Adolescents 8/5 at Beat Kitchen

Saturday night, Lewdd, JP, and I went to the Beat Kitchen to see the Adolescents play. I thought this was the first time they ever played here but they said during the show the last time they played Chicago was at the Metro 20 years ago! Had I known they were here then, I surely would have went so it was news to me. Anyway I was really excited to finally get a chance to see them play after being a fan of theirs for more than two decades.

The Beat Kitchen is small, too small really and narrow, and the lighting is abysmal, so these sadly stand as probably the worst pictures I’ve taken at a show with my equipment. I am going to have to cave in and buy an external flash if they are going to continue to have shows at this place. The two upsides of the club are the fact that it has a good sound system, and parking around the club is pretty easy to find.

The Vacancies

The Vacancies

First up were The Vacancies, they played a rather generic melodic punk. I was sort of indifferent of them until they did a Dead Boys cover, then I was against them. At that point I left to use the bathroom hoping they’d be done when I returned, but they still had a song or two left when I came back. This trend of new punk bands covering old punk bands is getting more and more common, which is shouldn’t’ be. Leave the old songs alone and write your own!

Street Dogs

Street Dogs

Next were Street Dogs. I never heard of them but much of the younger crowd were into them. They feature someone I guess who was/is in Dropkick Murphy’s, a band I’m not a fan of. I was pretty neutral on their decent brand of sing along punk until they did a Black Flag cover. The kids went nuts for it more than their constant pandering to the crowd about how great Chicago is and how they wanted them to clap their hands all the time. I thought I was at a Kiss concert with as much as the singer was pandering to the crowd and trying to get them to clap and sing along, and all the “insert city name here in the middle of the song for a cheap crowd pop” that was going on. The Black Flag cover soured me on them more than the attempts for cheap heat, and then when they did a Sham 69 cover I was thinking it was time to leave but I didn’t want to lose my spot to take photos from. I hope I’ll never have to sit through the Street Dogs again and again, there was nothing wrong with their original songs, there was no need for the covers of better band’s songs! Ugh!

Adolescents

Adolescents

This just left the Adolescents. They took the the stage and promptly got to work tearing the house down. The two original members this time out were Tony Reflex/Cadena/Montana and Steve Soto. They had a 16 year old guitar player on stage with them who could really hold his own. 25 years later after releasing the blue album has not slowed down these first generation punkers, they can still go like they were in their early twenties! They played most of the first album, along with two songs off the newest album, including the most excellent “Lockdown America”. Sadly they didn’t play “Welcome to Reality” but I chalk it up to the fact the show had to end by 9:30pm and the second band got to play way too long. I mean you could have had them not play the two covers and that would have left ample time for the Adz to play a couple more songs! Ah well, it still was a real treat to get to finally see the Adolescents and it was well worth the drive, the crowd, the smoke, and the uninspiring opening acts! If you get a chance to see them before this tour ends, which is soon, don’t hesitate to make the trip out to check them out!

Adolescents

Adolescents

A couple more photos after the jump…


Adolescents

Adolescents