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Rorschach (and Ted Leo), Celebrity Murders & The Degenerics @ Santos Party House in NYC - pics, video

“Dear NYC – Rorschach owned you.” – Dawn Geary

words by Black Bubblegum, photos by Chloe Rice

Rorschach

As part of their short burst of reunion tour dates, Rorschach played TWO NYC shows on Friday night (9/25). The first was at Santos Party House with Celebrity Murders (their last show EVER) and The Degenerics.

It was an early show for a Friday. Santos was packed to the gills, which was amazing to see when I arrived at 9:15 – a testament to the legacy that Rorschach left. The openers had already played, and Rorschach were 15 minutes into their hour-or-so set. The water-tight NJ band were barreling through their classics with unmatched precision. They played like they’d been on the road for 16 years, not dormant as they actually have been. Precision start-stops, wild guitar/bass swings while delivering killer riffs, and tons of energy. This is how all reunions should be.

Not only was it a fantastic performance, the energy in the crowd was palpable. Even Ted Leo got into the proceedings. To kick off the encore, Ted joined the band for a cover of the Black Flag classic “My War” before diving into the crowd. (video below). They closed with “Recurring Nightmare 105”.

In the course of an hour, Rorschach tore through nearly every single song they knew. “It’s so awesome you’re doing this!” screamed one of the faces in the crowd.

It was clear throughout the evening what a special occasion this was for a band whose name has been dropped countless times since their breakup but who received little fanfare during their brief existence.

“If I thanked everyone in this room for the support they’ve given us,” said Maggio in a rare break between songs, “we’d have to cut the set off right now.” [Grudge City Activities]

This show was one for the record books, and was only matched by what would happen later that night across the river at The Charleston (pics & review of that one coming soon).

The above-mentioned video, and pictures of Celebrity Murders and Rorschach (we completely missed The Degenerics), below…

Celebrity Murders…

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Check out our interview with Charles Maggio of Rorschach. And check out some more pics from Santos (taken from the stage). And here’s that video…

Rorschach | NYC @ Santos | 25 Sep 2009 from UN:ART:IG on Vimeo.