After failing to arrange plans to go with a crew of mates to SkatePunk, I had the somewhat unfortunate choice of either staying at home while everyone else had fun, or going alone. Alone it was, I decided. The alternative rock music wasn't really my cup of tea, and it hadn't been for a long time—my scene is mostly rock and roll, pub rock, 70s rock type of music, but whatever, it was free and everyone in the scene was gonna be there. Time to see what the fuss was all about.

SkatePunk wasn't exactly SkatePunk no more—the miserable weather meant it had to be relocated to an indoor venue within the premises of the YMCA. I headed out and it was a mostly smooth ride save for a really late bus. I arrived at the suburb of Victoria Point—a place I never really go to as a southsider whose place is in the city.

After an arduous trek through the middle of nowhere, I arrived at the function spot. Instantly I was met by the sound of Whitt's End, and I spotted a few of my acquaintances, though they acted as if they didn't know me, which is fine, because everyone has better things to do, right? I was so out of it that I didn't feel like going in and trying to find a path through the sea of people was gonna be impossible. I tried to find a spot where I could just chill, but there wasn't such a spot to be found.

I linked up with Seth and Kai, and we had an alright hangout outside the gig. The rain set in, and after a while of sitting down not doing anything, the next band was on—Heatstroke.

This was my first time seeing them play, and I was right up close for the action. It was really good, and their song 'Tearing Us Apart' was even better live. They played a few covers and the crowd went ballistic. I joined in a bit, though moshing isn't really my thing anymore, having lost the novelty to me. I believe this was the first gig or among the first gig for many people, as there were a lot of new faces, and talking to some people, they said it was their first gig.

The performance by Heatstroke was standard alternative and quite nice, it really brung out the emo in me. Their song 'Queen Street Acid Trip' was by far THE BEST SONG of their set.

As a person who was a member of a crew that met by pure chance and hung out at queen street, and as a person who had their own profoundly life-changing experience at Queen Street, it was phenomenal. The energy was so intense that I got knocked in the face by Jackson from PIMP's energetic dance moves. In that moment, I really wished my queen street crew mates were there with me to witness that fucking awesome song.

Heatstroke debuted a new song called 'Spread Me Like Butter', which had this cute, happy vibe to it, and that was that.

The between-set was really long, and with the rain becoming ever so heavier and the last bus set to depart, I began the great march to the bus station. It was really awful and wet, but I got back home in one piece. That experience really drained me after already having quite the burnout, but in hindsight, if this was your first gig, or if you went with your mates, you would've been guaranteed to have a good time.