Anti-Flag at the Bovine Sex Club

Punk rockers, Anti-Flag, treated Toronto to an intimate and insanely fun show on Thursday night at the Bovine Sex Club in Toronto. This special affair was in celebration of the release of their brand new album American Spring.

The Pittsburgh natives packed the grungy downtown bar, and proved that 20 years later, they are still on point and on top of their game. The venue itself had a great DYI feel to it, the walls were covered in stickers, headless dolls and even a few broken guitars hanging off of the ceiling. It felt very fitting for an Anti-Flag show.

The night was filled with a great mix of their powerful songs such as “Death Of A Nation”, “Fuck Police Brutality” and “This Is The End (For You My Friend)”. Bodies were everywhere as everyone moshed and crowd surfed through the night.

During the show, bassist, Chris Dos, told everyone to shake the hand of the person beside them and to remember their faces, so in case you bump into them again outside of the show you can go up, say hi and make a new friend. As he was saying this, lead singer, Justin Sane, was going around the stage shaking everyone’s hand as well. As the night was coming to a close, the band performed their latest single ‘Brandenburg Gate’ before closing out with fan favourite, “You’ve Gotta Die for the Government”. 

One thing to note about Anti-Flag shows, is that no matter how big or small the crowd is, they’ve always been able to captivate the crowd through their powerful songs and stage presence. Their encore was pretty memorable as the band moved from the stage and into the crowd to perform “1 Trillion Dollars”. Drummer, Pat Thetic, was right on the floor, while Chris Dos hopped up onto his drum kit with his bass to belt out the song with the fans. 

Once the show was over, the fans helped to put back Pat Thetic’s drum kit back onto the stage. Right after they were done, the band hung out with the fans. Justin Sane went up to everyone by the stage, gave them each a hug and thanked them personally for coming out to the show. It was really humbling to see how down to earth and appreciative these guys are.

Lastly, I just wanted to note that Anti-Flag’s fans have a great sense of community. They know how to have a good time and they always look out for each other. As crazy as the pit was, as soon as someone fell down there would be at least one other person there to help them back up before continuing on. That is something really awesome to see, as a lot of the time concert goers don’t tend to pay attention or take into consideration to the others around them. It just goes to show what a positive and effective impact Anti-Flag continues to have on their fans.