Slapshot play final show in Boston with Fiddlehead's Pat Flynn joining in

Slapshot played their farewell show on Oct. 17 at Big Night Live in their hometown of Boston, closing a run that began in 1984. The date carried extra weight: Oct. 17 is Edge Day, the annual straight edge celebration that traces back to 1999, when Ten Yard Fight headlined their last set at Edge Fest.

The band formed out of the remains of early Boston hardcore groups Negative FX and Last Rights, and spent decades churning out records, touring relentlessly — Europe in particular — and cycling through lineups. Vocalist Jack Kelly, known as Choke, was the only constant member across the band's entire history. Slapshot announced the farewell tour in 2024, and this sold-out hometown date served as its conclusion.

The bill stacked longtime peers alongside younger acts: Agnostic Front, BOLD, DYS, Wisdom In Chains, Béton Armé, Restraining Order, Time X Heist, Neighborhood Shit, and Aggressive Dogs all played.

Slapshot's closing set ran well past an hour. It opened with a video piece about the group's earliest days, narrated by Choke, before the band tore through 25 songs, including covers pulled from the Smiths and Negative FX. One of the night's highlights came when Pat Flynn — frontman of Have Heart and Fiddlehead, and a straight edge fixture of a later Boston generation — took over lead vocals for Last Rights' 1984 track "Chunks," capping the appearance with a stagedive.