Good Riddance / River City Rebels / None More Black

Normally on a Sunday with warm weather, I would be working my ass off at my job for 8 hours. However, it wasn’t meant to be. I was heading to the Continental to see of my favorite punk bands in the world Good Riddance.

It was a pretty strong lineup with None More Black first, followed by River City Rebels and then Good Riddance rocking out last. At first I didn’t knew I was going to see this show I’ve been planning to attend for almost a month. Leave up to all the kiddies to get tickets in advance while the punks stay outside waiting to get in. If you have been to the Continental, you would have found out that it is a real small bar. Luckily, I went in just in time to catch the middle of None More Black’s performance.

None More Black consist of ex-KD (you know what those damn initials mean) singer Jason Shevchuk. They were rocking out with such tunes as Bizarro Me, Drop the Pop and the last song Dinner’s For Suckers. Even though I didn’t catch their whole set, I thought they played tight and would have got me motivated if it wasn’t for the crowd. They just stood there listening and bopping their head. I was surprised to find nobody dancing to Dinner’s for Suckers. It’s not that None More Black weren’t entertaining live; I guess the crowd didn’t know them too well or something. I tried to be a team player and enjoyed the songs but you get no love in the back of the club. Fuck it. I hope next time None More Black plays to a more energetic crowd.

Up next was the River City Rebels. Suddenly out of nowhere the crowd goes wild for Bopper a.k.a. Dan O’Day, who was donning a sailor’s cap and a white sleeveless button shirt with the words “I SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABORTED” on it. And who could blame the crowd, Bopper and trombone player Brandon were all over the damn place dancing and jumping into the crowd. RCR played songs like Hate, Drunken Angel, Aborted, No Good, Life of a Rebel, and Small Town Pride finishing in last. Everybody was moshing and jumping all around and did I mention Brandon wore a “Smut Peddlers” sleeveless T-shirt? Man is that fucker crazy. It’s great to see River City Rebels help move the crowd for Good Riddance. See this band live to witness all the insanity.

Next was none other than Good Riddance. Good ol’ Dave, Luke, Chuck, and Russ R. didn’t let me down when they played Flies First Class. Every fucker in that place was flying all around. Russ was very serious on the mic, yelling to his heart’s content. There was no nonsense when this guy was on stage. Luke was playing guitar right in front of my face, so I decided to sing along with him. Dave was excellent through the whole set proving to me he is one my favorite all time drummers. Chuck was the silly one of the group talking bout the 1970s Dodgers and Boston with some fan always screaming J.Lo during their set. Weird. The funniest part of the set was Luke and Chuck competing for “Biggest Beer Belly.” Of course Luke won hands down. The band also introduced some of their new songs like Made to Be Broken, More DePalma, Less Fellini, Boxing Day, and Paean to the Enlightenment. After the usual “so long everyone, thanks for being here routine” (according to Chuck some people were actually leaving), they played three more songs. Throughout the whole set, I was screaming “Play I Melt With You.” What I got instead was Mother Superior, their last real song. I was a little disappointed but still a fucking good set by this Santa Cruz band. Afterwards I talked with Chuck and he said he wouldn’t mind coming back to NY and play 2 shows here. I told him “make it happen, I’ll be there.”

Probably one gripe I had with this show was that it started at 3:30 in the afternoon. I always hate going to early shows for some reason. However all in all, a strong lineup followed by a fucking great band made me weekend a blast. Don’t miss this show if it’s coming your way.

Good Riddance set list:
Flies First Class
Made To Be Broken
Heresy, Hypocrisy, and Revenge
Salt
Yesterday’s Headlines
More DePalma, Less Fellini
Libertine
A Credit to His Gender
Great Leap Forward
Last Believer
Boxing Day
Fertile Fields
Paean to the Enlightenment
Shadows of Defeat
(fake goodbye, followed by “yeah we’re kidding”)
Fire Engine Red
Letters to Home
Mother Superior