Breakin' Even Fest (Day 1) @ Pie Shop [DC] - 9/16/2022
Direct Hit! at Pie Shop in DC (Photo ©2022 Nick Piacente)
The 4th Breakin Even Festival was back at Pie Shop this weekend, after a two-year COVID hiatus. The sold-out event brought local DMV punk acts, out-of-state touring bands, and a newly-added comedy lineup to open the festival. The comedians didn’t miss the opportunity to prod at the fans, punk culture, the bands, and their merch. Leading comedian Tyler Simpson wanted to know which band was trying to sell coffee beans out of Mason Jars, which led to a hilarious exchange to start off the night.
Fresh off of a European summer tour, Direct Hit! came through the east coast to headline night one of Breakin’ Even. The Milwaukee-based outfit started with pop-punk ‘Artificial Confidence’ and ‘Hospital for Heroes’ and got progressively heavier throughout the set. To close out the night, lead Nick Woods put the guitar down and tested the limits of his vocal cords with ‘Do the Sick’ and ‘You Got What You Asked For,’ while Guitarist Devon Kay made his way off-stage to play in the crowd with the fans.
The rest of the Breakin’ Even lineup was filled with varied local punk acts, including the five-piece surf-core Magazine Beach out of DC, Baltimore’s high-energy, pop-punk Braceface, and DC-based American Television; whose members Bryan Flowers and Steve Rovery put on the fest every year. Northern Virginia’s Ann Beretta made the trek inside the Beltway to play their first DC show in 20 years.
More information on the festival can be found here. Look out for future events from Breakin’ Even, including another fest in 2023!
