Long standing New Jersey based street punk icons Hudson Falcons made a great first impression during their first visit to Lethbridge, and indeed Alberta, May 11 at the Moose Hall.
They had an enthusiastic crowd of approximately 30 moshing in front of the stage.
Hudson Falcon, including frontman Mark Linskey, founding drummer Alyson Cina , guitarist Matty Davalo and bassist Nick Ferrero, sounded like Bob Mould jamming with Bruce Springstreen and the E Street band. They focused on more straight ahead punk edged older material and were impressed the audience knew the songs.
Hudson Falcon struck quickly with a solid rock and roll shot to the downstairs regions, with unbelievably catchy and unbelievably tight musicianship and hair raising lyrics of being chased by the police in “Johnny Law,” a great older song “Worker Fate” about “workers getting screwed over which I wrote 18 years ago according to Linskey, trade unionism and a fantastic ode to working class bars being closed down due to gentrification called “Monahans.”
A highlight was a slower, harrowing tales including “Long Live the King,” about a freed gangster seeking revenge from a CD from a few years ago called “Dancing Underneath the Moonlight.” In a similar vein, another highlight was “Jersey City Streets.“
Linskey was alternately chewing nails and spitting venom while telling stories about the songs. While they were focusing on older material, they played several outstanding newer songs including “ We’ll Fight Back,” one of several extremely literate and insightful songs preceded by diatribes about the working man’s plight in the face of corporate greed and ignorance.
But there was some more lighthearted fare including the outstanding “Rich Kids Can‘t Play Rock and Roll.” Hudson Falcons provided plenty of working class politics hit guitar solos and huge gang vocals.
Before calling it a night, Linskey brought out the old bluesman‘s trick, by playing slide guitar with a beer bottle, which translated well into the band’s brand of punk and rock and roll.
They ended their set and the show before midnight with a hot cover of Stiff Little Fingers’ “Alternative Ulster.”
While I missed the Galacticas’ opening set, I was just in time for Streetlight Saints, playing in front of the Galactica’s banner.
They played an energetic, incredibly fast and super tight set of straight ahead three chord punk punctuated by “oi’s” and gang vocals. A couple highlights were a tribute to Princess Leia called “Sweet Prince,” and and a hyperactive “First World Problems.”
