Show Review: 518

Social Distortion played the historic National Theater, in Richmond, Va. on October 20th, 2009, to a near capacity crowd. This is no small feat, considering it was a Tuesday night playing for a mostly working class crowd. Their reputation didn’t disappoint, and the set was tight, the sound clear, and the career spanning set list included crowd favorites which included the opener (I Just Wanna Give You) The Creeps, Sick Boy, Ring of Fire, and Mommy’s Little Monster. Being an Orange County native, transplanted to D.C. back in ’86, I haven’t had the luxury of seeing them play in over 20 years. I wasn’t disappointed with the show, the sound, or the setlist. As a veteran of many a punk rock gig, it’s great to see some of the bands have been able to survive that long, even better when they can evolve their music into something that has the edge, and energy of Social Distortion, without coming off as overly nostalgic/revivalist, but still maintains the credibility of their punk beginning. The bottom line is, I would definitely drive 80 miles, on a Tuesday night, to catch a classic band play a classic venue – especially if the band is Social Distortion.