A handful of battle-scarred musicians who appeared on the Hard Rock stage at Warped Tour precluded me from being the oldest person at Providence Medical Center Amphitheater on Thursday. I was attracted to my peers the same way pasty teens were drawn to the white rappers on the bill.
I gladly paid $50 (and an additional $10 to park) to catch the old-school punk bands Adolescents, Sick of It All and T.S.O.L. Everything else I took in was merely sweat-soaked gravy.
The New York punk veterans Sick of It All were in fighting form. In spite of their age, they looked like potential victors in a literal battle-of-the-bands. The California punk oddballs Adolescents (pictured), however, didn’t look so good. Fortunately, powerful renditions of old classics like “Word Attack” belied their down-on-their-luck countenances.
Wearing a pink suit and deep tan, Jack Grisham of T.S.O.L. expressed frustration that only a few dozen people elected to hear his band’s set. He mocked know-nothing hoodrats who claimed to advocate anarchy by boasting that his subversive activities had inspired “an F.B.I. file before your parents were born.”
The best of the rest:
- The Virginia thrash band Municipal Waste was simultaneously hilarious and terrifying as it performed “I Want to Kill the President” and “The Thrashin’ of Christ.”
- A guitarist from War on Women joined the female punk quartet Bad Cop/Bad Cop for a rendition of “Victoria,” a song about an abuse-inspired suicide.
- Barb Wire Dolls successfully revived the trash-rock associated with the likes of L.A. Guns and Poison. Only about 100 people bothered to bear witness.
- The varying crowd sizes that serve as a ruthless barometer of popularity are one of my favorite components of Warped Tour. Thursday’s most savage sign of the times transpired when 100 rockers banged their heads to Valient Thorr as more than 750 annoyed hip-hop fans impatiently waited for Watsky’s set to begin at an adjacent stage.
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I reviewed Echo & the Bunnymen and Violent Femmes at Crossroads KC.
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The Passion of Charlie Parker isn’t going to be popular in Kansas City. I reviewed the all-star album that doesn’t go easy on Cowtown at Plastic Sax. David Baerwald of David & David, the project’s lyricist, left an apology in the comment section at my other music blog.
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I previewed the Flyover fest for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.
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I featured the Kansas City vocalist Millie Edwards on KCUR this week.
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I write weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star.
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Chester Bennington of Linkin Park has died. I last saw him perform at the VooDoo in 2014 when he was filling in for Scott Weiland as the vocalist of Stone Temple Pilots.
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Nicole Atkins has a fine voice. Yet the elaborate production of Goodnight Rhonda Lee requires a singer with a magnificent voice. Atkins has a hard time breaking through the retro clutter. (I reserve the right to be wrong- this album could be a grower.) RIYL: Dusty Springfield, 1963, Dionne Warwick. Here’s ”Darkness Falls So Quiet”.
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Terrace Martin Presents the Pollyseeds: Sounds of Crenshaw, Vol. 1 sounds like a potential album-of-the-year candidate in any given moment, but it quickly becomes monotonous. Here’s ”Intentions”.
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Another John Coltrane tribute album? Yes, but it’s amazing. I highly recommend Denys Baptiste’s The Late Trane.
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I can almost smell the distinct funk of New Orleans when I listen to With You In Mind, Stanton Moore’s wondrous tribute to Allen Toussaint. RIYL: Maceo Parker, worthy tributes, Nicholas Payton.
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I’ll always make time for Sara Evans. Words is RIYL Patty Loveless, diminishing returns, Lorrie Morgan. “Marquee Sign” is the album’s worst song.
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Charles Lloyd’s late-career renaissance continues with the live recording Passin’ Through. RIYL: John Coltrane, horrid album art, Joe Lovano.
(Original image of Adolescents by There Stands the Glass.)
