Rancid Report
Had a kickass time at the show last night. The Insurgence were so thrilled to be there, it was cute. They were also filming a video of the show so they kept posing and jumping and exhorting the crowd to really get stirred up. They gave away free CDs of their 4-song EP (the fronts of which were printed with an image of the Showbox, the date of the show and the names of the performers) to everyone at the show who wanted one.
The Aquabats do a fun live show. Due to my unabashed fangirl love of The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets I have long appreciated the fun inherent in a performance by band of costumed avengers. The Aquabats had a full multimedia stage show, complete with an animated introductory origin story and a mid-set break for a video. The band also fended off an attack by a giant, evil lobster-man. Their theatrics are unsurprising considering their pedigree: founder Christian Jacobs (aka The MC Bat Commander) has done some acting, including a bit as that kid in the record store in Pretty in Pink. MCBC took a break mid-show to call out to the kids in the pit and ridicule those of us old folks hanging back in the over-21 bar areas (aka The Old Punks' Lounge), demanding that the lights be brought up and the youngsters turn and cast their scornful gazes our way, we old folks who have "forgotten how to have fun." They flipped us off, we flipped them off back...ah, feel the punk rock love.
The crowd was hot for Rancid. I had few expectations and merely hoped that they would play all of my favorite songs, which they did. Since I don't have a full collection of Rancid material (and definitely nothing they've done in the last couple of years) I fully expected to go in not knowing much of anything, but they played all the hits. To my surprise and delight, they thrilled by busting out with Operation Ivy's Unity (only one of my favorite songs ever!) and the whole place was fist-pumping and singing along. (Civilization ha I call it as I see it / I call it bullshit you know I still cannot believe it / Our evolution now has gone the way of hate / A world evolved resolved into this stupid fate / Stop this war / Stop this war). I also has a chance to really see and appreciate bassist Matt Freeman. Holy shit! He is incredible and they gave him a chance to really show off his skills playing a bass-led solo. Give that dude a bass-player trophy, he's just outrageously good. I'm not at all surprised that he's got a psychobilly side project. They came out for a couple of acoustic songs for their encore: Fall Back Down and (another pleasant surprise) Op Ivy's Sound System and then kicked it electric again for some Roots Radicals among others.
Great show. I had a great time.
The Aquabats do a fun live show. Due to my unabashed fangirl love of The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets I have long appreciated the fun inherent in a performance by band of costumed avengers. The Aquabats had a full multimedia stage show, complete with an animated introductory origin story and a mid-set break for a video. The band also fended off an attack by a giant, evil lobster-man. Their theatrics are unsurprising considering their pedigree: founder Christian Jacobs (aka The MC Bat Commander) has done some acting, including a bit as that kid in the record store in Pretty in Pink. MCBC took a break mid-show to call out to the kids in the pit and ridicule those of us old folks hanging back in the over-21 bar areas (aka The Old Punks' Lounge), demanding that the lights be brought up and the youngsters turn and cast their scornful gazes our way, we old folks who have "forgotten how to have fun." They flipped us off, we flipped them off back...ah, feel the punk rock love.
The crowd was hot for Rancid. I had few expectations and merely hoped that they would play all of my favorite songs, which they did. Since I don't have a full collection of Rancid material (and definitely nothing they've done in the last couple of years) I fully expected to go in not knowing much of anything, but they played all the hits. To my surprise and delight, they thrilled by busting out with Operation Ivy's Unity (only one of my favorite songs ever!) and the whole place was fist-pumping and singing along. (Civilization ha I call it as I see it / I call it bullshit you know I still cannot believe it / Our evolution now has gone the way of hate / A world evolved resolved into this stupid fate / Stop this war / Stop this war). I also has a chance to really see and appreciate bassist Matt Freeman. Holy shit! He is incredible and they gave him a chance to really show off his skills playing a bass-led solo. Give that dude a bass-player trophy, he's just outrageously good. I'm not at all surprised that he's got a psychobilly side project. They came out for a couple of acoustic songs for their encore: Fall Back Down and (another pleasant surprise) Op Ivy's Sound System and then kicked it electric again for some Roots Radicals among others.
Great show. I had a great time.
"The Old Punks' Lounge"... you're making me feel positively ancient. For Cat and my birthday I've booked us tickets to see Barry Adamson. Seated tickets. Seated at a table. With food.