Adolescents with – Youth Brigade – Middle Class – White Flag – and The Billybones – at The Observatory – Santa Ana, CA

Formerly known as The Galaxy Theater, The Observatory (www.observatoryoc.com) recently launched in Santa Ana and has since hosted a plethora of main acts ranging from performers like Immortal Technique to The Casualties. Last night, The Adolescents returned to Orange County for a night of pure unfiltered Punk rock and brought along with them Youth Brigade, Middle Class, White Flag, and The Billybones.

The event was all ages and promptly began at 8 p.m.

Opening band The Billy Bones commenced the show with 77 style Punk rock that was both melodic and groovy. Vocalist "Billy Bones" ran from one part of the stage to the other, generating his own energy and manifesting it into the eager row of people behind the barricade. The band offered a treat by covering a song by The Skulls before vacating the stage.

White Flag performed after and elevated the night's mood by prompting song worthy pits with fast action. Vocalist Tony Reflex of the Adolescents briefly joined the band onstage to perform with them, and throughout the night, the band frequently teased the audience and joked with them, ultimately proving to be both humorous comics and skilled musicians.

When Middle Class was next, the venue was remarkably full of supporters. The influential punk band, which has been credited as one of the first early hardcore bands, performed youthful songs that the kids slammed to energetically and willingly. The band performed songs from their "Out of Vogue" EP, and at one point when requests were being shouted, the band returned, "If you can name one song from 'Scavenged Luxury' we'll play it!" The band's presence was a rarity that increased the overall success of the night.

It was during Youth Brigade's set that the tone of the night really set in as people crowd surfed, stage dived, and fully made the effort to demonstrate just how much they love Youth Brigade. The band opened with "Where are all the Old Man Bars" and frequently opened up the rest of the songs with political talk and tongue-in-cheek comments about Republican candidates Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Mitt Romney. The overall atmosphere of the band's set can only be described as one of unmatched energy, resulting in a packed venue full of beligerent people singing proudly, "And we'll sink, with Californiiiiiiiiaaaaaa, when it falls into the SEEEEEAAAAAAAAA!"


Before the Adolescents began their set, Rodney Bingenheimer of KROQ's Rodney on the Roq approached the stage and introduced the band. Once Adolescents arrived on stage, all was ready and set in motion when "No Way" was performed. Crowd surfers reached an all time high in activity, and fans frequently made their way on stage to hug and sing with Tony. These same crowd surfers provided a show of their own as they dove back into the audience using different styles and techniques. Some resorted to Olympic style diving, and others canonballed straight onto people's heads. Despite this, bystanders along the barricade sang, screamed, and threw their fists up in the air as the band performed song after song from the blue album. In the midst of all this action, the Adolescents announced that they had just won the award for "Best Punk" at the 2012 OC Music Awards in Anaheim. This announcement was met with thunderous cheers and applause.

The band also performed songs from their latest project "Fastest Kid Alive" as well as songs from "OC Confidential." With the mixture of both classic and newer songs, the band's set offered a variety of songs ranging from fast tunes like "Word Attack" to slower songs like "California Sun," providing fans with different sounds all in one sitting. The band ended with the classic "Kids of the Black Hole" and returned for an encore that bid the night farewell with "OC Confidential" and "Rip it Up."

With the return of The Adolescents at the Santa Ana based venue, last night's show was a nostalgic experience that revived the old school days of Punk shows at The Galaxy. Now redesigned and modeling a new face, The Observatory only has more old school Punk shows headed our way, and last night's was simply one of many more to come.

-Stephanie M.-
Senior Staff Reporter

 
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