Eugene Hutz and the Gogol Bordello posse are absolutely badass! And when they took the stage at All Points West on Saturday afternoon, they made it immediately known that they were in the mood to blow the house down. With their infectious, machine-gun paced, ska and punk-infused Gypsy rock, the collective from NYC’s Lower East Side rocked so hard that a mosh pit magically appeared with kids buggin’ and wildin’ the fuck out.

The opening words from Eugene’s mouth as he took the stage were, “The good old days are not in the past, the good days are here today and tomorrow.” That declaration, accompanied by his all-out, high-energy, balls-to-the-wall performance took the entire energy of the All Points Festival to new levels.

Gogol Boredello on the Big Screen

The reason why a Gogol Bordello show is so effin’ awesome is that the surprises never stop coming – so as an eager spectator, you’re always looking to see what happens next. And on this day, the multi-cultural crew threw the kitchen sink at the crowd … and we loved every minute of it. We didn’t see it coming when the Ecuadorian percussionist/hypeman, Pedro Erazo stepped up from his drum set and got all “ragga” on our asses – or when Sergey, the spectacular electric violinist rocked the hell out of a vocal solo; or when Eugene himself stripped off his shirt, slung a banjo over his sinewy frame and began strumming like a man possessed. You name it, they had it – background singers wielding marching drums and cymbals, funky accordion solos, insane stage costumes – it was all there.

Before the last song, the sweat-soaked Eugene yelled into the mic, “I just got a telegram that we can do one more, so let’s fuckin’ do it!” The crowd roared in agreement. The show was pure madness (in a very good way) – and you just had to be there to take it all in.

Words by Geo Hagan, Photographs by Kwaku Kufour