The only shows I've attended in Madison have been through the University of Wisconsin, so I was shocked to see the Rx Bandits, and their openers Men, Women, and Children as well as Nurses, playing somewhere else. This proved to be a good move as far as I was concearned, because I have a knack for getting lost in the Capital City, and a simple drive down Washington Ave. was all it took to find The Loft. The Loft is one of Madison's all ages venues which is geared towards the younger part of "all ages" with video games, social lounges, and entirely-too-clean grafitti on the walls. Pepsi was only 75 cents a can. Nurses took the stage and I couldn't help but notice that three of the four were wearing scarves, three were playing guitars, and three were sporting beards, which I took as a fair warning that we were about to hear a band-wagon band. But despite the use of synths and the quirky instrument du jour, the melodica, and a slide whistle, what this dance-rock quartet lacked in vision, they made up for with genuine spirit. And perhaps "lacked in vision" is a bit too harsh. They put on a fun show and with a little more time simmering I could see a bright future. Men, Women, and Children, on the other hand, has already had time to simmer and their light show was proof of that. Whether or not I had a taste for them is a differet story. They were louder, a little more arrogant, and a little bit dancier, but I always felt like something was missing. It just didn't feel fully fleshed out. Rx Bandits finally took the stage and rocked out the way one would expect. The band has had an interesting story of musical progression, starting out in the 3rd wave ska scene in the mid nineties and gradually, album-by-album moving to a more progressive, jam-style rock. It happened so effortlessly, that nobody in the trigger-happy punk world even uttered the words "sell out." They mostly played music from their newest album, ...And the Battle Begun, but occasionally dipped into tracks from The Resignation and Progress. Their live version of "Only for the Night" broke down into a five minute jam and solo session, which even pitted their Trombone player against their drummer in a dual of beats, a much more heated battle than what one might inittally envision. When the band returned from what seemed like the longest call for an encore (I envisioned them excitedly waiting around the corner at the merch table to start selling to eager fans, while the crowed applauded and waited for them to come back, sort of mixed-signals comedy for ya there...) they played the fan favorite "Overcome" and (what has always confused me, cuz I never really liked the song) "Infection." Over all it was a good show with a nice crowd and it leaves me eager to know what is in the future for the band with no boundaries.