22

FRIDAY

The bands on the Mobilize for Peace tour—headliner Anti-Flag, Good Riddance, Strike Anywhere, Thought Riot, and the Code—must inherently understand Tsunami’s “Punk Means Cuddle.” Despite the aggressive sounds and stances, the catchy, crunchy, almost uniform music made by these bands is as familiar as an old sweater; its underlying message is love espoused through an aggressively leftist POV. Anti-Flag’s self-explanatory “911 for Peace,” from its Mobilize disc, might as well be the tour’s theme. SoCal’s Good Riddance proves to be Anti-Flag’s West Coast brah on its Symptoms of a Leveling Spirit, but Richmond, Va.-based natives Strike Anywhere, and its Rites of Spring-powerful Change Is a Sound album, is what gets this retired punk with a bad back longing for the pit. Or a cuddle. See all five bands at 5:30 p.m. at Nation, 1015 Half St. SE. $12. (202) 432-7328. (Christopher Porter)