Circle Jerks

House of Blues, Anaheim

Yet another night of 20 year old punk at the HOB. I wasn't really expecting too much considering my experiences with some of the punk bands making the revival tour circuit these days, and had really just come to see Throw Rag who was one of the opening acts. I was surprised to say the least when they actually did a pretty good job. Not being totally familiar with their history after all these years, I was surprised to find that three of the original members were together on stage. Keith was still around, looking old and slightly wasted, with some pretty fucking long dreadlocks. The bass player and guitarist rounded out the original members, looking pretty much normal for us old folk. I couldn't see all that well since I was standing by the bar avoiding the numerous kids being passed overhead and the angry drunken guys in the pit who think it's kewl to hurt someone for hurtin's sake. But the crowd did go off ... I haven't seen that much of a pit since GBH played some months back. Pretty much a wall to wall mosh-fest, with some calm areas towards the back and upstairs. Tons of kiddies were in attendance, and few adults, which is surprising considering the age of the band. I guess most of my peers have grown out of it by now and are leaving the punk rock to their kids instead. Oh well. As for the Jerks themselves, incredibly, they still possess the chops to play those insanely fast riffs and licks and put together an awe-inspiring performance of Red Tape during their encore. It's amazing they can still play that hard and fast after all this time. They played a good selection off of their entire discography and made sure to include all of the "hits" they're known for (at least to me), playing all of them with the same speed and fury they were known for in their heyday. In any event, they ended up being the capper to a pretty good evening and I had absolutely no regrets about staying out late on a Thursday night. If you were a fan or still are, they do make a great night out either to capture some of your former (or maybe current) glory, or just watch the kiddies take over.

You can find the Circle Jerks here.