It’s fairly rare that I make it out to Chicago to mingle with the civilized world, but when Tim told me the Swellers were playing at Metro I knew I had to suck it up and deal. Their recent release Ups & Downsizing has become one of my favorite albums to blast while driving to work – it’s catchy, fast, and loud. Perhaps more importantly, the songs are smart and substantial enough to justify me sitting in traffic for ninety minutes and spending another thirty looking for a decent parking space. I’m happy to report that my journey was not in vain, for the Swellers did verily bring the thunder.

It was a short opening set (Less Than Jake were headlining, and NYC punk lifers the Casualties also played), punchy, tight, and packed with the group’s best songs. Lead Sweller Nick Diener played it loose and gregarious and basically performed all the duties associated with opening – give the crowd a little taste of rock, get them amped up for the main attraction, and say goodnight before your welcome is worn out. For us, though, the Swellers were the main attraction, and obviously we would’ve liked them to play more. But they did squeeze out my three favorite tracks: “Welcome Back Riders,” “2009,” and “Dirt” (which closed the set on an awesomely intense note).

Overall, I consider the night a success. We saw a great band play some great songs, and I also drank a lot of beers supplied by Mr. Timmy. The only sour note of the whole evening was the Warped Tour promotional video played before the bands started – it was about thirty minutes of notable punk superstars like Rise Against, NOFX, and (um) Ice-T performing and being interviewed about the Warped Tour. Other than that, though, the AssaultBLOG team had a great time and really “took” Chicago (similar to the way Jason took Manhattan in the late ’80s).