Friday of the 2014 HoZac Blackout Fest was already cause for alarm, with the show selling out way in advance with the word on the streets about The Boys hitting the airwaves. Never was expected such an epic band of the first 70s wave of punk to grace this festival, but in the 11th hour, the trigger was pulled. Kicking off the night were Chicago's most savage CEO pricks, The Man who decimated and redistricted the fuck out of the crowd, implementing zoning laws and miles of red tape in gutteral blasts of executive smashings.
Next up was the mysterious 999999999 from Brookline, MA and half of the sadly departed Tunnel of Love, some of the '00's greatest unsung heroes, who formed around the same time, yet never strayed far from the bedroom where these incredible pop songs were created.
As the crowd got rowdier, the sweetest pop band in the land stepped up to the stage and blasted forth a comet force of sugar-soaked pop stickiness that trapped the scowling punks in a La Brea tar pit-style mess, but it all went down just as planned and somehow First Base won over anyone within earshot.
And just as it unfolded in front of our eyes, The Boys slipped in the side door and took the stage and stormed through every hit you could think of, knocking everyone back and solidifying their reputation for delivering the GOODS as hard and fast as originally intended.
We still can't believe it actually happened, and in such an intimate space. Thanks once again to the staff at Empty Bottle and our assistants, Robyn, Lexi, and Jessica!
Please check out the rest of Stan Golovchuk's photography at Medium Gallery
