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Lagwagon / MxPx / Only Crime

live in Halifax (2008)
Fat Wreck Chords

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: Boulder
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on September 16th 2008

Halifax was recently treated to some veteran bands when Lagwagon’s We’re Kind of a Big Deal tour Landed at the Marquee club on September 10th.

“Last time I was in Halifax, you were six,” said Russ Rankin, former Good Riddance frontman. He ruffled the feathers of an enthusiastic 19-year-old in the heart of the pit, the way your favorite uncle might do. After this endearing little moment, Only Crime kicked back into gear and the walls of the Marquee continued to send shock waves down Gottingen Street.

The bill had a little bit for everyone. After 20 minutes of a full-on rhythmic blitz brought forth by Only Crime, the crowd was charged. Up next was a band that had yet to grace a Halifax stage in their impressively main-staying career.

The lights dimmed and MxPx was brought on stage with the Who’s “Baba O Reilly” rising from the speakers. After hammering along for a few chords the Tooth & Nail flagship act kicked into “Life In General.” Singer Mike Herrara offered up his mic as much as he could, allowing the east coast locals (what was most likely) their first chance to sing along to MxPx’s blend of straightforward, hooky pop-punk that people have been enjoying since 1993. With the exception of two songs off their latest release Secret Weapon, the trio played a nostalgic set of songs. Everything was blended together with thumping drum interludes and walking bass lines so that the music literally didn’t stop the entire time they were on stage. After a half-hour of throwbacks, MxPx played "Responsibility" and "Punk Rock Show" to finish up.

If you took a look around the Marquee that night, your eyes couldn’t go more than half a second without coming in contact with a faded Fat Wreck t- shirt. Lagwagon came on stage around eleven o'clock and started things off with "Island of Shame." They wasted no time the entire hour they were up there. After flying through a handful of classics like "Making Friends," "Dis'chords" and "Black Eyes," Joey Cape asked, “Who’s got a smoke for the Caper?” After a couple packs' worth of smokes were hurled at him, he led the band through a cool medley of some of their older stuff.

It is so obvious after watching Lagwagon on stage that these guys work their asses off. Every album since Duh has improved upon the fundamental harmonizing and crunching riffs they are so good at writing. Cape’s unique tone of voice carried through the Marquee with full chorus-like responses from the crowd. Even when they broke into some of the always dreaded new stuff, off of I Think My Older Brother Used to Listen to Lagwagon, the crowd was with them. They all took their turns laughing at themselves and pointing out how old they are. Cape had dawned a particularly beefy mustache for the show that night and drew copious amounts of attention to it whenever he could.

The bottom line for these guys is that they are way more fun to see live to than listen to at home. And that is saying a lot because Lagwagon’s lineup of LPs and EPs are full of clever lyrics, infectious choruses, remarkably tight drums, humor and everything else you would want from a SoCal Punk band.

For their encore they played "Alien 8," "Mr. Coffee" and "May 16." The crowd, of course, lost their shit when "May 16" was strummed to life and it ended the show on the best note possible.

If you have a chance to catch this tour in action do it. The supporting acts are awesome, and I don’t know if you know this, but it’s kind of a big deal.

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Joebles (September 18, 2008)

Lovin' the album, but its a bit short...and Scott Shiflett was amazing at the show...Great review Boulder!

paulrulzdood (September 18, 2008)

Hoss and Double Plaid are near flawless, 10/10 each

Lets Talk About Feelings is also amazing, but its under 30 min running time and few throw-away tracks make it an 8/10 to me

Blaze and Resolve were both really solid, Blaze showed some experimentation for them while Resolve was a return to their older sound but very raw and cathartic. 8/10 each

Trashed and Duh are classics, but I think they blew those albums out of the water with each subsequent release. Joey's voice and lyrics got better, the music got tighter, etc. but I'd give them both a 7/10 for the sake of being classics.

the new EP is awesome, I like every song on it and "b side", "errands", "memoirs and landmines" are all off the chain. "fallen" and "mission unaccomplished" are both great as well, but kind of sound like holdovers from "resolve" with the Derrick subject matter lyrically. I just wish they could have cranked out another 5 songs and put out a full length, I would have been willing to wait another 6 months but I guess they were like "ok, its been 3 years since resolve, we need to get something out there stat!"

Score is for lagwagon overall, their potent discography and awesome live show and ability to maintain relevance 16 years into their career.

Boulder (September 18, 2008)

"Razorburn" Is one of my favorite songe to see live PERIOD. If you have seen Lagwagon, you know why, come all yee faithful!

Sorry I didn't list the entire set lis, next time, I'm on it.

Boulder

hubitcherkokov (September 18, 2008)

Scruffs -

If you ask me, "Resolve" is their worst release. Sure, it was a nice idea as a tribute to Derrick Plourde, but the dude died in the spring of '05 and the album was written, recorded, and released in the fall and it shows. The music is bland and Joey's melodies pale compared to their previous releases.

With that said, I just picked up the new EP and I think it's great.

HOISTDATRAG (September 17, 2008)

ah I wish I had gone.. f school, mom!

teeto (September 17, 2008)

The montreal show was phenomenal indeed, the end of "razorburn" was pure joy. They showed a lotta love by coming out for a second encore, and that fill-in guitarist happened to be Scott Fucking Shiflett, dude was havin' a blast and ripped the solo for coffee and cigarettes and added his own style of playing, I'd love to have a recording of that show.

Scruffy (September 17, 2008)

I'll say it before, and I'll say it again. Resolve blows everything else this band has done out of the water.

How much from Resolve do they play? They mentioned on stage when I saw them touring for Resolve that the crowd was less than enthralled when they played new stuff, and I'm worried the only thing we'll get off of it is "Heartbreaking Music" or "Automatic". Good tracks, sure, but I'd love to hear "Rager", "Days of New" and many more.

trolley (September 17, 2008)

The only song off the new EP they played in Montreal was "Errands". We got a second encore where they played the cover of "Momma Said Knock You Out" from Trashed since that was the only song left that the fill-in guitar player knew that they hadn't played already. What a phenomenal show.

eazyd2 (September 17, 2008)

needs more cowbell.

paulrulzdood (September 17, 2008)

please list every song Lagwagon played at the show, thanks. i'm curious as to what they played off the new EP, which kicks ass BTW.

Paul

crackpotdemagogue (September 17, 2008)

score is for 'christian punx'

skolarx (September 17, 2008)

i'm really bummed about missing this show on friday. the last time mxpx played here i reasied that i atcually like them a lot and somehow over all these years i've never seen lagwagon live

Tinner (September 17, 2008)

I still can`t get over the fact that `Responsibilty` sounds like it was written by a kid in grade 3 and is being sung by a grown man

Johnny_J (September 16, 2008)

MxPx in a club setting is 100 times better than big stage shit.

mynameisbud (September 16, 2008)

''DUH will always be the best Lagwagon record to me. NOBODY on this site seems to like it.''

fav to least fav :

1. hoss
2. trashed
3. duh
4. blaze
5. double
6. feelings
6. leftovers
7. i think..
8. resolve

spec (September 16, 2008)

DUH will always be the best Lagwagon record to me. NOBODY on this site seems to like it.

preston (September 16, 2008)

Yeah. Same here. I was pumped about the Lagwagon show, but I think I'm gonna hit up AmSteel. Joey's playing solo on Thursday though.

inagreendase (September 16, 2008)

I'd like to go this tomorrow having never seen Lagwagon or MxPx in a club setting.

But you can't really pass up American Steel, Polar Bear Club and Spanish Bombs in a room about one-seventh the size.