Celebrating Life and a 100th “Birthday” with Against Me!

Review and Photos by Holly Jee

Laura Jane Grace, James Bowman, Andrew Seward, and Atom Willard took the stage at Mohawk in Austin, Tx for their sold out show the evening of December 29th 2019 and were welcomed by a hoard of screaming, devoted supporters from all walks of life. A melting pot of age groups, identities, first-timers and AM! vets, all noisily rejoiced as Laura stood on the same stage I’ve seen some of the biggest legends in punk: The Damned (joined briefly by Jello Biafra), X, Dead Milkmen, Bouncing Souls, Distillers, The Casualties, G.B.H, and so many more. She pauses momentarily during the deafening roar of everyone who follows her songs like the gospel and reflects on this date being the second-to-last Against Me! show of the entire decade. She humbly thanks the audience for our unwavering support over the years.

This would be my second time seeing the band on this particular stage, and it always takes me to a special place in my mind. I take a moment to appreciate where I am, and why I’m here.

In 2014 during Austin’s world renowned music, film, and technology festival South by Southwest SXSW, I struggled with my own band’s schedule to find the opportunity to make it to my first Against Me! show. Throughout the week I hadn’t been successful, but finally found a night off and was presented with the choice to join everyone else I knew at Mohawk to see Tyler the Creator, X, and Cerebral Ballzy (one of my favorites), and maybe catch Kurt Vile next door at Cheer Up Charlie’s, or see Against Me! for the first time at the now defunct Red7. I think we all know what choice I made, but little did I know that choice would keep me from being a possible casualty in one of the biggest tragedies to ever hit Austin, and has since changed much of how SXSW operates.

The evening of March 12th/early morning of the 13th, a man with a blood-alcohol content far above the legal limit and with active warrants was fleeing from the police during a routine traffic stop. In a panicked attempt to evade authorities, he travels the wrong way down 9th street, and sped through a barricade on Red River, killing 2 people and injuring 23 directly in front of Mohawk.

At that very moment, just a few blocks away, I was enjoying one of the best moments of my life. I screamed every word to every song in the front row with my favorite band, and afterward Laura was kind enough to autograph a setlist for me. I went home tipsy, happy, positively on cloud 9. The next morning I woke up to dozens of messages from people I knew in town and across the country who had heard about the accident before I did, frantically checking on my well-being since I hadn’t answered my phone.

For the entire city, that morning was a painful one spent checking in with our friends and loved ones, and waiting for names of victims to slowly release. Schedules were delayed, press conferences were held, and the festival went on as best as it could later that afternoon with heightened cautionary measures.

There’s still a part of me that believes the stars aligned that night to ensure I would be at the Against Me! show instead of Mohawk that night, and since then, each time they return to Austin and play on that stage, I feel an even deeper connection with the band.

But on December 29th, 2019 at this sold out show, the second-to-last of this decade, someone else at the show was celebrating. It was their 100th time seeing AM!, and the band rallied the entire crowd to sing “Happy Birthday”, because as Laura said, “There isn’t really a song you sing for someone in this situation.”

Joining our headliners were Texas’ own FEA from San Antonio, a Riot Grrrl feminist-Chicana punk outfit that’s been praised by the likes of Iggy Pop, and featured in notable publications such as NPR, Spin, PunkNews.org, Curve, and more. In 2016, the day of an unwelcomed visit by Donald Trump to their hometown, FEA released a 2 and a half minute anthem targeting the famed real estate mogul entitled “Feminazi”, produced by Laura Jane Grace, herself. The song chronicles many of the slurs and bigoted statements made in the past by the presumptive GOP candidate, as well as the broader attack on women everywhere. From mass rapes to micro-aggressions, the band calls out – in their own words – the violence perpetuated against women, whether physical or otherwise, by sexist assholes across the world.