Showdate: Tuesday! February 8th, 2011
Pictures by: ChrisT
Ticket Cost: $43
Show one of a two night stand at the Crystal. Both nights are sold out. Scalper market wasn’t that hot. You could basically get in for cost or less if you waited it out. I said hell with all that and just paid for the so-called convenience of Ticketmaster instead.
Tuesday night. Fuck. Oh well. Sometimes the night of the week you decide to throw down chooses you. Even if it is Tuesday. Rocking this one with my old show buddy ChrisT. He’s hardcore-ing and doing both nights. I’m going for the burn bright ‘n disappear route. We can dispense with the prefunctioning…fast forward to Lola’s during/after The Aggrolites.
We wait out the opener because we have something to lean on for awhile (we’re old, shut up) and check out the crowd. Definitely a scene. You got the random nut like me. The masquerade-as-a-normal-during-the-day types like ChrisT, and…..a whole lot of L.A.M.B.-sponsors-male-SoCal-mechanic fashion show. After seeing Social D in LA earlier, the SoCal transplants are easy to pick out. I’m on my best behavior. There’s alot of room here for my mouth to run ahead of my physical capabilities, so I keep my chemical consumption to buzzed level. Lessons have been learned.
Looking forward to an awesome show. Crowd is into it. House is juiceddd. Everyone around ChrisT and I are buzzed, sociable, and surreptitiously smoking weed. Our shitshow antics won’t offend them. Primed for a winner. Some nights have different vibes than others, what can I say. Totally ready for a show.
Lights.
Show starts with the tape of “California Livin’” by Dr. Dre and 2Pac. As before.
Ever since honeys was wearing Sassoon
Kinda fits Social D. Right? Essentially three decades strong. “Story Of My Life” came out the year I graduated high school. Somewhat hurts.
And, fittingly, hey! Social D looks older than the “Story Of My Life” video. I like the honesty of it. No silicone house-of-mirrors for sure on Mike Ness. Mr. Ness is in white dress shirt, suspenders, a hat my grandfather would have worn to town, and a shiny tie clip. More gangster than fancy. Outlaw!
I’m not going to get all wonky. But there definitely seems a resurgence in the outlaw aesthetic on the country and rock side of things right now (is every new male country artist trying to imply former biker gang membership?) and Social D fits in that perfectly. You can hear it on songs like “Machine Gun Blues” from the new album Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes and on tonight’s cover of Johnny Cash’s “Ring Of Fire”. Like Cash, the vocal of Mike Ness has that lower register and never seems to suffer with years of abuse. Actually seems to take on more character.
Very fun night. ChrisT and I mosh it up to old favorites. The band sweats itself through a furious set of songs that include “Mommy’s Little Monster”, “Story Of My Life”, and “So Far Away”. As the crowd clears toward the end, ChrisT and I can get close and dork it out at the rail of the 21+ section at the edge of a pretty half-assed pit.
Show isn’t half-assed though. The band gives “Bakersfield” off the new album a nice live treatment complete with keys and accordion. Pretty cool that they are trying to run the new material as well and make it memorable instead of being a greatest hits act with a lame album as an excuse to do a road-cashgrab. The encore of “Can’t Take It With You” complete with backing female vocalists was pure fire.
All in all? Fantastic fucking night. After the accordion, Mike Ness asked the crowd if that wasn’t punk rock? Call it bubblegummer for all I care. Killer show and I’ll be back when they are close. Hopefully soon.
