I would say they "packed 1,000 people into Gravity for Against Me! on Saturday night," but packed wouldn't be the word at all.

The former Ches-A-Rena in Cheswick is the size of an airplane hangar, and while the fire marshall wanted to hold the crowd to 1,000, it seemed like three more thousand could have fit into the room.

Gravity, an under-age club now open for concerts, is a spacious, comfortable and cool venue, with a high lunar-looking ceiling and a tall stage that allows you to see the band from anywhere in the room. To the right of the stage there is a concession stand and game tables, to the left are black and neon pink couches and a platform people can climb on if they're 4-foot-tall and can't see any other way. Along the back, there's dayglo carpeting for a cosmic effect.

Gravity looks like some kind of retro-futuristic place where Jimmy Neutron would go see a show.

The sound seemed good, but it's hard to judge with a punk band like Against Me! that isn't all that concerned with dynamics. They write good, topical lyrics, but even under the best circumstances, you'd probably need to know the songs to catch all the words.

The Florida band, whose "New Wave" was named the Album of the Year by Spin magazine, did a high-energy 45-minute set and muscular political punk, attacking with two guitars and three singers trading off verses.

They rocked through songs like "The Ocean" and "Those Anarcho Punx Are Mysterious" -- with its "wah-ooh" sing-along -- sounding at times like a slightly less Celtic version of the Dropkick Murphys.

After closing with "Walking is Still Honest," Tom Gabel joked "anybody ready to rollerskate after this?"

Which does bring up a pretty cool idea -- the roller derby mosh pit.