Wow! What an insane night of punk rock awesomeness. Masked Intruder put on one of the best shows we’ve seen so far this year Thursday night (4/4) at Lookout Lounge.
Before I get into the all the juicy details, I need to give a huge shout out to Lucas Wright and Black Heart Booking for putting this show together and hooking up the guest spots. Thanks Lucas!
Black Heart Booking has tons of good shows coming to Omaha and Lincoln in the near future. Make sure to give them a like on Facebook so you can keep up with all the dates. Lucas does a lot for the punk scene in Omaha and he’s not in it for the riches. Make sure you support the scene by coming to shows. More attendance equals bigger and better shows so get out there and do your part!
All right, on to the show! The first band up was the local pop-punk outfit the Shidiots. With nasally vocals and shredding guitars these guys sounded a lot like punk legends NOFX. I saw a lot of NOFX shirts in the crowd, coincidence? That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the set, who doesn’t like NOFX? My favorite part was all of the jokes both on stage and in the band’s lyrics.
With songs like “Beer Gut”, “My Mother is My Drug Dealer”, and “I Want to be Your Bra” I was smiling the whole time. Their set was an absolute riot. Check out the Shidiots on Spotify for a pick-me-up.
After the Shidiots was Four Arm Shiver from Lawrence, KS. With a pop-punk bounce and a little more edge, Four Arm Shiver kept the crowd’s attention and the party going.
These guys also had jokes. There was a running gag about the Burger Stand in Lawrence and how if you eat there you’ll get explosive diarrhea? I guess the Shidiots played Lawrence and had a bad time there. Maybe that’s where they got their band name! I’m going to Lawrence next month to see the Hives (note to self: avoid the Burger Stand). The crowd seemed to enjoy Four Arm Shivers though, with plenty of cheers and fist bumps all around.
After some small set up the scandalous Masked Intruder was ready to hit the stage! To give you a little background, Masked Intruder is a pop-punk band from Madison, Wisconsin. There are four members, five if you count Officer Bradford (we’ll get to that in a minute). The band are known criminals on the run from the law. In order to hide their identity, each one wears a different colored ski mask and goes only by their color. So “Intruder Blue, Intruder Red, Intruder Green, and Intruder Yellow).
Now, before this particular tour, apparently Intruder Yellow robbed a liquor store, decided to drink some of the goods before leaving the scene of the crime, and got caught. He’s now locked up and the band said “Pray for Yellow, hashtag Free Yellow!”
While Yellow is incarcerated Intruder Purple is filling in on bass, and she’s doing a bang-up job! I hope Yellow survives the joint, but Purple seems to have everything under control in his absence.
Joining Masked Intruder on stage was Officer Bradford, a stoic, mean-looking cop with a no-nonsense mustache and dark aviator glasses. For the first song he just stood with arms crossed, but by the third song he came alive! He stared doing knee-jumps, beating the band with a billy club, and jumping off the stage into the already crazy mosh pit. There was so much going on you didn’t know where to look!
Masked Intruder’s tunes are undeniably catchy and so much fun. As much as I loved the music I enjoyed the stage banter almost just as much. There were so many good jokes but my favorite had to be the back story to “Saturday Night Alone.” Intruder Blue said
“This song is about hanging out on a Saturday night in your mom’s basement where you live, playing video games, and you got a huge pile of totino’s pizza rolls stacked up. Nobody wants to kiss you! Don’t worry, I’ve been there.”
I’ve seen hundreds of bands over the years, but Masked Intruder’s level of stage presence and humor has to be in my top 5 shows ever.
Intruder Red and Intruder Green plotting their next crime spree.
Later on in the set, Intruder Blue invited any ladies who wanted to sing the girl section of “Heart Shaped Guitar” up on stage. One brave soul, Kennedy, came forward. She killed the song and looked like she was having a blast! I laughed so hard though when Intruder Blue got on his knees and started making kissy faces through his mask. He was really hoping for that kiss! Maybe he lured Kennedy to the van after the show. At the end of the song Officer Bradford picked Kennedy up and swung her around, what a riot!
Finally, towards the very end of the set someone yelled to Officer Bradford “Take it Off!” Intruder Blue said “He’s an officer of the law, it will never happen!” But one song later Officer Bradford ripped his clothes off to reveal a colorful blue and red leotard with a huge cutout in the butt cheeks. Insane! If that wasn’t enough, he took off the leotard to reveal an orange jock strap! This show was off the rails. Everyone there was smiling from ear to ear by the end.
I saw a couple of guys asking to take photos with Officer Bradford where it looked like he was punching them. The best part was he was still wearing nothing but the jock strap. Man, punk rock shows are nuts!
This was definitely a show I’ll never forget.
Masked Intruder is on tour with the Intrerupters and have a European tour this summer. Their newest album “III” is available now.
Thanks for reading. If you like what you read, please share! Every share, like, comment, and social media follow helps keep the dream alive!
Follow along on Facebook and Instagram: @storiesfromthecrowd