NEON SATURDAY

For 26 years, it has been the dark, dingy home of working-class bands with callused hands and weary livers.

Since it opened in 1981, The Cooler Lounge has been a locus of underground punk, metal, rock and hip-hop, checkered in what seems like a million band stickers, the air thick with the scent of nicotine and spilled beer.

Now, sadly, the place is shutting its doors, but not before one last hard-core blowout, a 17-band bill that features such Vegas bruisers as Affrontal Assault, Dirty Sanchez, Give ‘Em Hell and scads more.

The Cooler may be closing, but your ears will be ringing for weeks to come. The show starts at 5 p.m. at The Cooler Lounge, 1905 N. Decatur Blvd. Call 646-3009.

JASON BRACELIN