I saw Social Distortion play last Wednesday at the 9:30 Club in DC. It was amazing. Social Distortion formed in 1978. Mike Ness, the lead singer and guitarist, and Dennis Danell, a guitarist, fronted the band for many years, until Danell's death in 2000. From 1978-2000 the band was constantly off and on due to Ness's various drug addictions. The band's first four albums, Mommy's Little Monster, Prison Bound, Social Distortion, and Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell are masterpieces that gained the band a lot of popularity. Even though Danell died in 2000 the band has continued to tour and put out new music. Mike Ness is the only current member of the band who has been a member since the start in 1978.
I saw Social Distortion when I was in 7th grade in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The show that I saw on Wednesday blow the Allentown show out of my mind. Ness was the center of the sell-out crowd's attention, and he delivered everything that anyone could want. He was jumping around the stage and interacting with the crowd. He chatted the crowd up about the election, and told them that he was glad Obama won. He said that everyone should take the next day off, and that if their boss had a problem with it, that he should talk to Mike Ness because Ness would tell him where to put that problem. Ness showed his experience on stage and was an absolute pleasure to watch.
The only problem I had with the show was the setlist. The band played great, but they didn't play all the songs that I wanted to hear, but after the show I realized that I was okay with that. The band played great music and I got to hear some new songs that I had never heard before. The one song I was extremely glad to hear was the last song of their set, Story of My Life. When they started playing it I began jumping up and down and screaming the lyrics out.
After they played that song the band went off the stage. The crowd cheered and eventually the band came back on for an encore set. Again, the first couple songs they played in this set I wasn't familiar with, but it was all good. Before their last song, Ness had his last conversation with the audience. He started naming the various influences of the band, such as The Rolling Stones, The Ramones, The Clash, and other bands. After naming those bands Ness said that all those bands were incredibly influential, but that nobody should ever forget Johnny Cash. With that the band played Ring of Fire and I found myself jumping up and down again and screaming the lyrics out.
The night was awesome. Social Distortion and Mike Ness showed no signs of getting old, they would have played all night if they were allowed to. I hope that they come to DC again because I know that I will be there.
No comments:
Post a Comment