It's been a while since I've been to a punk gig. I think the last time was when I saw Rancid play the Olympia in Dublin waaaayyyy back in 2006. Or was it when I saw Sum 41? Can't remember...
Anyway, I've been listening to punk the same time I listened to metal. Obviously I like metal more! Bad Religion are one of the bands that I really like and know most of the songs to. NOFX are the allright as well, I have some of their records - namely Punk in Drublic, So long... and The war on errorism.
So when I knew that BR and NOFX were coming to NZ, I had to see them. My wife wouldn't understand but she knew I wanted and will see these bands.
I bought my ticket online and waited for the day. The thing is, it was on a sunday and to boot, our open house was the day before! I knew I would be knackerd! But the punk spirit is high! hahahah
So, after we went to the Waikato Home & Garden show, I started my drive up to Auckland.
Since I got my trusty HTC Touch Pro as my GPS, it was a breeze to get to the Town Hall...
I find it a bit ironic that there was going to be a punk gig in a municipal hall such as the Auckland Town Hall, but what the hell, some punk ethics you have to break I guess. The Town Hall is a majestic place IMHO. I was asked to empty my pockets on arrival but all was good. Went straight to the merch booth. When I go toa gig, I want to get tour shirts, other regular shirts are down the list.
I eventually bought a NOFX Lion Red label rip off & simple BR 'suffer' ts.
The stage was empty when I came in, all the people were still outside or smoking. The 1st band I thought were Pour Habit, but I think they were called Fallen? Correct me if I'm people. They play more of a pop punk music I guess ala Green Day (now) and other pop punk bands out there. Not too bad.
After these guys finished, it was up to Pour Habit to get things going. While they were getting ready, a black guy with a bad afro was making some jokes and I thought he was some stand up comic while they were getting ready. It turns out this dude was their singer!!! Straight up punk from these guys from Compton! 2 black dudes & 3 white guys playing punk. 1 of their guitarists looked like that guy from Backstreet boys and the other looks so young! The BSB guy & the drummer looked like high school jocks. I guess you can say they play typical punk with a bit of reggae thrown in. Apparently they have like 12 cd's out and under Fat Wreck records. So check em out!
Next up was NOFX. As I said before, I've liked NOFX for a while and find them quite funny lyrically. 1 song I was really waiting to hear was Franco Un-American off The War on Errorism. While getting set up, some how there was some thing wrong with their setup and Fat Mike blamed Slayer/Megadeth (who were to play tomorrow night). Man the crowd went crazy when they started playing. This was the only gig that I was in a lot of pain, especially along the ribs. The punks tonight really got the place going. They played songs spanning their career, most of them I haven't heard of. After taking a few videos and pics, I was ready to make my exit from the front. Battered & bruised I fought my way to the side and out to take a piss and smoke. When I went back in, I stayed at the back near the sound engineers and in the end, I managed to get the set list. Oh, they didn't play Franco-Un American! Dammit!
It took a while before Bad Religion came on stage. They started off with LA is burning and No Control before Brett's amp has gone kaput. They had to use Fat Mike's amp as a replacement and blasted Do What You Want before playing Recipe for Hate. I was in a frenzy. I love going to gigs that I know the lyrics too so that I can sing along. Gregs vocals is the same as it sounds from the cd. Tonight I learned that Bad Religion are 1 year younger than me - 29 fucking years!! They played most songs that I knew and can sing along to. I was in a fit when they played I want to conquer the world, Infected and 21st Century (digital boy). I lost my voice and was in a lot of pain, but it was well worth it! Punks not dead in my book!!
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