Zulu and friends at Club Congress | 2/18/24

Show Lineup: Get a Grip, Sex Prisoner, Spy, Zulu

Genre(s): Hardcore

Venue: Club Congress

Date: 2/18/2024

I actually hadn't heard of Zulu before this show got announced but I checked out their second EP and it rips so I was hyped. I was also really looking forward to Get a Grip since they're a great local band I'd seen before. They were first up, and they went hard as always. I'd say they've got a pretty classic hardcore sound; sped up punk without a ton of metal influence outside the solos, which are delicious. My friend said they just sound like every other hardcore band she's heard, and I mean fair, but I don't care they're still sick. The pit started out a bit weak, but that's expected with the opener, and it definitely got going after a bit. I don't think anyone can hear "Global Scam" and not wanna fuck shit up. The vocalist's sister was also there repping the band and stage diving, it was really sweet. Great set.

Next set was Sex Prisoner. I was chillin in the back for this one. I wish I could've moshed to them but I drank a little too quick and after going hard for my boys last set I felt pretty nauseous. Throwing up in the pit would be pretty fuckin hardcore to be fair. To describe Sex Prisoner simply, they're a really heavy band with extremely short songs. They have a track called "Piss When I Cum" and I'm 80% percent sure they played it this set but someone else who was there should check me on that. Overall, they were solid but they're the kind of band you can't really appreciate unless you're moshing since their songs are just too short to be satisfying.

Next up was Spy, and thankfully I'd recovered enough to make it back to the front cause this one was a rager. The band was sick, I was too busy getting slammed around to describe them in much detail but they've got a very aggressive, dissonant sound. My only critique was that the vocals were a little quiet. By now pretty much everyone had shown up and the place was packed. Even if you were just around the edge of the pit, you would get crushed. I actually got pushed right out the exit and was greeted by a couple old folks just walking down the sidewalk. Quite the whiplash. I saw some dude straight up stage jump feet first like he was tryna stomp the crowd. At one point my shoe fell off so I had to head to the back to put it back on. I heard a legit fight broke out while I was out back but it sounds like they made up, so all good. Dope set.

Finally, we get to the headliners. Zulu absolutely ripped. As biased as I am towards Get a Grip since they're local, I gotta admit these guys were the best band of the night. Their songs are mostly fairly slow, but with a good amount of tempo changes to keep the crowd moving. Even their sound check went hard. They've got great energy too. I like their vocalist cause he's just this chill dude who looks like he'd be into collecting Pokemon cards or something, but he's an absolute beast on the mic. Their bassist was doing some sick backing vocals too. They put a nice chill song near the end and gave a dope message about community and building your tribe. Even during the chill track, their guitarist started absolutely shredding cause I guess he just couldn't resist. I gotta respect it, he went crazy hard. I only really started moshing near the end, but from what I saw the pit was strong throughout. Constant stage dives. This homie named Sven actually did a dive and straight up got knocked out. It's karma though cause bro was trying to clown on me for being "straight-edge" when I was literally drinking right before I got there, I just forgot my ID so I had the X's on my hands. Who even buys drinks at a show anyways, it's a goddamn scam what they charge. I'm just playing of course, bro's a cool dude and he was totally fine, he didn't even move to the back after he got back up. Overall excellent set, it was honestly dope to see an all Black hardcore group. Aside from the obvious social benefits of diversity, it also just makes for better music. Different perspectives encourage new ideas and new sounds.

Great show. Pour one out for all the brave soldiers who died in the pit. And remember, Free Palestine, Defund AFRICOM, death to imperialism everywhere. All power to the people.