Big Ups is an explosion with composure. The instrumentals push out wonky heaviness as frontman, Joe Galarraga, steers himself in and out of twisted contortions and open arms. It’s difficult not to draw comparison to Fugazi, not only because of  Galarraga’s moves, but his first person perspective aggressively applied to inspire a fight for broader issues. The anxious pleas within “Justice” (“In my head, just one wish, I wish for this, I wish for Justice. There’s gotta be a better way, but I just can’t say what will make it ok”) marked the moment where everyone started scooting forward to get in on the fight.

As Big Ups’ set resulted in heavier hearts, people were on edge. Although there is the slight height difference separating stage and the floor, Graves and Perfect Pussy as a whole felt connected at eye line with the crowd. Graves closed her eyes and smirked for a moment, as if she was harvesting the energy of the unified wide-eyed tension. The peace that she set in place, only made the next half hour that much more fierce.

Both the emotional and physical aspects of the set were taken in with such intensity. The slight moments in between songs served as a space to understand what you were experiencing and played a crucial part in the impact. The climax of these realizations were the couple seconds of silence after “Driver”, when Graves throws herself, wailing, “I have a history of surrender, part of a certain set of choices found among the many paths forged by lies I told myself lies like ‘I will be protected’, lies like ‘death might forget me’, like ‘home is where I’m never invited’, like ‘my voice provides a light’, like ‘I can have everything I want before I die.”