New Years Heave! with NOFX – Youth Brigade – Dead to Me – Old Man Markley – at The Wiltern Theater – Los Angeles, CA

Finding where to spend New Year's Eve might be a difficult choice given that there are so many things to choose from. You could spend it at home with loved ones gathering a futile list of resolutions that will surely be discarded within the first few weeks of the year. Or, you could spend it standing next to a multitude of complete strangers; fully immersed in the joy of staring at a scintillating ball drop while counting it's spectacular descent.

But who really needs any of that shit when NOFX comes staggering drunk into town just in time to ring in the new year. Plus, with the event inappropriately titled ''New Year's Heave''-insinuating if not guaranteeing a night of depravity and fun- any other affair looks dull in comparison.

Joe Sib, of Complete Control Radio personage, was the host for the promising late-night extravaganza at The Wiltern on Friday December 31st. It would have been enjoyable to hear him tell some of the entertaining anecdotes about his life in a Punk-rock a environment which he is now know for. But, alas, he only came out intermittently and briefly to introduce each band respectively. I don’t blame him; one can only imagine the type of fun that was going on backstage.

"The valley gives us pornography but it also gives us Old Man Markley!" is how Joe put it. Indeed, the valley does give us pornography which many people seem to enjoy, it also gave us one of the most promising acts that are enjoyable for its artistic merits and not being naked. As the Youth Brigade singer Shawn put it "These guys are the future!" This band might remind you of Flogging Molly due to the use of unorthodox instruments (for Punk rock at least) such as a violin and banjo. However, they maintain their originality in its own right; by instead bringing a country/bluegrass/folk-rock feel and the fluctuating use of lead singers.

Continuing in the tradition of Fat Wreck Chords bands opening up for NOFX , Dead for Me, from San Francisco, had the misfortune of handling some of the only technical difficulties of the night. The bass player complained to The Wiltern staff that his bass wasn't working to it's fullest; or at all at some point. He put the entire show on a moratorium and reduced his set-list because of the uncooperative bass and equipment. This is understandable because these sort of fuck-ups are aggravating and induce the type of feelings that make you wanna pull the hair off of your head. But, as one of my friends in attendance put it, ''Sid Vicious used to do it all the time!'' Still, amid the barrage of technical errors they played a formidable Punk rock set; and even a quasi-reggae song that even had some security members bobbing their heads in enjoyment.

If you walked past the merchandise booth by the entrance, then the ''super secret old school band'' surprise might have been completely ruined; even if someone spread a vicious rumor that it was gonna be the Descendents. The chance to have been completely surprised was indeed squandered upon entrance but at least you knew you had the legendary Punk-rock band Youth Brigade to look forward to. During their second Los Angeles performance with NOFX in as many years the band immediately brought out the type of audience participation you couldn’t have seen earlier in the night. And, the fact that The Wiltern has only so much floor space immediately in front of the band that necessitates the dissemination of wristbands to keep everything safe, it seems like a forlorn effort when the quintessential Punk rock band had some people trying to fill up the under-crowded floor to be as close as possible.

Youth Brigade has been around for about thirty years and justifiably deserved their wide-range appreciation at The Wiltern. They also made sure to thank the younger crowd and the older crowd as well for keeping this while Punk-rock things going; before finishing off with their trademark classic.

With only fifteen minutes til' twelve, El Hefe, dressed in a full suit and shorts, came out with the drummer Smelly to play ''Straight Edge''; the jazz parody of Minor Threat's classic anthem. That seg-wayed into Fat Mike and Eric Melvin coming out in female attire to begin their set. Yes, in full drag; make-up, mini-skirts, boots, and a helluva lot of alcohol made up a majority of their hilarious stage presence. I Love NOFX.

After realizing there was only about a minute or so left until New Years Day, they haphazardly played ''Fuck the Kids'' and ''I Wanna Be an Alcoholic'' and told the audience ''Okay, now its year years! Happy New Years!'' Still, there is no better way to ring in the new year while your favorite band is on stage; and being able to say that ''Linoleum'' and ''Bob'' were some of the first songs you heard for the year makes 2011 feel like it's off to an auspicious start.

That day also marked a rare Los Angeles appearance of NOFX's dear friend Nubs. Coming out half-way through her namesake anthem ''She's Nubs''. Actually closer to the middle of the song, which extinguished my fears of her not being able to make it to the show that day. Evidently the fundraiser made on facebook bent on getting her plane tickets to Los Angeles worked. Awesome.

NOFX played some of their newer songs, and even a debut of ''New Year's Revolution'', before ending their seemingly short set-list. It was, after all, fifteen past one o'clock and after realizing my chants of ''Play The Decline!'' went unheeded, their crew and themselves danced to ''Everybody’s a little bit Racist'' and bid us all farewell.

Joe Sib said they might make this an annual event and wouldn't that be fucking awesome!

-Gabriel R.-
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter

More photos from this show can be seen HERE

Go HERE to see all the latest show reviews

 

Send your comments to the editor HERE