Punk Rock Cancellations/Changes: Rise Against & The Dicks

Dang…got some bad news in the email recently & figured I’d better share. Part numero uno…

RISE AGAINST/ALKALINE TRIO/THRICE/THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM:
Due to Rise Against singer Tim McIlrath losing his voice, the politically-minded punks have had to cancel their Texas shows, both last night in Austin and tonight (Mon., October 27th) here in town at the Verizon Wireless Theater.

If you bought tickets to tonight’s show, you can apparently get a refund, but for my money, I’d hang onto it — Alkaline Trio, Thrice, and The Gaslight Anthem are all still playing tonight, although the show’s been downsized somewhat and moved over to the new House of Blues (1204 Caroline). I’m a bit biased, admittedly, because I utterly fucking love the Alkaline Trio; 2000’s Maybe I’ll Catch Fire provided the soundtrack to a serious chunk of my just-prior-to-wedded-bliss life and is still hands-down one of the best albums I own to listen to when I’m down and want to get good and angry about something.

Anyway, the upshot is this: no Rise Against, but a damn good show nonetheless. If it were me (which, sadly, it isn’t, because I’m a lame-ass homebody most weeknights and will probably be spending the evening painting kid furniture bright colors — not that that’s bad or anything, but it’s not very punk…), I’d hang onto the ticket and still go.

(Oh, and part of the reason tonight’s show’s shifted over to the HoB is because the guy who was supposed to playing there, Tech N9ne, cancelled — er, postponed, per his Myspace. So if you were planning on going to that, um…sorry!)

THE DICKS/THE DELTA BLOCK/ANARCHITEX/ROOM 101:
Speaking of cancellations & changes, I got a kind note not long ago about the show this next Saturday, November 1st, where classic H-town hardcore icons The Dicks were scheduled to play Rudyard’s with locals The Delta Block, Anarchitex, & Room 101 (whose album, by the way, I recently checked out, and holy fucking shit is it something else).

The Dicks had to cancel, unfortunately, due to frontman Gary Floyd’s health problems — he assures fans that no, he does not have cancer, but he’s got diabetes, which makes it a lot harder to heal up from things like surgery. Floyd had what he says was a minor operation, and because of the diabetes, it just hasn’t been healing properly (memo to everybody: diabetes bad; the wife had the mostly-temporary gestational kind when we had our daughter, and it was fucking scary). He swears he’s going to get better soon, though, and says The Dicks will indeed be playing once he’s in better health.

In the meantime, as with the above, the show is still happening, but with fellow local punk icons The Hates — who’re well worth seeing in their own right (heck, my boss even knows who singer/guitarist Christian Arnheiter is, although she refers to him as “the guy with the big red mohawk on the scooter”) — headlining. The other three bands’re still playing, as well.