Tony Erba has been a fixture of the Cleveland hardcore punk scene ever since I can remember going to hardcore shows in Buffalo to see Face Value when I was a teenager in high school. I've seen many of his bands play Buffalo over the years, including 9 Shocks Terror, Stepsister, Amps II Eleven, Gordon Solie Motherfuckers and Cheap Tragedies. I never had the chance to see one my favorites of his, H100s. He is currently singing in Fuck You, Pay Me.

Yesterday he put a show together to celebrate his 50th birthday so I drove down from Buffalo with my friends Kev and Glenn. The show was at one of the best punk venues I've ever been to, Now That's Class. My old band played here a couple times about 7 or 8 years ago. The first time we were there, they had skate ramps both in front of the stage and running off the bar. People were riding skateboards down the bar and hopping onto the ramp to enter the other room. I almost got taken out by a runaway skateboard while playing. The ramps are no longer there.

Sorry for not having the greatest photos, but with a packed show where bodies and fireworks were flying everywhere, I didn't want to carry a nice camera. Erba played in 3 of the bands that night, opening the show with his current band Fuck You, Pay Me.

Next up was Cider, who have been around the Cleveland scene for at least 10-15 years if not more. I just remember my band playing with them in Pittsburgh 8 years ago and I think they were already well established. Paul, the owner of the bar, sings and plays guitar for Cider.

Career Suicide from Toronto was one of two touring band to play. They've also been around over a decade but it's been at least 5 years since I last saw them.

Amps II Eleven did a set next. This was a reunion I was looking forward to. I was worried they weren't playing as they weren't listed on the line-up at the door.

We were all hungry. It was after midnight, so we skipped The Paybacks (from Detroit) to get a late night dinner down the street. We came back for another reunion set by a band I'd never heard of, Hyper as Hell. This was a surprise, and one of my favorites of the night. They are a crossover thrash band from the 80s who seemed to only be known regionally. Their Discogs page only lists demos and compilation appearances. I loved this style of music as a young teenager, but obviously never came across this band. They were pretty awesome, playing like they hadn't been away from the scene for 30 years. The fireworks were getting a little more out-of-control for their set. This is not unusual for Cleveland, which has a rep for chaos at hardcore shows. Even if it weren't so close to the 4th of July, I would still expect firecrackers being thrown all over the place.

It was past 2 am at this point. The bar was closed. I didn't want more beer anyway. There was one last reunion band, Disengage, but we left before they played. From what I heard, they only played 3 songs anyway, before it was shut down. People who came mainly to see them were understandably upset. I was way too tired to stay any longer.