The guitar chords resonated for a solid minute before punk crew Diarrhea Planet took the stage. It was day two of their three-day takeover of Allston’s Great Scott and the crowd was digging the vibe. Diarrhea Planet launched into “Power Moves” as fans gripped the stage amps with white knuckles, trying to hold themselves up as the back rows surged forward. Great Scott’s floor trembled. On stage, their mouths moved but there was no sound.
The girl next to me clutched the the edge of the stage, catcalling guitarist and singer Jordan Smith. He rewarded her with a selfie. Smith’s energy couldn’t be contained throughout the night; he dipped and dived while hands reached for him. His bandmates pretended to shoot at each other with their guitars-guns. They wouldn’t even stop to pause between songs, and instead kept tearing through tracks at a fevered pitch. The audience shouted lyrics to every song, trying to clamber over heads to get just a little bit closer. You could just tell by their smiles that Diarrhea Planet were excited to be there. With barely any room to move on the Scott’s stage, the boys stuck to their little square of land, except for the occasional back-to-back strumming between Smith and guitarist Brent Toler, or Emmett Miller’s guitar tapping while balancing between the stage and crowd.
They played a couple tracks off their 2014 release Aliens in the Outfield while still including some oldies. Though it was hard to hear vocals over the deafening volume of the instruments’ amps, the band’s output really energized the crowd. There were moments when the venue doubled as a bounce house. With the lack of space, audience members crowd surfed one at a time with Smith also taking a brief float on the sea of hands.
As the set winded down someone shouted, “Don’t even bother taking off your instruments!” Smith laughed, his guitar still in hand. The rest of the guys joined him on stage, but requested help for their encore. Harry Kagan, singer for openers Music Band, walked up in his nearly solid white ensemble from his band’s set. Smith started to play the opening chords from AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” and the crowd hums with him. Kagan nailed a perfect impression of the iconic band’s Brian Johnson and the fans sang along. Allston was hit with a bolt of lightning and the boys of Diarrhea Planet promised everyone an entirely new set the following night.