Live Review: Dr. Know Benefit w/ Cro-Mags, Breakdown etc 7/23/16 Tompkins Sq Park, NY

Dr. Know Benefit

with: Breakdown, Token Entry, Cro-Mags, Antidote, Maximum Penalty

7/23/16 Tompkins Square Park NY, NY

Unfortunately one of the legends of the hardcore punk scene has been dealing with some very severe health issues:

As many of you know, Gary Miller (aka Dr. Know or Doc), guitarist of the Legendary Washington DC punk band Bad Brains, suffered cardiac arrest in early November last year. His condition quickly progressed to multiple organ failure, and he was on life support for almost 2 weeks. At the time, his doctors gave him a 5% chance of survival. But by the power of PMA, LOVE and FAMILY, he was able to pull through and survive.
All funds contributed to this campaign will be directly deposited into a bank account created by a representative of the Bad Brains specifically for this purpose. Any amount of money you can contribute to this fund is greatly appreciated by Doc and his family.

The show raised a considerable amount of money for Dr. Know and provided the NYC crowd with a kick ass old school punk show on the Lower East Side, a perfect combo. The Saturday afternoon show started early under sweltering skies; it was one of the hottest days of the summer so far and the city was sweating and stinking from the subways to skyscrapers.  

Maximum Penalty started the show and the fans in attendance revved up the pit to work out the stress. By passers were stunned and a few stuck around the full day. A fantastic reaction kicked the show off right before Antidote continued the trend of streamlined punk and old school positive vibes via tracks like "Life As One" and "Something Must Be Done" which slammed ahead but still squeezed in ripping guitar solos.   

Cro-Mags

While some fans took cover in shade others melted under the blazing sky before the Cro-Mags took over and John Joseph reasserted, "We are doing this for one reason, Dr Know". The band went through their patented set at this point in their career, slamming out the hits to an appreciative stage diving fan base. "We Gotta Know", "Street Justice" and "Hard Times" all sound as propulsive as ever with the band firing on all cylinders. 

The Cro-Mags have been playing the scene often the last few years but Token Entry have been away from New York for a very long time. The band's Jaybird album is a must have for any fan of the NYHC/Punk scene with its upbeat tempos and shout along choruses. The band's set focused on that disk with tracks like "The Fire", "The Whip" and "Token Entry" blaring out with power and speed as if it was 1988. Unfortunately due to the heat or the fans unfamiliarity with the group, the crowd was tepid during their set, but that takes little away from the groups performance and here's hoping they play the city again soon.    

Breakdown with our friend Dom on Stage

Headlining the show on this day was the legendary Breakdown. Frontman Jeff Perlin stated "Old School? We are Ancient School" as the bands original lineup from 1986 was on stage ripping through the heat. The group played their classic beat-down tracks such as the "love song" called "All I Ask" and "Safe In A Crowd", The group was tight as Anthony Drago's snare drum as Perlin dropped tips like "Hardcore Hints, always double knot!" as he held up a stage divers lost shoe in-between songs like "Don't Give Up" and "You Gotta Fight". Ending with the climatic "Sick People" had the pit in a frenzy and the crowd overflowing on the stage to sing along to close a great day of music for a great cause.

Cooling off post show with Glen and Jeff

Extra special credit should be given to Cousin Joe, Drew Stone and Laurens Kusters and all the others who put this amazing day together. If you would like to contribute to Dr. Know please do so here. As always, keep a positive metal attitude and much love flowing to all the brothers and sisters.

Some video from the show: