Day 1 was August 25th The first show was the next night in Cayaguas. I had arrived the night before and as we headed towards the airport to pick up Indecision I realized that almost 2 months of planning was finally materializing. When we got there the band was camped out on top of their gear which included Artie sleeping across a few bags. The small rented mini-van was packed to capacity as there wasn’t an inch to breath. We all piled in and headed back to drop off the equipment. Later that day Rachel opened her guitar case to find out that the neck was snapped somewhere along the line. Ouch! Strike one. Then Justin realizes that he is missing one of his bags with ALL of his clothes in it so the next morning was spent going back to the airport where we got Justin’s clothes but no luck on squeezing anything out of the airline as far as compensation for the broken guitar. Later that day we all went out and found Rachel a new guitar at a local music store. The guy from the guitar department was a real douche who would plug in every guitar for her and then lay into these Van Halen style solos for about 30 seconds, then hand the guitar over to her to check out. We get to the first show around 9pm and there wasn’t a soul in sight. I could not believe after all the shit everyone did to get here that there wasn’t one person here for the show. We found the owner and he was just opening the place up.

I kept asking where the crowd was and kept getting told that kids arrive very late for shows in PR. They weren’t kidding. Some 2 hours later things were getting rolling as the first band took the stage in this really nice club. The air conditioning was pumping and the setup of the place was actually quite friendly for a hardcore show. The first band were pretty bad to be perfectly honest with you. I forgot their name but they literally did not face the crowd while playing. It was almost like they made a football style huddle and just looked at each other a lot of the time. Next up was Advertencia who I have looked upon as a solid act ever since I attended one of their practices the previous summer down here while visiiting. In case you missed it they got Igor on vocals, Pedro on bass, Ivan on drums and the ladies on guitars. Marianne and Karin. Advertencia takes the stage and Igor takes the floor as they rip into their set. A warm reaction from the crowd followed with some kids coming up to take part in the sing-along parts. All of their songs are in Spanish and it’s really different for me when I hear hardcore music not done in English. It was also different in between songs when they would talk to the crowd in Spanish and get an applause and I had no idea what just went on. Makes me wish I did better in Spanish class. Other than that this had all the makings of a hardcore show basically anywhere. Same feel. Due to a slew of last minute cancellations Indecision was up next and I knew they had to be at least a little apprehensive to how they would be accepted. Like I mentioned earlier there have not been a ton of bands before them that have traveled this road so it could be a total bust or a total blast. Who knew. The crowd was was at it’s largest level now with what I would guess would be around 75 people in a very small and cramped area. Pat set up his drums on the stage and the rest of the band set up their equipment on the stage but they all stayed on the floor level. After all the fine tuning the moment finally came as Indecision blasted into their first song.

The second show was scheduled for Mayaguez which we were told was a good 3 hour drive. Mayaguez eventually ended up getting cancelled before we left for the show due to circumstances I’m not even sure about. Obviously all involved were disappointed and the first thing that came to mind was the fact that all the money made at the shows was going back to pay for the plane tickets to bring Indecision in. So the planned second show that never was turned into a night of hanging out and going to the beach.

Saturday night the 28^th was in Moca which was clear across the island. Another long drive in a cramped mini-van saw us arriving at yet another empty club that looked like either a jail or a P.O.W. camp or something not too inviting. One thing from being the driver was I noticed that Puerto Rican drivers are right up there with NY drivers as I saw some wild shit along the way. Again we sat and waited a few hours as a decent sized crowd started to show up. In a weird twist most stayed outside of the club saying the $6.00 door price was too steep. Feka was up first and they were a pretty good act. Young kids with a lot of energy. They covered “Mi Familia” by Madball and did nothing but give shout outs to Indecision time and time again. Next was Advertencia who were a 4 piece on this night since Marianne couldn’t get out of work early enough to make the long drive. Igor and Advertencia’s frustration with the crowd assembled outside was obvious as he limped noticeably around the stage. Maybe 20 kids had come inside out of what I would guess was around 100 who were in the vicinity. One thing came through though in a translation was how they helped bring Indecision to Puerto Rico and that it was only $6.00 to get into the show and that a plane ticket to NY to see them play would be around $400.00. A valid point but one that wasn’t taken by the crowd. There were no windows (just bars) on the club so everything came through loud and clear to those still outside. Shortly afterwards Indecision set up their equipment in the nearly empty club. 20 or so kids watched them as they once again played IN the crowd as opposed to the stage.

It was now Sunday the 29th and we were being told the whole week that the finale at Carolina’s “Studio 54” was going to be the best of the best as far as shows went. How things have gone up till now it couldn’t have gotten much worse. It seemed like every time we planned on going to the beach it rained so we decided to go check out the El Yunke rain forest which lived up to it’s name by pouring some serious ass rain on us. It was real scenic and all and the rain let up a little bit as we were able to get out of the car and check things out. Later that day we headed over to Studio 54 (yeah, it relocated to Puerto Rico!) This place was so damn small it was unbelievable. If anyone reading this knows Castle Heights in Queens…. Picture a club with HALF it’s dance floor size. There were a ton of kids in and outside the club. One thing that I noticed right away was the number of skinheads at the show. Back home seeing a skinhead at a show is a rare site these days but not here. As with every show on the tour more openers cancelled leaving this a 3 band show.

Advertencia were up second and half way through their set a fight broke out. It seemed to be one guy out of control with a crowd of people trying to calm him down but things kept escalating. The guy got pushed outside of the club where he started slugging it out with the bouncers. Then some dude comes from out of nowhere and pulls out a gun and starts waving it like he is going to shoot the guy and everything dies down real fast. The guy is like “the show is over!” and Advertencia stayed on the stage and said “fuck that!” It could have ended right there but somehow the show moved on. The cops show up and it was like “oh, just a fight with some guns drawn…. no biggie” and 2 seconds later they were gone. When it was time for Indecision they once again set up pretty much in the crowd again and when they started it was pure mayhem. The place was really packed in tight and there wasn’t much room for movement of any kind. Artie was lost in a sea of huge tattooed monsters as he sang the set. Bago was in the middle of the pit swinging his bass around but even he was in rough waters getting knocked around some.

This show was without a doubt the closest thing to a show back home as the crowd was reved up and intense from start to finish and kept asking for more when Indecision were done. So that was that. The next day we were all off on our way back to NY leaving our friends in Puerto Rico behind on their kick ass island. A lot of money was lost on plane tickets, gas, a broken guitar etc. The second show got cancelled and the show in Moca was a total bust but the true DIY.. the true hardcore spirit was shown by the people responsible for putting the shows on and Indecision. Both Igor and Michi didn’t do this to make money. They would have been happy to have 4 awesome shows and just get their money back. It didn’t happen but at least they know they fucking tried and they should get nothing but respect from the Puerto Rican scene for trying to improve on a small scene that craves this music. Overall Puerto Rico has a lot of kids that seem to be hungry for real hardcore music. It seemed like the majority of kids were largely influenced by MTV, the Limp Bizcuits and Korn’s of the world and are looking for something a little more real that they can relate with. Hopefully with tours like this one and ones to follow in the future more eyes can be opened and Puerto Rico can be looked at as a legit touring spot for bands from all over.

-written by CW September 1999