Pennywise

House of Blues, Anaheim

Pennywise was recommended very highly to me by the folks at the HOB. They said I'd love them. Wrong! I would have thought that by the time these guys had racked up all those years playing clubs, larger venues, and putting together ten CD's worth of stuff, they'd have a little more of an act going for them. Musically they were sound, although I can't really say they're songwriting did too much for me. Their stage presence, or lack of it,, is what really turned me off. Just a group of guys up on stage, not really doing anything original or exciting, and just playing a bunch of pop-punk tunes to a crowd who for reasons that escape me, absolutely drooled over them. I've experienced that kind of a reaction before, like for Social D and the like, but at least with those guys there was a little something going on up front. These guys were just dead. Dead dead dead. The only somewhat interesting point in the evening was when they dragged a bunch of fans and people from the HOB up on stage and sang along with the bulk of the audience. It wasn't all that great though, and didn't do too much to repair the damage that had been done already that evening. I probably wouldn't be so hard on the band if they hadn't come so highly rated by damn near everyone who knew that I was going to the show. I guess I should have sold them my ticket for four times the face value and let them foam at the mouth with the other dumbasses in the crowd. Geez. I don't know where all this bitterness is coming from. Must be my disappointment at having wasted a worknight on these guys. In all seriousness, they're ok. See 'em if you like 'em and don't mind paying to see guys just stand on stage playing their hits, otherwise save your money.

You can find Pennywise's website here.