By Walking into Buckhead Theatre on Tuesday, March 17 felt like catching two bands at an all-time high. Both Militarie Gun and Joyce Manor drew packed crowds in Atlanta, and the energy from the floor was constant—intense sing-alongs and nonstop movement from start to finish.
The night kicked off with Combat, a Baltimore band that sounds like the Front Bottoms but edgier, with a heavy Midwest emo feel. They were followed by Teen Mortgage, a Washington, D.C.-based two-piece that brought a weird, gothy, angry punk vibe and pulled a massive amount of energy from the room.
Militarie Gun, led by Ian Shelton, occupies a unique space in the modern landscape. The band is rooted in hardcore but is deliberately pushing beyond those fences. Emerging from Shelton’s heavier work with Regional Justice Center, the project leans into melody and hook-driven songwriting without abandoning the raw intensity of his roots. On a bill with Joyce Manor—whose own catalog thrives on brevity and emotional immediacy—Militarie Gun functioned less as a traditional opener and more as a bridge between hardcore’s physicality and indie punk’s accessibility.
While they came out of the hardcore scene, Militarie Gun has been somewhat divisive for purists in recent years. But after 2025’s GOD SAVE THE GUN, it feels like they are finally getting an earned fair shake. The Atlanta audience was more than receptive, screaming every word of their pop-inflected anthems. Shelton himself exudes a mix of chaos and gratitude that feels like raw sincerity.
A memorable moment occurred offstage; while I was fumbling with my camera settings near the back of house during Joyce Manor’s set, Shelton bumped into me. Instead of moving on with the indifference one might expect at these shows, he made eye contact and gave a heartfelt, “Sorry, brother,” holding up a peace sign as he backed away. Later, he could be found sitting by himself on the floor between merch tables.
What best exemplified Joyce Manor’s set was something Barry Johnson said after playing “Grey Guitar,” a track from their new 2026 release, I USED TO GO TO THIS BAR. “That song was new, but it didn’t feel new,” Johnson told the crowd. He was right—the room yelled every lyric back at him, despite the album being less than two months old. These fans know everything, from first-album deep cuts like “Leather Jacket” to new tracks like “The Opossum.” The first single from the new record, “I Know Where Mark Chen Lives,” already plays like a live staple. Spanning a seven-album catalog, the setlist felt like a victory lap that the audience was more than happy to run alongside. Johnson, despite the band’s veteran status, seemed like a dough-faced teenager, authentically stoked at the engagement.
The band also got a crash course in the infamous “ATL Hoe” chant—a local rite of passage that functions as an endearing, if aggressive, mark of respect for the unsuspecting Torrance-based band. Their warm—if not initially surprising—welcome to the Atlanta community was noted many times with a giddy surprise. They even added an extra song to their encore: “Heated Swimming Pool” off 2014’s NEVER HUNGOVER AGAIN, admitting this was the only stop on the tour where they’d played it.
By the time Joyce Manor walked off, it was clear both bands were in a spot where they could lean into the room and let the crowd do half the work for them. The night was a reminder of what it looks like when rarified energy survives the mass appeal of culture and genre.
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