Yesterday marked the end of term 3, and it was also the night NOFX/Bad Religion played Metro City, Perth. I bought the tickets in May, so I've been excited for this quite a long time! I don't really have any friends here who are super interested in going to a punk rock show, so I paid for both tickets and gave Dave the great news that he was going with me. Haha. Dave and I went out to Utopia for dinner and a bit of wine before the show, and got there in good time. We waited in line to get in, and people seemed pumped for the show. Some people didn't have tickets, and there was one guy holding a sign that said he would pay $120 for a ticket.
We got some pretty good spots in the venue. There were two support bands - Perth's Grim Fandango, who were a great local punk band, and Pour Habit, an American punk band with a powerful sound and a very charismatic front man who won over even the most impatient NOFX/Bad Religion fans.
NOFX were up after this, and Fat Mike told the crowd that he wrote down the songs they played when they were last in Perth so they wouldn't play the same ones. Fat Mike was in a much better mood than the last time NOFX played Perth, and he was injured with a nasty spider bite. He apologized for this, promising a better show than last time. They started with "Murder the Government", which went into a much appreciated "Linoleum". Playing before Bad Religion allowed NOFX to play some of their classic sons and some more obscure b-sides (there was even a song I didn't know!!!). I was excited to hear a few songs off "White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean". They played only a couple from their new album, "Coaster", which was fine, and rocked out with "Seeing Double at the Triple Rock". I wish they would have played "The Decline" again, but they played it last time! All in all, great set!
Bad Religion closed the show, and I have to admit that I was perhaps even more excited to see them than I was to see NOFX. I had been doing a mega crash course in Bad Religion's discography in the car on the way to work the last two months (listening to Bad Religion every day!) and I really got to love the band. The sure didn't disappoint! Greg Graffin, who has been the band's vocalist 29 years, hit his notes amazingly (Dave noted that he looks like "a high school S&E teacher", which is certainly true, but his appearance is deceiving!) , and the entire band really gave a superb performance. They played some of my favourite tracks such as "Social Suicide", "New Dark Ages", "Them and Us", "Sorrow" and of course, their hit "Los Angeles is Burning". Dave knew a few of the songs, which was great. Members of NOFX hung out on the stage and watched Bad Religion. When Jay Bentley's voice was starting to tire, Fat Mike, looking quite inebriated, stormed the stage to "help" sing, and danced around. Bad Religion played for over an hour, and even did an encore, which they don't usually do, but relented because of Fat Mike's enthusiastic insistence that they all put on a "big fucking event".
Amazing night, one of the best shows I've seen!
For a review, pics and setlist, you can visit http://www.musicvice.com/reviews/nofx_bad_religion_metro_city_perth_september_2009.html
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