Bad Beat E.P. 2025 Record Release Party in Detroit.
Niki’s Pizza in Greektown, downtown Detroit—all photos courtesy of Paul Holstien.
Nikki's Pizza has been a staple of Downtown Detroit for as long as I can remember. Located next door to St. Andrew's Hall/ The Shelter—it was the perfect place to grab food before a punk rock show growing up. Part of Greektown, it's also directly across the street from the Greektown Casino, so ditto for nights at the casino playing blackjack and roulette or grinding out poker tournaments. All of these years, I wasn't aware there was an upstairs bar, much less one big enough to host a multi-band hardcore show. Well, there is, and it's amazing. The upstairs appeared to be a dance bar with a disco ball overhead, a bar on one side, and a raised area on the other with booths. This worked out perfectly for those of us not wanting to get involved in what would be complete chaos in front of the bands between mosh pits, side-to-side, and two-step.
Bad Beat at Niki’s Pizza in Greektown, Downtown Detroit.
Total Supply puts on a tight show, so we got there on time and expected the bands to blitz through their sets. The earlier bands were scheduled at just 15 minutes, with that stretching to 20 and 25 minutes for the headliners. The headliners, Bad Beat, WMD, and Pluto's Kiss, were local, and the other bands were all from out of town. Totaled kicked it off and was so good, it was hard to believe that they were opening. If the rest of the bands were that good, this was going to be a hell of a day. Not only was this scheduled to be a 7-band line-up (for Bad Beat's E.P. 2025 record release), but we were headed directly afterwards over to Small's Bar in Hamtramck (about a 15-minute drive) to see The Suicide Machines headline for the second night in a row over there.
We had parked in the St. Andrew's Hall parking lot next door, so our plan was to order a pizza, stash it in the car, and eat it between sets. That worked out, but it was more difficult to execute than we thought with this show going off like clockwork. We ordered, picked up the pizza two bands later, and then barely had enough time to scarf down a piece and stash it in the car before the next band was going on. Every band was amazing, and not unexpectedly, they snuck in an unscheduled set by Lose Sight, who were on tour with All4All. Other than the lighting (which forced the multiple photographers to mostly use their flash), this was a near-perfect venue, and I think we were all walking out hoping that they do this again.
Pluto’s Kiss at Niki’s Pizza in Greektown, Downtown Detroit. —all photos courtesy of Paul Holstien.
