Words and Photos by Andrew Parks

As bat shit insane as most Fucked Up shows are, last night’s Brooklyn Masonic Temple gig was special on several levels. For one thing, The Chemistry of Common Life was vetted and validated from intro to out, proving that its progressive approach to hardcore is just as vicious and vital as the out-of-print 7-inches tucked away under your bed. That includes such ambient interludes as “Golden Seal” and “Looking For God,” bittersweet pills that provided much-needed breathers in between such blunt trauma tracks as “Magic Word” and the album’s towering title track.

So thank you, Fucked Up, for reminding us of why we attended nothing but hardcore shows in our teens. But more importantly, thanks for showing us there’s ways to grow old with this genre, ways to stay forever young and restless without looking or sounding like a complete cliché. (Hell, even Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles got caught up in the action, crowd-riding his way to the front several times, as seen in the above shots.)