"I know we suck, but we're better than your band," said Jay Bentley.
"Unless you're in Pearl Jam."
"No, even if you're Pearl Jam."

Humor, something I didn't expect from Bad Religion, a normally serious band.

That's not to say that they didn't deliver some seriously good music. "Kyoto Now" kicked things off well, shortly followed by "American Jesus." Other highlights included: "Modern Man", "No Control", "Suffer", and "We're Only Gonna Die." After pounding through song after song for an hour and a half, Bad Religion returned to the stage, after the usual "we don't do encores" to play "Infected", and "Fuck Armageddon, This is Hell." I would have been quite happy to end the night on that note, however, the band had something else in mind. "Sorrow." I know I should have seen it coming, but I was disappointed none the less that they chose to end their set with what I regard as one of their weaker songs. It's simply too hard to top "Fuck Armageddon" for a closer, but they tried none the less.

All in all, an excellent performance by one of the greatest punk bands. Even though from the balcony where I stood, Greg Graffin's receding hair-line made him look like an old man. But that fucker can still sing.

"We've got all kinds here: straightedge, hardcore, skins... emo, whatever the fuck you call yourself, we're all just punks." "Oh yeah, and fuck emo."

That was the Casualties contribution to the night's humor. If havn't heard the Casualties before, the words, "loud", and "fast" would best describe their brand of punk. They've got energy, and that oh so wonderful "fuck you" attitude. I have never seen a band flip off the crowd as many times as they did. The Singer's middle finger was almost constantly reaching out to the crowd. On the downside, it was hard to distinguish between songs. The songs could have all had the same chord progression, and no one would have known, or cared for that matter.

An interesting side note: Casualties fans are potheads. The instant they took the stage, joints lit up all over the room, and now my clothes are drenched with the odor of burning hemp.

The opening band, Hot Potty, was so bad, it's funny. Think weezerish power pop, with cheese metal riffs thrown in every once in a while. Actually, I take that back, I shouldn't insult weezer by comparing them to this shitty, shitty band. It's not that I don't have an appreciation for their style, but sometimes bands flat out suck. This one of those times.

I'm no fan of sparta, but I would much rather had sparta continue on this leg of the tour than these fucktards.

And who the fuck names their band "Hot Potty?" Are these guys still in seventh grade? Again, that comparison is unfair, as most seventh grade bands have a little more creativity than Hot Potty.

And who the fuck would buy a tee shirt that says "Hot Potty?" Let's pick on jr high kids for a moment again. I can picture some 12 or 13 year old kid buying a hot potty shirt out of sheer ignorance, then wearing it to school and being ridiculed by all their punk-as-fuck friends.

In the end, it was well worth the money to see Bad Religion, and the Casualties were a nice bonus. Hell, I even had fun mocking Hot Potty.