Home Grown is back, everybody! After being gone for almost twenty years, the pop-punk band has been making the rounds. After opening for a few shows in the surrounding area, the Orange County band was greeted by a sold-out crowd in a set that felt like a homecoming for both the band and the crowd. 

This was my second time seeing Reckoner, and they are becoming one of my favorite bands to see live. Given that they only have a handful of songs, so you can pretty much hear all of them in one set. Starting with the pop punky “One Size Fits All” they transitioned to the moody, but optimistic “My Year.” The Jennie Cotterill led band powered through the set, which seemed to get a good reaction from the early birds in the crowd. It was great seeing them keep their cover of Elvis Costello’s “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding” in their repertoire. We also got a chance to hear their newly dropped single, “Photo Booth.” I love the sound this band creates and only wish they played more often.

It was great to see Limbeck on the lineup. Despite their slight pivot to an alt-country sound, many forget that the band has done splits with both Motion City Soundtrack and Home Grown. I wasn’t the biggest Limbeck fan growing up. It didn’t click for me until I got into the Replacements and Wilco. I feel like Limbeck is Orange County’s answer to those bands. I forgot how infectiously catchy their songs are; even the few punk rockers in jackets and battle vests who had shown up were into it. They played a set consisting of songs like “Making the Rounds,” “Silver Things,” and “Everyone is in the Parking Lot,” but also took requests. When Robb MacLean got onstage and asked for requests, someone yelled “Julia,” and they jumped right in. Partway through, it seemed like they were just choosing songs on the fly. They sounded great, but at some point, the crowd got a little too talkative. I get why Home Grown had them on the bill, even if some of the crowd didn’t.

I hadn’t seen Home Grown play in twenty years. When I interviewed them a while back, they said they had some great things planned for this show, and they weren’t kidding. After walking out to “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel, the band tore into a good chunk of tracks from their phenomenal album, Kings of Pop. Throw a rock at the track list on that album, and you’ll hit a great one. Home Grown knows this, too. Most of the set’s time was dedicated to it, but it doesn’t mean the rest of their albums were left in the dust. Quite the opposite. They spent plenty of time on each of their albums, including their debut, That’s Business. There wasn’t one song the crowd didn’t lose their minds over. If that didn’t make it feel like the old days, they even threw in their cover of “Barbie Girl,” improving Aqua’s novelty dance hit into the hardcore punk rock song it deserves to be. Despite having an album called Act Your Age, the band seems to have more energy now than they did twenty years ago.

Home Grown’s show at the Observatory marked their first and only Orange County appearance this year, although they have a few festival dates listed it seems they are working on new music, which is never a bad thing.  Many in the crowd were parents with their teenage children, showing these bands still have appeal. This was hands down one of the best sets I’ve seen all year, in terms of energy and song choices.  In time, I can see this becoming one of my top shows ever.