Descendents are outright my ALL time favorite punk band. Being literally the first punk band I listened to, their music has such a lasting impact on my life. As their North American tour, with co-headliner Frank Turner and his band The Sleeping Souls approaches its final dates, Descendents continue to prove why they stand as one of punk’s best timeless live acts. They recently came through Anaheim, California for two sold out nights at the House of Blues on March 5th and 6th. I was especially excited to catch them because I first saw them when I was a teenager at The Glass House in 2022, and it was one of the best I’ve been to. Needless to say, my expectations going into this show were pretty high, and they did not at all disapoint.
Starting the night was NOBRO. They are an all female band out of Montreal, Canada, and I didn’t know of them going into the show, but they gained a new fan. Immediately I was drawn to the drummer, she was playing the bongos! I loved them, they were a great choice as an opener. They really had a bold energy that hyped the crowd up and took control of the stage. It was already packed for them, and they had a good pit going! This is a band worth listening to, if you like high energy, gritty garage punk.
Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls were next. They kicked off the set with a cover of The Meffs “Wasted on Women”. This choice for an opening song was a perfect choice in my opinion, the pit opened up immediately, matching the band’s high energy from the beginning. Their set moved between heavier, more aggressive punk songs, like “1933” and “Punches”, to acoustic folk-punky singalongs, like “Be More Kind” and “The Ballad of Me and My Friends”. Even with these acoustic songs, the pit was chaotic! The energy in the room was so spirited and unified, everyone was singing, dancing, or moshing the whole hour and 10 minute long set. Frank Turner has great stage presence, and amazing talents. The way he interacted with the crowd felt very personable, and he truly made the show feel intimate. He took the time to reflect on different moments in his career, the meanings behind tracks, share stories, and even touched on the chaos unfolding in today’s political climate. One of the more memorable moments was when he performed a solo acoustic version of “Be More Kind”, a song written in an effort to simply encourage people to be nicer to each other. He explained that when he was writing it in 2016, he thought things were “as bad as they could possibly be”. He joked around about how silly that was of him, and how the song has even more relevancy ten years later. He gave a powerful sentiment on how hard it is to stay decent and compassionate in times like these, but how utterly important it is. “Don’t sink to their level. Don’t become hateful, angry, and small. Stay loving, stay kind, stay gentle.” He said that he’s seen a great example of that recently from the people in Minneapolis, and dedicated the song to them. It’s moments like this that make you walk away a bigger fan than you already were. After seeing him live and admiring how well a performer and person he is, this will not be the last time I see him live.
Now it was time for Descendents to hit the stage.
Bill, Karl, and Stephen came out, and then Milo… with something on this head.
He explained that a fan made it and gave it to him the night before. If anyone knows who said fan is, or if you’re reading this, let me know. I want to tell you personally how awesome that is! By this time, the venue was absolutely crammed. This was definitely a sold out show. Milo yelled “Everything sucks”, Stephen started the iconic first notes, and the crowd was going wild. I was in the back, but watching the energy of the pit made it impossible to stay there. I pushed my way through the crowd and next thing I know I’m shoving a bunch of dudes around singing our favorite songs together. I never left after that. They followed it with “Hope”, “I Don’t Want to Grow Up”, and “I Like Food”. You can imagine how energetic everyone was by this point. Then they played “‘Merican”, which felt amazing to hear live and sing my heart out to. Milo even switched the lyrics up to diss Trump and the current administration. “Rotting Out”, “Myage”, “Clean Sheets”, hearing these timeless, classic songs live again, there really is nothing like it. It was a night of nostalgia for me, and I’m apart of their younger generation of fans, so making friends with people who have been seeing them for decades never fails to make me happy. I don’t really have much to say, as Descendents never miss. They are always bringing their A-game, and honestly so was the pit. We never stopped, even until the encore, where we got “Jean is Dead”, “Feel This”, “Sour Grapes”, AND “Descendents”! Waking up sore, beat up, and with no voice is always worth it for these legends. This is the best show I’ve been to all year, and I’m already looking forward to seeing them with Social Distortion in October.
I made these pants for my first time seeing Descendents in 2022, and will be wearing them until I can’t anymore. I think it’s pretty obvious that they are my favorite introductory punk band. Scroll to watch the snippets of “Silly Girl”, “Bikeage”, “I’m The One”, “Good Good Things”, and “Sour Grapes”.
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