Anti Flag at The Key Club, Leeds 08/02/2020 [Live Review]

On an unsuspecting Saturday night in Leeds, before the storms, before the chaos and before the pure adrenaline pumping set of Anti Flag, Hastings own Maid of Ace kicked things off with their set of pounding drums, raging guitars and vocals that will tear your head off if you don’t listen to what she has to say. All the things  you’ve got love from a punk band, just pure energy, filthy guitars and just…unfiltered.

Next was Montréal’s own bloodcurdling, awe inspiring The Creepshow. They dominate with a great stage show and music that makes you want to just jive, power slide and cause a big old riot. It’s genuinely  something  to behold, even if there was a few sound issues.

In my life I’ve never seen a double bass be thrown around in such a way, that myself being blocked by taller people  than myself could see the poor thing scream and holler when it was being tossed like a rag doll and almost hit the roof.

A real highlight of this particular set was seeing  singer Kenda Legaspi not only asking if a packed Key Club could hear her vocals, but also just diving in the middle of the pit, squaring down those who just “Want to kill each other” and making it a place for all. If you haven’t heard “Death at My Door”, what are you doing with your life?! Get that on your portable stereo, grease back that hair, get jiving and diving.

After an abrupt finish, the stage was set perfectly for the one and only Anti Flag!! Whenever you see a band of this calibre in a venue like Key Club it makes that little voice in the back of your mind go, “Can they pull this off?”  “How can they do the big jumps? “ Then boom.

Through the power and fury of rock and roll they hit that stage that hard it was like being hit by a truck. The intensity of this band was only increased ten fold because of that venue, just by size and the fact that you cannot hide from the bombardment of crowd surfers and the angst of the crowd.

At shows it’s rare that I get goose bumps,  this show was one of those where you cannot question the band. They brought their A game, expressed themselves in a way that made you feel that you were apart of something  bigger than yourself and actual made that genre have more meaning and a bigger feeling  than anything I’ve witnessed from bands of their legacy.

You can’t not listen to what they have to say and to turn round say they don’t believe in what they’re talking about is ridiculous. This set for myself had 2 stand out moments, hearing the bass line of “The Press Corpse” live, one of THE best bass lines in punk and  then having the band drag the drums into the pit and closed a show that no fan will ever forget.