Moved up from the original venue, the Cathouse, due to ticket demand, and The Garage is packed to an unhealthy level. The Ataris, despite becoming very popular, play a good mixture of old and new songs, and a healthy amount from my favourite 'Blue Skies, Broken Hearts...Next 12 Exits' and do a fair amount of talking in between songs too.
Kris asks if anyone's ever had a broken heart, quite a few going by the response, and dedicates the next song to them. Although he could pretty much say that before every song as most of them have a similar content, but with such pleasant little pop-punk tunes does it really matter? Not to the boy in front of me it doesn't, he sings along with great vigour as if every word helps heal the wounds on that still painful broken heart.
And this is where The Ataris excel, the joys and inevitable pains of young relationships being the theme for most of their songs, but done in such an honest and personal way as to remain interesting, all without losing any musical spirit. Some great examples played tonight are; 'Your Boyfriend Sucks' and 'I Won't Spend Another Night Alone', with some variety coming in the form of 'The Radio Still Sucks' played twice as it's only short but a real crowd pleaser, 'Hey Kid' with it's "Bitch, Bitch, Bitch. That's all you ever do" refrain, and a song dedicated to the downside of touring, 'Better Way'. They also manage to throw in an excellent version of The Cure's 'Just like Heaven'.
They finish by asking for a guitarist to join them on stage, there's a bit of a surge as a few try to make their way through the crowd, two young guys make it, but one's a drummer so they let him play too. The Ataris, complete with their two young temporary members, launch into 'San Dimas High School Football Rules', which just might be thee most excellent song that has ever been written. Well for those two minutes and forty seven seconds anyway.
