OK, at the risk of sounding like a fanboy geek, I am just going to gush like a schoolgirl and say how fucking awesome the Germs show was...it easily goes down as one of the best concerts I've ever seen.
Forget that Darby Crash is dead. Forget that a decent (at times really good, other times just OK) singer named Shane West replaced him. Let's focus on the music and the people behind it: Don Bolles, Lorna Doom and Pat Smear. The crowd went pretty apeshit from the get-go and I was right up front. Before I knew it, my face was quite literally in Pat Smear's guitar. So the tunes just keep coming...they opened with "Manimal" and from there it went batshit crazy.
So here are my highlights of the show:
1) Having Shane West point out my Screamers t-shirt, saying that it was cool and having the rest of the band nod in agreement.
2) Getting to play Pat's guitar with my teeth (or at least biting the shit out of his strings).
3) Seizing a piece of broken guitar that some dude brought up on stage for Pat to play, only to have him smash it to bits.
4) Having Don Bolles sign my broken guitar piece as "Kurt Crash".
5) Getting to talk to Lorna after the show...she gave me a hug and I gave her a kiss on the cheek. Fucking priceless...and what a sweet, incredible person she is. She says they will come back to DC again.
The music was fantastic...Pat really nailed a lot of those songs and I can appreciate his guitar playing on a whole other level.
Other crazy stuff: the fist fight after the show where one guy hit a dreadlocked guy right in the face, then threw a glass at him that shattered, leaving his face a bloody mess. It was pretty surreal.
To sum up, if you missed this show then you really fucked up. This was just one of those wonderful surprises that happen when you walk in with few expectations and let the band do their thing. Darby might have been a lyrical genius, but he was still a fuck-up and he gave erratic performances and was always on something. Shane may be an actor, but he held his own and ultimately let the music speak for itself.
Anyone else go? Thoughts??
