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Senior Living, Sunbloc, Jigsaw Youth, Flatwounds
Madison Theater, 6.21.25

First day of Summer, first show of the Summer. New venue as well.

I think I've talked about it before, but for No Fun being the only venue, the environment of it does get tiring. 30somethings that wander into the bar linger around holding overpriced cocktails, 20somethings try to justify themselves buying a $6 can of Modelo, photographers crowd up and compete for the best shot of the band performing. I can go on. Also too many drunks. I've gotten drunk at maybe two shows so far, regret both. Somehow, despite having two bathrooms, there's still a line at both in No Fun. To be fair, this isn't a No Fun problem, more of a Troy nightlife problem. Lol. I just want an excuse to not go to a venue.

So, when I heard that Madison Theater was having another show with a favorable and classic lineup of usual Capital Region indepedent bands (excluding Jigsaw Youth, being that they're from Staten Island), I jumped on the opportunity to buy a ticket almost instantly.

Now you're probably asking yourself, "man, why is a theater hosting a gig?? that's bonkers!" (at least I hope you are, just go with the bit and please ask this out loud at your computer) and I respond, "right??? well, let me give you a crash course in some Albany lore!!"

Just take me to the photos already.

The Spectrum 8 Theater and Madison Theater were both the two big independent movie theaters in Albany. For a while, they had a dedicated following and were both run independently, with Spectrum being run by an old Albany couple, and Madison being run by a real estate guy. During and after COVID, both theaters were experiencing some financial struggles.

On February 22, 2024, Spectrum unfortunately closed its doors, and just a day later, on February 23, 2024, Madison closed its doors, inconsequentially. While Spectrum had a prospective (albeit somewhat corporate) buyer looking to revitalize the classic theater, the loss of the Madison Theater hit the Albany neighborhood of Pine Hills the most, with Saint Rose College (just down the street from Madison) slated to close its doors after May 2024, and several other businesses important to Pine Hills already in the process of closing.

On April 24, 2024, only two months after Spectrum 8's closure, Scene One Entertainment purchased the highly regarded cinema, revitalizing it into a now popular movie theater off of Delaware Ave. Five months later, on September 16, 2024, Madison Theater was purchased by an locally-run LLC, with plans to turn the movie theater into a multi-use movie theater and venue space. The interior of the Madison theater was slowly revamped throughout the years into what's now a bar/restaurant/retail cinema.

Which now brings us to present day. To drop a little more Albany lore--

The group running this show is known as CZR's, one of Albany's well known booking groups. In the past year, they took over Washington Tavern, a very popular Albany pub, to host some impromptu DJ sets. At Madison, they are now able to host these really cool shows.

So with this mostly cool lineup, and given how much fun I had at the first show hosted here, I had to go. Taking a break from my usual professional gear carry, I decided to opt for a film and digital point and shoot, a Nikon One Touch Zoom 90 and a Kodak DC4800. Of course, expect the photos to look kinda like shit. The film shots are from low quality scans, so deal with that I guess.

Anyhow, with that all out of the way...

Senior Living was up first. This was probably my 7th time seeing them live? For the first time in a while, they had some new material to play, and it was great! Whenever the new EP is out, I'm bound to pick it up. Starting off strong and loud, slow and steady, they cemented themselves as the openers. If they headlined, I would've been happier. Idk. I'm biased.

I think having seen so many bands in the area, there's not a lot to choose from, so I always rely on ones I am already very familiar with. The 2nd show I ever saw in Albany had Senior Living headlining, so they ended up strongly resonating with me.

After they played some of their new material, they ended with the usual encore, a slow and drawn out song, with them all ending it off by pressing their pedals together. It was beautiful.

I know it seems like I don't have much to say about them, but I really don't given how much I've seen them. It's good, always good! If you want to see more detailed writeups about their performances, just consult my older show posts. lol

Up next was Sunbloc. Now, admittedly, I have mixed feeling about this band. Sound wise, they sounded uninspiring, vocally off-tone, basic. Nothing to really bring to the table. The band was a bit douche-y. This was at least my outlook on them 3 years ago, and this show would be my first time seeing them perform live in those 3 years.

Admittedly, this is coming from the fact that their OLD guitarist was involved in some no good stuff on Instagram last year. I recall a lot of my friends being bummed and pissed about and being all like "told you so guys!! I was the only one who didnt like them and I had a feeling!!!" Since then, they've reformed, got a new guitarist, and are back to working on new material. I'm surprised they didn't disband or start a new band, but I guess I applaud them for picking themselves back up.

As for the performance, it was pretty good. Nothing to take home, just very usual. Not bad, not amazing. Not very memorable. I mean out of all the bands, I literally cannot remember how their songs went. The one thing I can certifiably say is that they sounded much better than when I first saw them. I guess for the future, if they're on a bill, I wouldn't mind.

Some bands are like that around here man

Jigsaw Youth drove up from Staten Island, AKA New Jersey. Not the first Staten Island band I've seen actually! Back in March I saw another Staten Island band. I am convinced that they have some strange powerful aura around them.

Not really riot girl punk, just kinda punk. But like scary and powerful. Forgot to mention that there was a projection behind each band, and distinctly Jigsaw Youth had some MTV reality TV show playing in the background.

I've personally heard a lot of praise about this band from different corners of the city. They've played in Albany before and people absolutely love their energy. In fact, a LOT of bands in this area seem to get praise just from energy alone. Then again, it's kinda how hardcore stuff is. From my take, they were good. Very intense. Arguable tried to get the crowd riled up even more than what the guys from Flatwounds do. Side to sides and circle pits. I didn't really join in because Jigsaw's sound wasn't really my thing.

One thing that actually stuck out to me about them was actually at their merch table, where they had a $50 signed poster featuring the lead guitarist and bassist and massive platform stilettos posing next to a luxury car if I remember correctly. Respectfully cool, admittedly tacky, but still cool. If I was as much of a fan as how I am with Senior Living, I would've picked it up.

The last time I ever wrote about Flatwounds was back on Halloween of 2024 at that show in the vegan place. To be fair, that was my first time seeing them, and since then, I've seen them live like 4 times now and have had fun conversations with the lead, Colin. Back then they used to get mixed reception due to their behavior in house shows but I can see that across the board they've moved on from that and are now a much more established band and a bunch of really good guys.

One thing I can admit is that they really don't take themselves seriously as a band most of the time. I don't want to sound like a total buzzkill but shitposting on your Instagram story about how swag your new single is kinda kills the entire air around your band. Despite this, it doesn't really affect my overall view of the band at all.

If you're going to a Flatwounds show, just know that at almost every show there will be a dedicated group of fans there to mosh. What's at least fun is that they're not crowdkillers (except for ONE...) and are all there to have fun. In fact, someone going side to side got knocked into badly and fell down, and 4 people from the crowd helped her up and made sure she was ok. While I was shocked, I was at least happy people have decency even at the show

As for the performance, it was very good. Usual songs played (having worked with them in the past I knew the lyrics to most of them all too well). A new song was played, and Colin blurted out, "I forgot the lyrics to this but I am gonna play it anyway!!!" and honest to god, he pulled it off well. Half of it may have been gibberish.

Being the headliner (I guess? This is one of those shows where there's really no headliner, it's 4 bands equal in popularity playing at once), they took advantage of that full set and played for probably 50 min.

And that was it... with a lovely terrifying midnight Albany drive

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