I had seen The Implants open for The Flatliners in June and was not all that into their songs. However, it's amazing how much a band's live performance can grow in about five months because when they played this Hollywood show on December 17, 2013 I was really impressed. The band seemed a lot more confident and their stage presence overall was much better. What's cool about this band is that they play melodic punk that's fast and aggressive, with complicated metal-esque guitar solos that you don't hear very often at punk shows. Html-They played songs like "Life Passes," "Mutualism," and "These Walls," that are on their first full length, From Chaos To Order, which came out last March.
After the Implants came Masked Intruder. To be quite frank, I never could get into this band or their sound really, until I saw them play their set at this show. They were great. Their songs sounded better live in my opinion and their banter between songs was pretty funny especially when they made fun of one of the bouncers who wouldn't let Green back on stage after joining the circle pit during a song. Though this band likes to mess around on stage, don't be fooled, they are very talented musicians especially when it comes to vocals. They played songs mostly from their self-titled full-length like "Heart Shaped Guitar," "Wish You Were Mine," "25 to Life," and "I Don't Wanna Be Alone Tonight." But the best song of their set was "Stick âEm Up." It was the most powerful song that they played by far. Even if you aren't a fan of this band, go see them anyway (and mosh with Officer Bradford!) because their live show is incredibly entertaining and chances are they will turn you into one.
Once Fat Mike's drink was put in his microphone's cup holder and Eric Melvin's five or six shots (of what looked like either whiskey or tequila) were lined up on his amplifier, NOFX finally got on stage. I could not have asked for better NOFX show. The setlist had evenly distributed songs ranging from Punk In Drublic to Self-Entitled. Of course, the banter was hilarious, which is partially why I bought a ticket in the first place. Once Fat Mike started playing the bass intro for "Stickin' in My Eye" the crowd went absolutely wild. The same went for "Linoleum," "Leave It Alone," and "Franco Un-American." It was also a really cool show because Blue from Masked Intruder came on stage to play "The Decline" with them, which I wasn't expecting at all. During the encore Jen Razavi and Poli Van Dam from The Bombpops got on stage and sang "Lori Meyers." Another great part of the encore was that the band played their cover of Tony Sly's "The Shortest Pier." That was probably the most serious and solemn the show got. Otherwise, after being a band for thirty years now NOFX hasn't lost the ability to put on a fantastic show.
NOFX's Setlist:
60%
72 Hookers
Murder The Government
Leave It Alone
Stickin' in My Eye
Franco Un-American
We March to the Beat of Indifferent Drum
The Decline
Ronnie & Mags
It's My Job to Keep Punk Rock Elite
I Believe in Goddess
Eat the Meek
Fuck the Kids
Linoleum
The Separation of Church and Skate
Encore:
Lori Meyers
Seeing Double at the Triple Rock
The Shortest Pier
(Tony Sly cover)
Idiots Are Taking Over
Kill All the White Man
Note:
-Special thanks to that roadie who threw Fat Mike's drink into the audience after the show was over. It was great being drenched in vodka on the drive home.