Stalag 13 – Ill Repute – Missing 23 – Stop Breathing – at Rock City – Camarillo, CA

Heading into the land of Nardcore for mid week show to take in the last performance that Stalag 13 had planned for this round of shows was a no brainer. Given that Stalag's singer lives in Australia, the audience at large had to consider that another performance by one of the premier Nardcore bands was not gonna happen again very soon. Flanking Stalag 13 on this SOLD OUT show was another equally premier Nardcore band, Ill Repute, so it seemed fitting that these two powerhouses would perform together like they did many times some 25 years ago.

Providing support on the show were torch bearers of the Nardcore scene, opening up the show was Stop Breathing (www.facebook.com/stopbreathingfb) as well as Missing 23rd (www.facebook.com/themissing23rd) who were filling in for The Grim who last minute had something come up and were unable to play the show. In between them was a band of 13, 14 and 15 year olds called, Declining Youth who were encouraged to take the stage with the previous band's equipment and bust out a few songs. Next Gen Nardcore was fully represented at this show. The full line up of the show (that we were corrected on) was as follows: Stop Breathing, Declining Youth, Retaliate, In Control, Missing 23rd, Ill Repute & Stalag 13.

     Missing 23rd

During the intermissions, there was a bar next door that the 21+ portion of the crowd went to and made the place look like a backyard BBQ, reuniting with old friends and making new ones.



Ill Repute took the stage for a 30+ minute set of songs, many which were written well before most of the audience was even born. For most of their set the stage was a literal war zone of stage dives and human cannon balls. Regardless of when the songs were written, time has proved that Ill Repute is still a hot property today.


   Enjoy this video overview of the show you missed



After what seemed like a longer than usual intermission, which many did not seem to mind having a little extra time to catch their breath, Stalag 13 was noun on stage and ready to go. Stalag 13's set would consist of 17 songs performed by Vocals: Ron Baird / Guitar: Blake Cruz / Bass: John Morris / Lead Guitar: Dave Casillas / Drums: Larry White that started out with their Intro tune with that then went into No Excuse with Ron now joining his bandmates on stage.

Perhaps the guy having the most fun at this show was Ron of Stalag 13 because it was very evident from the high energy he maintained though out the show, he had no intention of phoning in this performance. After a while it was no longer possible to keep count of how many times Ron was hit as the kids went crazy during the show, and Ron never lost a beat.

For Ron, this performance was all about expressing his pride in being part of the Nardcore scene and setting a pretty high bar for future generations of Nardcore bands to follow.


The video above that was included with this report will give you a sense of how epic the show was and still can not fully capture the raw energy in the air that could be cut with a knife. For the lucky people that were able to get into this sold out show, they really got a feel for what a Stalag show was like back in the 80's!

             More photos of the show can be seen HERE

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