Concert Review--Halloween @ Dan's Silverleaf

Last night, Dan's Silverleaf (of which I've written at length) presented their Halloween extravaganza in which local acts became cover bands of '80s punk rock. I've seen a lot of the groups that performed and I'm a big fan of a lot of the bands covered; it was a fantastically fun time that really showed why Denton is such a good music town.

The show was a lot like eating Tapas at El Farol in Santa Fe (those of you in Santa Fe are missing out big time if you don't eat there). If you don't like the blood sausage with various mustards, don't worry, the goat cheese and sundried tomatoes is coming out soon. There will be something you like. Likewise, each band played three to five songs; just enough so you get a taste of nostalgia, but not enough to get boring at any time.

There were about fifteen bands presented. The groups I remember off the top of my head were The Replacements, Minor Threat, Fugazi, The Butthole Surfers, Husker Du, Mudhoney, The Minutemen, and a bunch of others. I particularly enjoyed Minor Threat and The Butthole Surfers. Both acts channelled their subjects perfectly. For Minor Threat, they had a kid who looked fourteen, angry as hell, screaming his lungs out and flailing around much like a young Ian MacKaye. For The Butthole Surfers, they presented a video show behind the band displaying birth footage, riots, and bullriding while the act, who played only two songs, rambled and rambled. Just when it seemed like the song was ending...no, there's another verse. And why? Because singer Gibby Haynes doesn't give a shit about the audience, he does what he does and it's a crackup. The only acts I didn't care for were the Replacements, performed by The Drams, who have had some moderate success outside of Denton and decided to be big drunk rock stars instead of The Replacements, and Husker Du, mostly because I don't really like Husker Du although the performance was fine. They're the proto-Green Day and I don't much care for melodic punk. It was fine, but not my thing.

The most fantastic thing about the whole night was the simple fact that this club was able to bring together enough quality bands that could put a show like this on. This is, of course, mainly because of the university's focus on music but, still, this town is barely larger than the town I grew up in. It's ridiculous how much music is packed in such a small place and I love it.