Red 40, Smear Campaign, Poison Tribe, and Physique all put on a show at Seventh Circle Music Collective on Feb. 28, and it absolutely blew me away.

People were hanging from the ceiling, hardcore moshing, and screaming until it seemed like their vocal cords were snapping—myself included.

You probably read the headline and thought, “Oh, this will be interesting.”  However, I sadly did not win in my fight against the bear.

Instead, I moshed a little too hard to the gritty, filthy, raw sound of these four bands and caught an elbow to the face.

The four hardcore punk acts put on an incredible, exotic show—with flashing lights and music that made your head feel like it was going to explode—in a good way.

Red 40, a local hardcore punk band with two female vocalists, started the night off with their music, which got the crowd extremely hyped up for the rest of the concert.

Halfway through Poison Tribe’s set, my friend and I decided to lock arms and spin as fast as possible in the middle of the pit, throwing ourselves into those surrounding us.

During that, I somehow managed to throw myself so hard into someone that I hit my cheekbone, and it immediately swelled up to the size of a golf ball.

That area of my face instantly went numb, and as I made my way to the bathroom, I got a bunch of looks that said, “Is she okay?”

Yes, I was more than okay and having the time of my life.

After Poison Tribe’s violent set, Smear Campaign came on.

They rocked the crowd with their unique and brutal sound, and the pit was ten times crazier.

Just when I thought the crowd couldn’t get any more maniacal, Physique came on. They had the most hardcore—almost death metal—sound I’d ever seen live. The vocalist had a very low, guttural scream, and that sent the crowd into protest.

I woke up the next morning covered in bruises and my eyes swollen shut, which has to be one of my proudest moments.

My favorite thing after a show is going home and analyzing myself for all of the injuries I got at the show, and seeing my eyes closed shut was a surreal experience.

My eye has almost fully healed since then, and I ended up going to another show about a week later, hoping to get another black eye- it felt like a medal.

Needless to say, I would love to see this lineup again. It was the craziest, most passionate, and most brutal concert I’ve ever been to, and I would be honored to get another black eye in their mosh pit.