Sick Of It All/Old Firm Casuals

Live in San Francisco (2016)

Daniel James

On the same day as a San Francisco Giants game, this reviewer saw a hardcore show with a bunch of hooligans. At the DNA Lounge in San Francisco, hardcore legends Sick of It All celebrated their 30th year playing with the Old Firm Casuals, Lars Frederiksen's skinhead side project and some pretty enjoyable opening acts.

First up were local acts Troublemaker and Plead the Fifth. Troublemaker is a skinhead band as were most of the bands, but they mostly just sang songs about life being hard and any racially charged stuff overhead was among the audience around. Alot of the onstage banter was about Giants versus Raiders or other sports teams which is to be expected.

Old Firm Casuals were on after and are a rousing and excellent side project of Lars from Rancid that channels the spirit of old British oi bands with football anthems, their single Never Say Die a kind of latter day England Five, Germany One for the San Jose Earthquakes. Matt Freeman could be seen hanging around before the show and got a shout out during the show. They played "A Gang Like Us" "Perry Boys" and a new single off their upcoming release Butcher's Banquet.

After Old Firm Casuals, the reptilian banner of NYHC legends and mainstays Sick Of It All unfurled and they went into it. Fat Mike showed up on stage too. They played passionate and people knocked around in the pit by the bar and the entrance to the pizza restaurant counter in the next room of the venue. Sick of It All has been around a long time and is one of the better NYHC bands so the 30th anniversary tour is a victory lap as well deserved as a winning athletic team.