Yeah, I know, another Rancid review. I decided to do this only because I felt like answering some questions people had that weren't really answered in reviews for this tour, and some other commentary. But first, Big D and the Kids Table.

One great thing about Big D is that they can effortlessly and sincerely pull off punk-infused ska like "LAX" to more reggae-tinted tracks like "Strictly Rude" in a live setting, which they did tonight. Everyone including the band was having fun running through songs from all over their career, mostly focusing on Strictly Rude. One lol moment during their set was when the movie screen behind them showing a freeze frame (which I can only assume was a scene from an Elizabeth Taylor movie) had an error message pop-up, saying there was "Not Enough Memory On Disk" and someone in the back had to scramble to click "OK" and proceeded to leave the mouse pointer on her left breast. The only down-note was their sllooowww cover of Morphine's "Early to Bed," which fell on deaf ears. The two people I went with never heard them before and throughly enjoyed themselves, however, a perspective us shameless music elitists forget about.

Set list:

1. Souped-Up Vinyl My Girlfriend's on Drugs
2. Noise Complaint
3. Breaking the Bottle
4. Shining On
5. Early to Bed (Morphine cover)
6. Hell on Earth
7. LAX
8. Strictly Rude
9. New England
10. Steady Riot
11. Little Bitch (obligatory Specials cover)

Now, onto Rancid:

Brendan vs. Brett: Brendan has more of a flair for fills (something usually lacking on Rancid records) and his hi-hat work is especially intricate. He also has a Travis Barker-esuqe approach to drumming: His head goes down with his arm/stick when he hits the snare; there's a consistent bob.

Tim plays guitar?: He actually plays most of the solos, but other than that he takes the mic/micstand back and forth with him across the stage singing. He played roughly 30-40% of the time. We all know, however, it's an endearing part of his live act, and the fact each member has their own style and distinct personality is one reason why we love them.

Tim sings?: He sounded like Tim alright, so a lot was unintelligible. When he spoke it was pure gruff, like someone doing an impression of him with laryngitis (my girlfriend pointed out, "He sounds like he has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel"). The crowd actually didn't know "Antennas" was being played until the chorus.

Matt Freeman: He's golden, as we all know, except his bass tone was horrible when he played the high frets. His "Maxwell Murder" solo sounded only pretty good, not because of his skill, but because there was a lot of buzz (not fret buzz). But his Cookie Monster vocal styling is so adoring, I wish they played more than one song lead sung by Freeman.

Lars the comedian: Before "It's Quite Alright" he told the kids in the pit he wanted to see someone do the "Gorilla," the "Picking Up the Change" and my personal favorite, the "Pizza Toss." That chaffing worked well -- not so much the story explaining the fashion gaffe that was Brendan and himself wearing the same Exploited shirt ("He texted me telling me he was wearing the shirt and I said 'I wouldn't wear mine!!!'"), but rather the part where he needed to egg on the crowd for laughter for that joke (?) was the best part of that gag.

Punk rock celebrity sightings: Dave Walsh -- guitarist of the Loved Ones, Mikey Erg -- singer/drummer of the Ergs!, and Big Jay Bastard of Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards -- their roadie, but I'll include him.

On that note, the crowd: I was expecting a lot of street punks and large jocks (there was more of the latter, which wasn't the case when I saw them two years ago) but with Big D opening the crowd was pretty normal. Except for a guy that flexed his arms and kissed his biceps when Lars sang the line "Now my guns are blazing" during "Bloodclot." Good thing I didn't go to the Madball night :phew:.

The set list: I was happy with it, especially with them playing four songs off of oft-ignored Life Won't Wait. During "Something in the World" the show was at its peak; everything was locked in, a sense of unity and brotherhood with crisp guitars enthused the crowd. Also, I never thought I would hear the likes of "Tattoo" or "I Wanna Riot" (before reading the other reviews, anyway).

But really, fuck: Even though I take my jabs at them, I would be lying if I said they aren't one of the few bands that can make you feel like a younger teenager just getting into punk rock again. A lot of their songs are timeless, and I was never in a 1,000 capacity venue that sang louder to a song in my concert-going career than that night to "Olympia, WA." Just stop the set a few songs earlier and give us more than one song for an encore next time, OK fellas?

Set list:

1. Radio
2. Roots Radicals
3. Tattoo
4. Journey to the End of East Bay
5. The Brothels
6. Old Friend
7. Nihilism
8. Otherside
9. Maxwell Murder
10. Fall Back Down
11. Knowledge (OpIvy cover)
12. The Way I Feel
13. Lock, Step, Gone
14. Olympia, WA
15. The Wars End (Lars solo)
16. Gunshot
17. Who Would've Thought
18. Bloodclot
19. It's Quite Alright
20. Antennas
21. Something in the World
22. Rejected
23. I Wanna Riot
24. Hoover Street
25. St. Mary
26. The 11th Hour
27. Ruby Soho
Encore:
28. Time Bomb

Break it down!:
Rancid (1993): 1
Let's Go!: 4 ...And Out Come the Wolves: 11
Life Won't Wait: 4
Rancid (2000): 2
Indestructible: 2
Covers / B & C Sides: 4