Show Review: 585

Social D By J. Remington The Social Distortion show State Theater on Nov 2nd. It was great to be back in the State Theater. As you might expect this show might as well have been a rockabilly convention. It was a sea of route 66 throwback, greaser styles as tons of scally caps, Dickies jackets, sailor tattoo sleeves and waxed hair mixed it up with the occasional mohawk and studded leather jacket. There were also a lot of older folks there too reliving their glory days, and one guy that looked like he got lost trying to find the G-UNIT show. When I wasn’t watching the crowd I managed to catch a few glances at the two opening acts. Frank Turner, a punk/rockabilly act from Winchester England had a good set with lots of energy. He played about 7 songs, and had a warm reaction from the crowd. Lucero, from Tennessee came up next. An 8-part band with a horn section, a keyboard and a singer so drunk that whatever the hell he said between songs was a total mystery. I have no idea how he was still standing by the end of their 8ish song set. I said “ish” because near the end it was impossible to tell where one song ended and the other started. Still they were a lot of fun, and I would defiantly recommend checking them out. When Social Distortion took the stage the whole place went bat shit crazy. The floor filled up as people of every age pushed forward and the moshing and pogoing took over. Punks slammed into rockers, Rockers bounced off of guys that looked like my old history teacher from jr. high and a few huge walls of muscle adrenaline and sweat pounded the hell out of everyone . After the first song there was so much beer being spilled on the floor that it turned into a skating rink. Picture a circle pit on ice. Lots of falls but also lots of love in the pit. Mike and the boys played 8 solid songs, including “I was Wrong”, “Sickboy”, “When the angels sing” and “Mommy’s little monster” before doing the traditional bow out before the encore. The encore was almost like a second set in of itself. Another 5 songs, ending in “Ring of Fire” The crowd was pumped, singing along and slamming to every song. I left with bruises, beer soaked clothes and permagrin.