Punk Rock Bowling Saturday Club Shows: Good Riddance & The Adolescents.
Tony Adolescent (aka Tony Reflex) of The Adolescents - All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein
After a crazy Friday night club show that would be hard to top, I was contemplating what to do Saturday. I had multiple tickets (in case I had to jump back and forth) to both the Mainliners/Drowns/Stitches/Adolescents show at Backstage Bar & Billiards and the Distorted Times/The Last Gang/Good Riddance/Strung Out show at The Fremont Country Club. The Drowns are one of my favorite bands, so I knew that I had to see them, but where to go next was up in the air. I did already have tickets to see Strung Out in Detroit later in the year, and although I didn't know it at the time, I would end up seeing The Last Gang on the main stage on Sunday (replacing Gen and the Degenerates, whose visas were denied). I made the right choice to see Mainliners and The Drowns first (see my previous story for coverage of that), head next door to catch Good Riddance, and then come back to catch The Adolescents to cap off the night. It was lucky that the two venues were next door to each other.
Russ Rankin of Good Riddance - All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein
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Good Riddance was one of the few bands that I consider to be top tier, but that I had not seen live. Their video for "Dry Season" is one of my most watch videos of all time, if not the most. The energy is insane, and Sean Sellars and Chuck Platt are probably my favorite drummer and bass player in any band. They played a massive 18 song set that included favorites "Salt", "Shadows of Defeat", "Weight of the World", "Edmund Pettus Bridge", "Dry Season" and ended with a cover of "Come Dancing" by The Kinks. I got that last one from setlist.fm, I definitely did not know that was a Kinks song. Of all of the bucket list items checked off this week, seeing Good Riddance may be the most important. It was tempting to stay for Strung Out since I had such a great spot on the rail and was already there, but I stuck to the plan and headed next door for The Adolescents. I would see Strung Out later in the year.
The Adolescents got the audience moving far more than expected, with a mosh pit going so long and hard that I could barely keep a spot up front to take photos. They opened with "L.A. Girl" and played a 20+ song set that included the classics "O.C. Confidential", "Amoeba" and my personal favorite "Brats In Battalions". NOFX has that line in their song "Everything In Moderation" about The Adolescents "I still get excited with the Adolescents play", so I half expected Fat Mike to be in the crowd (but I didn't see him). They covered "Class War" by D.O.A., and finished up with "Kids of the Black Hole". The next morning on my way to get coffee at the Starbucks in the lobby of The Golden Nugget I ran into Tony Adolescent and got to shake his hand and thank him for a great show.
