I realized I never did a writeup of the mid-December show at Dante's -- more videos at #dantes_dec_14_2023 but also hashtags don't seem to link all the posts these days? Even if it's only like four? So pop back through my profile for previous posts I guess? I miss websites.
This was my first time back to Dante's in over ten years -- Sinferno was never a mainstay, but it (and Berbati's, and Valentine's) always loomed over the klatch of Beaverton/Vancouver weekender bars near lower West Burnside as something different. Memory is spotty on this and I can't find any evidence of it, but one of my biggest missed concert regrets was an early Robyn show (2005 - 2009 era) that happened at Dante's.
That, however, was then.
The night opened with a new to me band -- @smallfieldband. Workman-like indie rock with a touch of The Cure. Favorite new to me band of the night.
The middle sets were @similardamageband and @flyingwhammypdx -- two different takes on the angry/sad boy rock music spectrum. At some point in the Similar Damage set, a member of the queer gang I'd glommed on to said something like "lots of Tom Morello energy", and I smiled a bit when they closed with a Killing in the Name cover. Flying Whammy's lead (Ryan?) exuded the exact sort of high-energy punk obnoxiousness you want from this sort of band. Shout out to the pit 'o two.
Closing out the night was @sodajinxpdx, last seen by me at Trans Femme Takeover 3 back in October. I was only able to stay for a small bit of their set (rescheduled tattoo appointment in the morning) with the new lineup but it's hard not to love a punk/prog/ska hybrid with love songs about the Oregon exploding whale (from the whale's point of view).