Tree

with Bonehead, 6L6, and Stompbox at the Earth First! Benefit at Axis
by Scott Hefflon
photos by Chris Johnson

Gee, Tree supporting a group of maniac environmentalists who chain themselves to logging trucks and string cables between trunks to prevent their being cut? Surprise, surprise! It seems hardcore goes deeper than angry lyrics, aggressive music, and impressive record sales. Tree whipped the crowd into an even more crazed frenzy with 60 seconds of “You wanna be around? You gonna sit back and let them destroy your home? Your Mother Earth?!?” It was inspiring to feel the massive energy surge with good intentions (of course, most people just returned home happily bruised and weary, maybe tossed back a couple while watching Letterman before going to bed so they could be back at work or school come Monday morning).

Tree leapt right into “Engulfed” and didn’t let up for the rest of the night. The whole floor turned into one mass of writhing, flailing bodies. There was a sync between on and offstage that blurred the border, making it all come together. Both band members and crowd crazies stage dove and crowd surfed around the room. The singer shared choruses with loyals in the front row that piled upon one another to get at the mic, they played unreleased material that was even faster than A Lot to Fear “Give “Em An Inch & They’ll Take A Mile.” They raced through “Question Abuse” (which is now on a cool D.I.Y. video) and the working class song that’s good to march to, ‘Pay.” During “Spermicide,” there were ten or fifteen people handsurfing across the crowd, squirming like little spermies. After a touching “Good to be back in Boston” spiel, they pulled out all the stops for “Suffer.” The almighty crush of stinking, sweaty bodies, hair stuck to face, face peeled off leather jacket, elbowed from the waist up, stomped on from the waist down, sweating pure adrenaline for the last song of the night. We shuffled out tired, battered, and content.