Mikey Erg at Our Wicked Lady (photo by Ray Rusinak)
I have to admit after spending over a year with no live shows, when concerts and shows started being announced again back in May and June, I pretty much jumped on every one that even remotely tickled my fancy. But when I saw Mikey Erg was playing with Crazy & The Brains at Our Wicked Lady, it was as much of a no brainer as no brainers get.
I expected to be getting to OWL pretty close to showtime, at best, due to work obligations, but was pleasantly surprised to see that the opener, Fat Heaven was just getting ready to hit the stage upon my arrival. As is often the case with openers on three band bills, I didn’t know much…okay, I didn’t know anything about the band. I also notice that they weren’t on the initial lineup when the show was originally announced, but none of this matters one bit because when the three piece hit the stage, their high energy mid nineties style punk got the still sparse crowd moving immediately. With a catchy sound that borrows heavily from early Green Day, they were a great warm up for what was to come.
Next up Crazy & The Brains took the stage, ready to burn off a year and a half of pent up energy. Lead singer, Christopher Jesus, who spent virtually the entire show on the floor in front of the stage, let us know this was their first show since pandemic. Showing no signs of rust from such a long layoff, the next 40 minutes were nothing short of a hot and sweaty mash up of Crazy’s brand of rock and R&B infused punk. With a set of equal parts old and new unreleased material, they were everything their adoring fans expected of them.
Closing the night out was of course none other Mikey Erg. If you are even remotely versed in the New York/New Jersey DIY punk scene over the past 20 years, you know and have seen Mikey play with countless bands. This being his first Brooklyn show back since pandemic, (I believe he did a in store in Philly earlier in the month at Creep Records), he and his 2 band mates, drummer Chris Pierce and bassist “Fid”, (who also backed Mikey up on his 2021 S/T record release), were primed for a full on onslaught of punk and roll and delivered a 40 or so minute set of 14 songs about half of which were from the new album.
Erg and the band provided the crowd with a scorching set very reminiscent of what you would have expected from The Ergs! back in the day…fast, loud and raucous, but then again what else would you expect from Mikey Erg on any given night?
Scroll down for pics of the show (photos by Ray Rusinak)
FAT HEAVEN
CRAZY & THE BRAINS
MIKEY ERG
