Well, I've made it back into town to see all this hullabaloo about the Pumpkins and Morrissey, but have to say that I've been on a total high from my recent Midwest Social Distortion extravaganza. I'll see if I can post some photos later on, but I had an absolute blast seeing Social D in Green Bay and Sioux Falls.
The Heart Attacks (from Atlanta) actually aren't a bad opening band. They're really young, and they may not wear underwear (well, at least the singer and the bass player), but they're very energetic and they play a quick set. Their cover of "Sonic Reducer" by the Dead Boys was actually pretty great, and their LP is produced by Lars Frederiksen. The Hangmen (from LA) have about 4 or 5 really good songs (somehow I can see Rhett kinda digging them, maybe he would think they're just OK) but they definitely have that alt-country swagger thing going on. Mike Ness produced their new record, and they have some decent tunes but they could use a drummer with more varied tempos.
Social D are celebrating their Greatest Hits, so they blew everyone away with a nice selection of old and new. Here's the setlist:
Road Zombie
Reach For the Sky
Highway 101
Under My Thumb
Bad Luck
Mommy's Little Monster
Lude Boy
Far Behind
When She Begins
Six More Miles (Hank Williams cover)
Ball and Chain
Sometimes I Do
Gotta Know the Rules
Nickels and Dimes
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Prison Bound
Ring of Fire
They played at a Radisson convention hall (which was basically a big hotel ballroom) in Green Bay. Classic moment: seeing the "Day's Activities" list in the lobby. It read: "VFW meeting, Religious Science meeting, Social Distortion concert". Hot.
Both shows were packed (about 1200 to 1500 for both) and the sound was surprisingly great at the Sioux Falls show (that one was at a Best Western exhibit hall), but it felt more like a warehouse. I don't think folks get too many shows there (Mike Ness said it was Social D's very first visit to Sioux Falls) and as a result folks drove from all over South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, and Iowa. We may complain about shows being so far away, but in the grand scheme of things, we have it pretty good. Oh yeah, and if you said "well people choose to live in those areas", that may be all well and true, but the opportunity for some of these people to move out of these places is pretty limited. It made me SO grateful to live in a place like DC. We are pretty lucky to be here. I'm so glad I got to check it out though, it was great to be in an environment where the audience was so into the music. They were totally rabid fans. I was recalling the threads I've seen on here of how people in DC just stand there, too hip to move and too cool to acknowledge the band playing, and that might be a little true after I saw the Sioux Falls crowd. It was pretty crazy.
One really neat thing I did was I stopped in East Bay, WI for dinner and I got to check out Greg Norton's (of Husker Du) restaurant. GREAT food, really quaint setting, and easily a highlight for me. Greg's a little stiff when you first walk in, but once he lightens up he's a hell of a nice guy, and very sharp. It was cool to walk in and see all the autographed Patti Smith, Suicide Commandos, Suburbs and B-52's LPs on the wall, including a gold 7" record that Husker Du got for a free single they did for NME. You could tell Greg was proud of it, even though he was trying to play it down.
I'm excited about seeing this tour again when it comes to Baltimore at the end of the month. Should be a really fun time. Josh, hope that you'll get to make it. Just hearing "Lude Boy" was worth it.
