The Riverboat Gamblers are not, as their name would lead you to believe, a group of old women playing blackjack on the Mississippi River.  They are a local punk rock band with an intense energy.

Their show on the Black Stage Saturday was a force to be reckoned with.  All five members lined the front of the stage and created a wall of noise that blasted the audience.

Originally from Denton, Texas, The Riverboat Gamblers now reside in Austin and consider this to be their home.

Frontman Mike Wiebe led the group with tons of audience interaction.  

Very early on in the show he did a stage dive into the crowd and played the tambourine against his skull.

At one point in the show, Wiebe even grabbed a cell phone out of an audience member’s hand, called her mother and sang the rest of the song to the person on the other end.

He ended the song with “Your daughter is safe.  I’m taking care of her tonight,” and hung up. 

If the energy of the band was not enough, the energy of the crowd was even crazier.  Like most punk or hardcore shows, there was plenty of shoving, moshing and crowd surfing.