Pennywise, Angel Du$t, H2O & Murphy’s Law in Detroit.
Jim Lindberg from Pennywise at St. Andrew’s Hall, Detroit MI 09/22/2026. All photos by Paul Holstein.
St. Andrew's Hall has been a fixture in the Detroit punk scene for decades. There are three floors, with the bottom floor being a smaller venue called The Shelter, the main floor being the bigger venue, St. Andrew's Hall, and the top floor also being part of St. Andrew's Hall, including the balcony seating and another large bar area. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, I saw many classic shows at St. Andrew's Hall, including Bad Religion, The Exploited, GBH, Turbonegro, Tesco Vee's Hate Police, The Meatmen, Negative Approach, The Misfits, The Dwarves, SNFU, 7 Seconds, and NOFX. Downstairs at The Shelter was also a hotspot for up-and-coming bands, including AFI, The Casualties, The Unseen, and Good Riddance, that couldn't quite fill the big room yet.
The floor had always bounced a bit during the bigger shows, and to be honest, it was a bit scary at times. On March 8, 2022, however, rapper Baby Keem was playing a sold-out show, and the crowd was extremely energetic, with people jumping up and down. The floor started cracking; the show had to be ended early, and the venue was evacuated. It turned out that a joint in the floor had come loose due to the movement of the crowd. St. Andrew's was subsequently closed for renovation, and the floor was replaced. We feared that would end the legendary venue, but it emerged stronger than ever.
An even bigger change came in 2006 when Live Nation acquired House of Blues Entertainment. That transaction brought St. Andrew's into the Live Nation corporate structure, and again we thought that our coveted punk venue might not survive. Although many will complain about the changes that came with Live Nation (and just moving into the future), after this show in particular, I can confidently say that more has changed for the good, at least from my perspective. I'm not a fan of cashless venues, and it's particularly annoying when small punk shows don't allow cameras without a photo pass. Ticket prices have significantly increased, printed tickets are no longer available, sitting in the balcony incurs an additional cost of around $40, and a barricade has been added in front of the stage. On the other hand, they did allow me the photo pass for this show and gave me a printed ticket to boot. I was able to take photos from in front of the barricade and from the balcony. I also had access to the new private bar (with couches, a quiet area, and private bathrooms) for the patrons on the balcony (St. Andrew's has a total capacity of around 1000, with the balcony being limited to under 100). If you can afford the extra expense, the balcony access is well worth it. I was most definitely treated like a V.I.P.
Murphy's Law was up first. Jimmy G was on the stage for one song, and then he jumped down and climbed over the barrier to get out into the crowd. He sang the next couple of songs from the mosh pit and did his signature beer spitting with a PBR. Later in the set, he did get back onto the stage and brought a few kids from the crowd up to sing with him (I later found out that they were Christopher Chrzan's kids, Lennox and Mav). I saw Jimmy hanging out with fans later at the merch booth, and he eventually even came back out for a song with Pennywise. These guys don't mess around.
Toby Morse, the singer and frontman of H2O since they formed in 1994, is a legend. One of the first things that I noticed when they took the stage was that Toby's son Max was on drums. He absolutely killed it. They surprised me with a cover of Fugazi's "Waiting Room" along with all of their hits. Seeing H2O has a special significance for me, as they were one of the first bands that I took my son to see when he was growing up and the first band that I took my grandkids to see when I was introducing them to hardcore.
I had just seen Angel Du$t earlier in the year when they played the Tied Down Fest; you can find the whole story if you search through the In-Spite Magazine archives. They did shout outs to Negative Approach and Cold as Life, and of course Bad Beat (whose members put on the Tied Down festival; Jimmy Lawson from Bad Beat was in the house for this show). It was an energetic set that had the crowd moving and plenty of crowd surfing, and they did their signature cover of "Steppin' Stone".
Randy and Jim from Pennywise at St. Andrew’s Hall, Detroit MI 09/22/2026. All photos by Paul Holstein.
I've been a fan of Pennywise since my buddy Dave turned me on to their "About Time" album, which was more than a little late in the game. But I've made up for that by not only buying (and loving) every CD they have put out but also seeing them live every time I get the chance (even when they aren't on a bill with NOFX). One of the best moments of the night came before the show, when I ran into Jim Lindberg and he posed for a photo (without me asking). This was a fantastic set that opened with "Peaceful Day" and "My Own Country" and included "Violence Never Ending", "Homeless", and "Fuck Authority". As always, they did a bunch of covers, this time including "Bob/ Kill All The White Man" (NOFX), "Do What You Want" (Bad Religion), "Minor Threat" (Minor Threat) and "Stand By Me" (Ben E. King). There was plenty of joking and trash talk about NOFX and unfortunate comparisons between lyrics that they wrote decades ago and the world today. The intro to “Bro Hymn” was painful, as they dedicated it to recently departed friends Lou and Chad (Lou Koller from Sick of It All and Chad Gilbert from New Found Glory), but it was a perfect end to the night. I'm already looking forward to seeing them again.
