For a while the ‘versus’ billing of co-headline tours was quite a thing. I have no idea why, there wasn’t any competition about it. It was a vehicle to allow bands of a similar level, perhaps with a slightly different audience to pull their collective crowd together and comfortably fill larger venues than they might individually.
Unfortunately this meant rather than this show being at The Wedgewood Rooms it was at Portsmouth Pyramids Centre. Unless I’m much mistaken this was my first time here. It did get better over the years, but at this point in time the layout, atmosphere and most importantly, sound, was awful. As of recent years, they no longer host live music events here, so perhaps I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead.
This was also my first time seeing MxPx. They didn’t achieve the same level of popularity as some of their peers here in the UK, despite having a big fanbase in the US and generally speaking worldwide. Because of this, I was late getting into them. It took the SideOneDummy release ‘Panic’ to finally catch my attention. The label had good distribution here in 2006 and the album was more easily accessible than previous MxPx releases had been.
The band were just shy of 15 years into their career at this stage and smashed out their headline slot like seasoned pros. The Starting Line didn’t fare quite as well, their more complicated set up drowned in the venue’s naff sound. They sounded much better the previous year, a mile down the road at, you guessed it, Wedgewood Rooms.
If we saw I Am The Avalanche, I can’t remember it. I’m also fairly confident we missed The Matches, although I do recall seeing frontman Sean Harris walking around the venue in his top hat. This memory is confirmed by my partner, Sam, who was also somewhere in the crowd (we originally met in the Summer of this year). Earlier this week she dug out her own ticket from the show, signed by Sean Harris and Justin San Souci (bassist). The Matches would go on to become her favourite band.
I’ve always been a sucker for an unusual piece of merchandise on sale at gigs. At this show I bought two MxPx window stickers, which, perhaps much to my parent’s dismay, I stuck on my bedroom window at the front of our house, where they stayed for many years to come.
I also half inched a poster from the walls of the venue – a regular occurrence and I still have them all.
Liam Toms 