Il binomio Agnostic Front/CBGB's è uno dei più forti e duraturi nella storia dell'hardcore punk. Dalla nascita del gruppo newyorchese nel 1982 fino alla chiusura dello storico locale nel settembre 2006, Roger Miret e Vinnie Stigma hanno sempre fatto del CBGB la loro seconda casa, il loro quartiere generale diciamo, regalando agli hardcore kids della città un'infinità di concerti leggendari. Questo sodalizio ha prodotto, nel corso della quasi trentennale storia della band, ben tre album dal vivo, sempre registrati nel locale: "Live At CBGB" nell'89, "Last Warning" nel '93 e infine l'album in questione, che rappresenta inoltre il primo DVD live degli Agnostic Front.
E' registrato il 7 marzo 2006, una serata che si preannuncia infuocata fin dall'apertura affidata alla terremotante "The Eliminator": il pubblico si scatena, partecipa con cori, stage diving e pogo come nella migliore tradizione hardcore, e il gruppo (per l'occasione formato, oltre che da Miret e Stigma, da Lenny Di Sclafani alla seconda chitarra e dai fratelli Mike e Steve Gallo al basso e alla batteria) li ricompensa con una pioggia dei loro pezzi migliori, una scaletta che ricopre l'intera discografia.
Si va dagli esordi dell'EP "United Blood" e del folgorante LP di debutto "Victim In Pain", ottimamente rappresentati da "Last Warning", "Friend Or Foe", "Victim In Pain", "Blind Justice", "Your Mistake", ai devastanti "Liberty And Justice For" e "One Voice", che consacrarono i newyorchesi ("Anthem", "Undertow", "New Jack", "One Voice" e una spettacolare "Crucified") fino ai nuovi classici come "All is Not Forgotten", "Peace" e l'inno "Gotta Go".
I cinque danno il meglio di loro, confermandosi dei mostri in termine di carica e presa sulla folla: sembra quasi che tutti, gruppo e pubblico, sappiano che si tratta di uno degli ultimi concerti degli Agnostic Front al CBGB, e vogliano dare il 200% per rendere la serata indimenticabile. Tutte le canzoni sono per l'occasione modernizzate e, perchè no, metallizzate, fatto evidente negli assoli, resi in modo molto più simile al thrash, e nei colpi di doppio pedale infilati un po' ovunque; non bisogna troppo stupirsi, d'altro canto, se si pensa che già nell'86 pubblicarono "Cause For Alarm", disco fondamentale per l'evoluzione dell'ibrido thrashcore.
Un ascolto obbligatorio insomma per i fan della band, in special modo per quelli dell'ultim'ora che hanno apprezato la svolta verso il punk metal di "Warriors".
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01 Victim in Pain (02:11)
People say that I'm insane
A victim of society just in pain
Society's rules have made me cruel
I'm just the opposite, ain't no fool
The way I act or way I dress
Doesn't make me strong or make me best
Soon they'll find my reasons why
I'm open minded and not blind
But why am I going insane
Why am I the one to blame
Open your eyes, don't tell me lies
I'll be the one to live and rise
I'll think for myself and I'm sure to find
That society's rules won't change my mind
02 Public Assistance (01:23)
You spend your life on welfare lines
Or looking for handouts
Why don't you go find a job
You birth more kids to up your checks
So you can buy more drugs
Cash in food stamps and get drunk
[Chorus:]
Uncle Sam takes half my pay
So you can live for free
I got a family and bills to pay
No one hands money to me
You can go to school for nothing
Got that government grant
Get money in advance
When you're sick from shooting up
Medicaid pays full portion
When little Maria gets knocked up
She gets a free abortion
[Chorus]
How come it's minorities who cry
Things are too tough
On TV with their gold chains
Claim they don't have enough
I say make them clean the sewers
Don't take no resistance
If they don't like it go to hell
And cut their public assistance
03 United Blood (01:20)
Talk about unity
Talk abour conformity
You don't want to support the scene
Why don't you get the fuck away from me
I'm a skin, you're a skin
Who's gonna suffer
Live in sin, where you been
You're all gonna go under
I'm a skin, you're a skin
You're gonna suffer
04 Friend or Foe (01:21)
Hang out with me then you come and stab my back
Are you friend or foe?
See me on the streets you walk right by me
Are you friend or foe?
Then you tell me on the phone I'm a fucking clone
Are you friend or foe?
When you need help you come back to me
Are you friend or foe?
Friend!
Foe!
Are you friend or foe?
06 Blind Justice (01:22)
So they say they'll set me free
If I plead guilty and let it be
But I'm not the one who did their crimes
So why should I keep taking their jives
I'm done playing all their games
And being titled low life names
When I'm innocent and concerned
Of who I am and what I've learned
I'm not the one who did their crimes
There's no justice, there's just us
Blind justice screwed all of us
There's no justice, there's just us
We need justice for all of us
07 Last Warning (00:43)
When I try, to do the right
You always put me down
You're always on my back
Why do you hang around?
You can't see beyond your nose
What's making you so blind
The rules you make, those you break
This is your last warning
It isn't just a threat
Choose to disregard it
Wind up with regret
08 Toxic Shock (01:50)
Toxins - buried underground
Seep into the water
Dioxin - she drank for nine straight months
Deformed her unborn daughter
Factories - spewing poison fumes
The cause of acid rain
Destroy crops and animals
Lives flushed down the drain
Radon - creeps up from the earth
Public dies of cancer
Danger - of chemical nightmare
When will we find the answer
Barrels leak the vile substance
There's no containing them
Contamination - of the food we eat
Absorb plutonium
Seconds ticking fast away
On Earth's bio clock
Politicians allow the dumping
Must be forced to stop
I hope they live on an abandoned waste site
And die of toxic shock
10 Crucified (02:22)
They ask why we dress this way.
Life for now, stand today.
See the kids, but don't hear what they say.
Close your eyes and look the other way.
They it's the end, justify the means.
They lock us up throw away the keys.
Crucified, skinhead army.
Crucified, for your sins.
Crucified, skinhead army.
Crucified, for your sins.
They don't know our feeling.
Our only desperate cries.
They seek along
12 Discriminate Me (00:35)
Freedom of my life, give it back to me
I wanna live can't you see
Discriminat me, call me a bum
But I'll survive, it's your fault
Freedom of my life, why make it a mess?
Give me a job, I've got to survive
Discriminate me, why can't you help?
Everybody thinks I'm a scum
Freedom of my life, give it back to me!
13 Your Mistake (01:25)
We're here to be and the ones to succeed
No need for you to tell us how to be
Can't seem to find your reasons why
You tell us lies and think you're wise
Why can't you think before you sink
Why can't you see, then come to me
Tell us lies and ask us why
We hate society
And we're here to fight
I won't shake their hands
'Cause they're not our friends
Won't talk to you 'cause you can't be true
You've got problems, yet you keep hiding them
You entered their gate, but now it's too late
It's your mistake
14 Anthem (02:38)
Changes that were hardly noticed
Until time itself became a chain
Once hot blood began to cool
My ever slowing heart--beat in vain
From the nightmare I wake in another dream
And stare at an unbroken sky
Try to distill a cure for the plague
That's put to rest everything--I once felt inside
To never again be bound by United Blood
A sense of purpose lost forever more
Is this the way I'll die? No!
I'll find the sense of honor--that I held once before
The Blood--The Honor--The Truth
Thought it would never end
The Blood--The Honor--The Truth
Can be part of our lives again
16 Genesis (01:33)
The birth of man was the birth of Hell
The wrathful flames dance around my head
Falling figures, burning dead
A well once filled with flowing water
Now an endless tunnel of hate and squalor
Covered, once, with locks of hair
All burned off, to leave me bare
A hand that once reached out to feel
Now gropes about for something real
I try to hold onto what I've found
But the heat of the touch melts all to the ground
Pulling back, Inside my head
I watch for hours, the listless dead
From my hear flows the tears
Giving no life to that which is seared
I wait for the day when only ashes appear
Nothing gained--and no more fear
And once again I will be pure
18 Fascist Attitudes (01:50)
Why should you go around bashing one another
If they look or think different, why let it bother
Everyones got their own style, their own thoughts
Don't let it bother you, don't let it get caught
Your fascist attitudes - we need the least
With a scene that's fighting for unity & peace
Don't need more anger; no more danger
Don't need to hate; stop before it's too late
Learning how to respect each other is a must
So why start a war of anger & danger among us
It's time to grow out of your nazi hypocrism
When you really don't want part of a fucked up system
19 The Eliminator (03:01)
Killing's my business and business is fine
Money's my interest, life isn't kind
You know you can run but there's nowhere to hide
Payback's a bitch boy
Now you're gonna die
Hand me the contract, I've got no remorse
The more cash I get, the bloodier the worst
You claimed their way out, life is up in flames
How 'bout doin' it my way
Beheaded or slain
[Chorus:]
Hanging or lethal injection
Gas chamber - take a last breath
Firing squad, electrocute, we'll execute!
More than one face of death
Kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out
A soldier of fortune, I'll wipe 'em all out
Having no home, I have no shame
I'll take a life, another victim in pain
Try turning the tables or make it a frame
You can't snuff me out
Because you're my game
You know you're my target
Your time stands still
But no job's too tough
I love to kill
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