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.
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.
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.
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.
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