As you grow older, it gets harder to justify sticking around for an entire show. Backs begin to ache and ankles tire, and who can afford all that damn beer? Plus, you have to work tomorrow. Regardless of all this whining, my broken-down old ass will be at the Josephine for all four bands on Saturday's excellent bill.

Olympia's Milk Music land somewhere in the neighborhood of New Day Rising–era Hüsker Dü or glory-days Wipers, demonstrating (again) that you don't need much more than galloping, tuneful riffs; brisk, sturdy drumming; and spirited vocals to make great punk rock. Just look up the song "Beyond Living," and you'll understand the whole thing I'm trying to tell you about.

Brooklyn's the Men trade in volume and repetition like no one's business. Their latest, Leave Home, now out on Sacred Bones, calls to mind the Hunches (RIP), the Hospitals (RIP?), and Drunkdriver (if you know those bands, you're already interested; if not, you could probably stop reading right here)—big, distorted, hairy chord progressions that come at you again and again until you can't help but nod your head, tap your feet, put on a wide grin, and get really anxious to see it all go down live. I've been giving a very slow and painful birth to the Bumbershoot guide over the last week, and Leave Home has been the soundtrack. The Men's vocals are already unintelligible, so they don't distract from working with words (a major music concern around here)—and everything else is so loud, it drowns out the realization that you've been working for two days straight without a proper meal. Seattle's Big Crux are a newish band that Cold Lake guitarist and occasional Line Out contributor James Burns wisely brought to my attention a few months back. They execute a punk-funk (stay with me) hybrid with estimable skill, and I don't hesitate to drop a Minutemen comparison. We've already spilled much ink on Cold Lake—"the Monorchid jamming on Entombed's gear"—and Burns says they'll be playing out some new material for an EP they're slated to record over Labor Day weekend and release shortly thereafter. GET INTO IT.