HUNTER HALTERMAN
Staff Writer
Bodies were flying.
That’s the best way to describe the BJ’s concert on Sept. 14.
With the hardcore lineup of Zero Again, Besta Quadrada and Science Man, moshing was inevitable.
That being said, the night started off as quite the opposite. With Zero Again performing first, the crowd was pretty still.
Granted, everyone was nodding their heads to the beat of the kick drum and swaying to the guitar. But there was no mosh to be seen.
Maybe it was due to the short songs being played, or maybe people just weren’t warned up yet. But even if it was just the crowd, each song was around one to two-minutes so they didn’t have much time to get ready anyways.
With the culmination of short songs, the set ended just as quick, clocking in at only 15–18 minutes.
So, it might’ve been short and still, but it was still a good performance, leaving the crowd satisfied and ready for the next band.
Before Besta Quadrada had a chance to play, members completely flipped the stage — hauling out instruments and equipment and bringing in entirely new stuff.
The team worked quickly, though, and soon, the band was ready to play.
As soon as the first song started, as if a switch flipped in the crowd, everyone started moshing immediately.
It was as if a cyclone struck BJ’s at that moment. People in the front were thrown to the back and then to the front again, being swirled around in vicious circles.
Besta Quadrada truly took the bar by storm.
The mosh pit was often broken in two by the lead singer, as she walked slowly into the crowd, still screaming her lyrics.
This didn’t stop the people though, because as soon as she was back on stage, everyone continued moshing once again. Sometimes the crowd wouldn’t even wait, and she’d get knocked around, too.
Overall, it was a great performance by Besta Quadrada. Although it was another short set of around 15 minutes, the crowd was thriving. And at the end, they left the audience wanting more.
But no one could truly be prepared for what was to come.
After a brief intermission and sound check, the headliner of the night, Science Man, took the stage.
Sharing some of the same band members as Besta Quadrada, this is when things got serious.
To set the scene, the lead singer of Science Man stood on top of a speaker in front of the stage, often pushing the people in the front into the pits with his hand or his boot.
At one moment, the singer even got on a crowd member’s shoulders and rode him into the pit.
This is around the moment where all hell broke loose.
The people of the mosh took it to a whole new level, with several people trying to pull the people on the outside inward, like a vacuum.
Moshers would reach out their hands to grab shirts and arms in a desperate attempt to pull that person into the frenzy.
As quickly as they would reach out though, they’d be gone. The pit would take them away, giving them a chance to grab onto someone else.
Even people who were regular moshers stepped out of the mosh pit to take a break.
All the while, Science Man was putting on a phenomenal show.
Imbued with energy, the lead singer would go from the stage to the speaker, screaming his lungs out. He would bounce and bang his head, throwing his long hair around.
At the end of the night, it was certainly proven how well a hardcore lineup could do in our small village of Fredonia.
It was an electrifying night, and many of the attendees are waiting for the next one.