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I've seen so many legendary shows in the 80's and 90's. Too many to list.
One of my favorite moments was at a double bill show with the Exploited and Warzone.
The Exploited - left wing pseudo political punk rock with such gems as "Fuck the USA"
teamed up with the Lower East Side skinhead band
Warzone - right wing pseudo political skinhead band with a rabid NYC following.
This was one of the Chris Williamson promoted shows right after the legendary Jane Street rock hotel closed down. This one was at the Ritz on
11th street (now known as Webster Hall).
The place was packed. It was almost impossible to move. The crowd was pretty even 50/50 punks and skinheads. I was pretty friendly with a lot of different types of people at that time, both skins and punks. I was hanging out with my regular crowd. About 8-10 kids. We were mostly mohawk punk rockers. A few from Queens, the LES and NJ. Warzone took the stage and they were fucking tight. The crowd was going wild. There were a couple of angry words exchanged here and there between punks and skins but nothing too outrageous -
Warzone left the stage and the stage was then surrounded by skins, backs to the stage. The mood in the air was tense. The Exploited were about to get onstage. A couple of punks here and there were shouting things. A kid next to me, obviously ignorant of skinhead attitudes shouted out "Fuck the USA!" Much to the ire of a tall skinny skinhead guy in front of me. He got in the kid's face and the kid backed off immediately. No punches thrown.
The Exploited got onstage. They began to jump into their set. Hard, fast, not anywhere near as tight as Warzone. They were obviously peeved at having to stare at all those backs. About halfway through the second song they just gave up and dropped their instruments after shouting some obsceneties at the crowd.
They walked off stage - Wattie came back onstage with a pizza and threw it on the crowd and that was it. Show's over. Legendary. I was giggling for the whole rest of the night.
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