Pop Break Live: The Ergs! at House of Independents in Asbury Park, NJ
It has been seven long years since The Ergs! performed together in their home state of New Jersey. The pop punk band from Old Bridge had reunited last year for a reunion show at The Fest 15, but it looked like it was a one time thing and if you didn’t make it out to Florida, it would be the last chance you would get to see them perform.
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case and the band would later announce they were opening for The Descendants at Starland Ballroom. The show quickly sold out, but fans were given one more chance to see The Ergs! at in Asbury Park, where they had performed their last pair of one-off shows.
At their headlining House of Independents show, The Ergs! selected the opening bands Ex-maid, Nervous Triggers, and The Weird Fantasy Band, all of whom featured at least one former member of Hunchback (who would open the show with a surprise set).
When it was time for The Ergs! to start their much-anticipated set, the traditional backdrop was replaced by a projection screen and the movie Dirty Work (a favorite film among the band) started playing. Drummer/lead vocalist Mikey Erg would quote parts of the film in between songs throughout the night.
The Ergs! played a massive set list that included classic tracks like “Introducing Morrissey,” “Every Romance Language,” and “Books About Miles Davis.” The crowd moshed, crowd surfed, and sang along to every song through the entire performance. For diehard fans of the band, it was a night to remember. As it was my first time seeing them live, I only wished I had known about them when I was growing up and that they were still making music and touring together.
