Benefit show for Gabby from Manic Hispanic w/ Pennywise, Adolescents, Manic Hispanic & The Crowd – House of Blues Anaheim – Anaheim, CA

Later last year in November Gabby Gaborno, lead singer of Manic Hispanic and the Cadillac Tramps, needed triple bypass surgery, then suffered a stroke a few days after being released from the hospital. Thankfully, Gabby is recovering and being strong, but it's hard to face the reality that someone as nice and tough as Gabby has to endure something as terrifying and serious as this. Not only is it terrifying and serious, a tragedy such as this could put a family through financial hardships, as it did Gabby's. The solution to pay off the bills? A Punk rock benefit show! I've missed Manic Hispanic everytime they play down here, and with the Adolescents being my favorite band, I made it my mission to go out and support Gabby - Punk rock style.

The doors were set to open at 7PM. Not being used to driving in the rain (or at least on a slippery freeway), my friend and I left around 5PM. We were right to; the traffic on the 91 was more hectic than normal due to the partial flooding on the 405. Nonetheless, we arrived in Orange County around 6:45PM with a few minutes to spare, and surprisingly very few people were in line. After the doors officially opened, security checked us and we anxiously walked up the steps into the venue. The first band originally on the line-up were the Grabbers, however, due to guitarist Rob Milucky's wife having a baby that night, a last minute change came up and OC natives the Crowd performed. Because of the change, the band came out a little later than planned, but the audience didn't seem to mind. The Crowd, from Huntington Beach, proved to be far more advanced than a normal opening band, with their style sounding like a fusion of Agent Orange and T.S.O.L. It was a great way to lead into an evening of good, old-fashioned Punk rock music.

The next band on the agenda, who nearly filled up the entire pit area, were the Cadillac Tramps. The Cadillac Tramps are Gabby's second band, with major differences from Manic Hispanic. Although they rock hard and fast as Manic Hispanic does, they prove to be more serious with their style. The psychobilly band full of vigor and passion opened up with Jonny Two Bags, former guitarist of Cadillac Tramps,as well as U.S. Bombs and Youth Brigade, and current guitarist of Social Distortion, filling in for Gabby's role of lead vocals. Jonny filling in for Gabby was perfect for the band to remain true to their style of chunky guitar riffs and small dose of the blues. Other special guests who substituted for Gabby were Guns Don't Argue lead singer Shakes, Tony DeCou, and Adolescents bassist Steve Soto, singing a more mellow tone. Towards the end of the set, the man of the night himself, Gabby Gaborno came out on stage. Although he did not perform any songs due to his condition, he expressed his extreme gratitude for everyone who came out to provide relief and support for his family. After the crowd was done cheering and applauding Gabby's strength during his hard time, he introduced Mary, who rocked the vocals for "Cadillac Hearse".

Surprisingly, the next band to perform were the Adolescents, not Pennywise. Since I was especially eager to see them perform, I pushed and edged my way up to the front. Around 10PM, the curtain opened, revealing Tony Cadena swaying inches away from me and immediately I heard the introduction to "No Way". The crowd noticed as well, and a huge mosh broke out. The audience for the Adolescents are always pretty awesome, but this time I saw them triumphed over any crowd I've seen before. People were screaming the lyrics, throwing their fists up, crowd surfing towards the stage (and moving back once security tried catching them), and of course moshing. They energetically went on to play classics like "Who is Who", "L.A. Girl", "Wrecking Crew", and "Amoeba", and very few songs from O.C. Confidential. With a unfortunately short set, they performed "Kids of the Black Hole" as their last song, and a seemingly mellow Cadena going out with a bang by stage diving into the crowd. I found it somewhat ironic that the Adolescents majorly influenced the next band who was set to play, Pennywise.

Hermosa Beach natives Pennywise were up next. In August 2009, original frontman for Pennywise Jim Lindberg announced his separation from the band, and has been replaced with Ignite singer Zoli Teglas. Although I'm not a huge fan of Pennywise beyond "Land of the Free?", I was curious to see how Zoli would do and the crowd's reaction to his performance. Around 10:45PM, Pennywise began there set, and most of the comments I heard up at the front were from woman, saying how Zoli was "hot". The crowd seemed to take to the singer, and proved so by continuing the massive pit from the Adolescents. Even though Zoli was no Jim, he still performed the set with vivacity and intensity, qualities that made the set enjoyable for everyone. A highlight for me, and a few others (I heard someone yell "Fuck yes!" when they announced it), was when they played the hit "Society". Another focal point was "Fuck Authority" (dedicated to the Anaheim police department), the song that is still incredibly popular among airwaves, nine years later and still gets people to crowd surf and mosh harder than any Pennywise song out there. Like the Adolescents, they had a shorter set, and ended it with the classic "Bro Hymn", which also caused the crowd to get even more insane - in a good way.

The last band of the line-up was obviously Manic Hispanic. Joe Sib, who had been the "MC" for the night, introduced them by joking that he was an Italian introducing a Mexican band. He announced that Gabby had gone home for the night because of his needed rest, but that they had raised a little over $20,000 to aid his medical bills, lifting a huge weight off his shoulders, and sent a message of thanks to the crowd. The vocals for Manic Hispanic were done by fellow vocalist Tio. Tio and the rest of the brown boys (Huesos, Hokie, Mo, Oso, and Chino) carried on fine without the main man Gabby and proved so with there performance of the title song "Manic Hispanic"; but the Crowd's lead singer Jim Decker showed up on stage again to perform a cover of the Buzzcock's "Orgasm Addict" with them, as well as a reprise of Modern Machine. In the middle of the show, two people got in a fight, with Tio breaking it up and scolding, "It's a benefit! C'mon guys! If Gabby were here he'd tell you to kiss and makeup!", causing the crowd to chant "Beso! Beso! Beso!" (which means "kiss" in Spanish, for those of you who don't know). A cool surprise of the night was that Youth Brigade vocalist and BYO founder Shawn Stern sang backup vocals on "Mexican Society", exciting the crowd to a new level. But the excitement didn't stop there: towards the end of the set, Bad Religion bassist Jay Bentley and guitarist Greg Hetson appeared from backstage to help Manic Hispanic perform their version of "Atomic Garden", named "Uncle Chato's Garden". They promptly ended their set around 11:45PM, and did not come out for an encore, possibly because of the show running late in the beginning.

After I learned the show was completely over, I hurriedly walked upstairs to the merchandise booth to buy a Giving Back to Gabby t-shirt, but they were sold out, which made me somewhat happy because the proceeds would help with Gabby's bills. However, there's a silver lining to every cloud; I noticed Shawn Stern at the booth, and had the opportunity to shake his hand and tell him how much I appreciate his talents and efforts. As I was leaving the venue, I heard the chatter of many fans, some talking about the crazy pit, and some arguing about who was the best of the night (most of what I heard were between Pennywise and Adolescents). It's all personal opinion who rocked the House of Blues the hardest that night, but I think everyone can unanimously agree that it was an amazing benefit show. Gabby Gaborno is known to be one of the nicest, most real and down-to-earth person anyone could have the chance to meet, and it's inspiring to see so many people with a passion for the music they listen to come together for a great cause and help out a fellow Punk in need.
 

-Sarah K.-
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter

 

 
                                          Go HERE to see all the latest show reviews