Above Richter at Hoagie Barmichaels May 26, 2005
by Amy Talaska

The show was set up by Eric from Breakthrough entertainment whom has to be one of the nicest people you could ever meet! The night started out a little disorganized with none of the bands knowing when they were going to go on but by some miracle the lineup was set and the first band was on at playing at 7:30 as scheduled.

The venue itself was very impressive for being on the bar level of things! Most bars are a bar first that just happens to have bands play every once in a while. This place is set up where the focus is more on the shows. There aren’t even that many places to sit which forces the majority of the audience to stand up in the front in the pit area which is the largest at this venue. It has more of a house of blues feel than a bar one. And the sound was much better than you could find at any average bar for that matter.

The first band was a little heavy music wise to put it mildly. It was an interesting band to have to follow but the boys made it work well. Above Richter started off with a heavier sound to start off their set which threw off the regular audience members a little but in a good way. The majority of the audience were probably junior high/high school age, which aren’t always the easiest to impress. They acted as though Above Richter were the rock gods that they dream to be someday. The kids were waving their hands around which looked like some form of spirit fingers/jazz hands and holding up their cell phones in place of the lighters they didn’t have. One of the best moments was seeing the grown men moshing with the young kids. The show in a sense brought about a bonding between all of the generations.

By far this had to have been one of Above Richters best shows so far. The sound was near flawless and the crowd couldn’t have been more responsive. When they announced it was their last song *every* single person in the audience started yelling for one more song. There wasn’t one person who wanted to see their show end that’s just how powerful they were. The sound guy at first was sticking to the strict time frame but eventually he was forced to give into the screaming fans for that one last song.

Thank you to all of the friends, family, and fans that came out to support the band at this show and make it as an amazing experience as it was!