literally bouncing in time to the music from the crowd moshing so hard. The crowd sings along to every song. Their sound is so reminiscent of the mid-2000s punk/hardcore scene, it takes me right back to my memories of being a teenager listening to similar bands. I’m living for Angelo’s (vocals) broody choice in clothing, a orange hoodie with the hood up. I’m also loving the punk rock attitude of (the guitarist) not clipping the ends of your guitar strings.
“Get your two step on!” Angelo shouts as the groove sets in. The next song involves blast beats and backing vocals with shouts, and a number of musical influences that I can’t quite put my finger on, but I’m pretty sure Misfits is in there.
“Bleeders have been a band for 20 years this year!” Angelo tells the audience. That’s a great feat for any band. They dedicate ‘Out Of Time’ to Leon Taylor, while many in the audience take the opportunity to stage dive, crowd surf and mosh just that little bit harder in tribute.
More people pack in the venue. Antagonist A.D. enters the stage. “Thank you guys for sticking around, I wanna see some hardcore shit!” Vocalist Sam shouts. The audience is all too happy to oblige. They start the set with a Hatebreed cover. I’m taken back to the first time I saw them, a budding young teenager just finding herself. Antagonist A.D. made an impact on me then, a young band talking about issues I cared about, in a form of music that made me feel something and allowed me to feel what I was afraid to. The band still holds this sentiment, as Sam acknowledges his platform and uses it to talk to the crowd.
Then the band explodes into a few more songs.
Halfway through the set, Sam stops the show to get medical help for an audience member, but it seems the young man from the moshpit is okay. “What happened?” He asks. “Everyone wants to know.” We don’t get an answer. This little quip was a comical sentiment.
It’s a sold-out, yet intimate gig with a fan base that’s been with the band for ever. There is a sense of the audience and the band having grown together, or for some of us, having grown up together. There is familiarity in the air and the band recognises and appreciates their enduring fan base. Sam speaks about how the Bleeders influenced Antagonist A.D. He talks about the importance of people continuing to play music. “This is your scene, keep going, keep playing music, we wanna see you up here.” There is a beauty in seeing crowd members who are in budding hardcore bands take in these words. The scene nurtures the young and lives on through them. The true spirit of hardcore shows is especially evident tonight in this small venue. The hardcore scene is my favorite music scene and always has been. It’s full of conviction and justice. The energy and passion is always on point. Antagonist A.D. proves this with their last song No Justice. All energy is expended. Everyone leaves happy, having seen Bleeders and ‘Antag’,as fans colloquially call them, finally play the show they have been waiting for.
P.S I still don’t know what A.D. stands for? Maybe someone in the comments can tell me?
Were you there at Galatos for this special tribute gig? Or have you seen Antagonist A.D. perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Note: Ambient Light was provided passes to review and photograph this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only. This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase a product using an affiliate link, Ambient Light will automatically receive a small commission at no cost to you.
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Good review. Thanks NZHCPP for the stream.