It should be no surprise to see Leftover Crack on FYSM. Unless you don’t know who Leftover Crack are. Or FYSM. Which, if that’s you, just read the title and know how appropriate it is.
This night was opened up by local punk hardcore band Hellgrammites. They were the one and only local openers, and they played that role well. They checked all the boxes:
Hometown pride, as one should since you’re playing for a crowd of people who can easily watch you again at the venues down the street.
Excitement for opening for legends, as one should because that’s not an opportunity you get every day! It’d be weird if they weren’t excited!
Ending their set with more excitement than the beginning, which also seems to be a local opener staple. The reality subsides and the show sets in and, before you know it, the lead singer is jumping into the crowd and starting a mosh pit. Which, of course happened with Hellgrammites.
In a well planned show with an appropriate amount of acts, of which this was, the tour openers come up next and are usually alright. But that wasn’t the case with La Pobreska, Leftover Crack’s tour openers.
All 50 of the guys, or however many of them there are, are fucking amazing. They crowded the stage for soundcheck, and the only thing I could think of was, “how the fuck is this going to work? They even have a whole horn section!”
Really fucking well is how it worked. The chaos of metal mixed with the danceability of ska is something that surprisingly works. Like, even their techs were dancing on stage with them. Like, they too jumped in the crowd to mosh with the crowd. Like, literally giving someone the shirt off their back just because. Between everyone on stage, including their crew, dancing; to giving people free merch for no fucking reason; to the ear candy that is their music, the worst part about them is they only take cash.
These guys might not be legend status. Yet.
And then, the moment everyone waits for, the headliners. Tonight, that was Leftover Crack.
Enough with the cliches. This show was not cliche. Because I’ve never seen, in the 21st century, with all the shit going on in the world, a band so laissez-faire about letting people come on stage.
And I’ve never seen a crowd so… cordial about that either. One audience member on stage at a time. Don’t touch the band unless permission is granted. Carefully fall into the waiting crowd because the Bluebird isn’t big enough to jump in.
As someone stressed about the state of the world for obvious fucking reasons, there was something very relaxing about seeing such camaraderie. Especially in Denver, I would worry about people getting on stage. I would also worry about people jumping head first into the railings. I would also worry about dumb asses doing whatever it takes to get the spotlight, including violence or more.
It didn’t happen. Leftover Crack did their thing, the audience did their thing, and it melded fantastically into, like, some sort of relaxing dance.
It feels like there’s a list hidden in here somewhere, and I love lists so I wish I could find it. But I ain’t gonna stress about it. Why the fuck would I stress about it when there’s police shooting people instead of drugs?
