The Adicts – The Dickies – The Billy Bones – The Henchman – at House of Blues – San Diego, CA – March 22, 2009

The last stop for Southern California could not have been a better selected city than San Diego. San Diego, which is the last county to cross before reaching the border separating the United States and Tijuana, hosted the last SoCal Adicts show at the House of Blues. On Sunday night, The Henchmen, The BillyBones, and The Dickies all reached their final destination with The Adicts.

The show began promptly at 7:30pm, and The Henchmen were the opening act. The House of Blues in San Diego is large in size, so near the beginning it appeared as though there were hardly any people. Even so, The Henchmen played their set diligently and even caused the small crowd to gather around and stir up a little excitement in the pit. Their set was done shortly after 8pm, and by this time, people were slowly filling the large venue up.


The BillyBones went on about 20 minutes later, and their crowd was especially enthusiastic. Many of the people were singing along and shouting along to Billy Bones' music, and many of them were also making requests, to which Billy Bones often smiled and asked back, "Oh, you wanna hear THAT one?" The band went on to cover The Animals' "I'm Crying" and worked up a lot of the crowd's energy. The BillyBones received great feedback from the audience, and provided a lively and rightfully satisfying set.

When the Dickies arrived on stage, it was already after 9pm and people in the audience were screaming out requests every 10 seconds. When Stan Lee approached the audience, a female's voice was overheard screaming, "STAN LEE, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!" Clearly, the audience was absolutely thrilled to see The Dickies on the stage and they were greatly anticipated. The Dickies commenced the set with 4 of their most well known songs, "Give It Back", "I'm Ok, You're Ok", "Paranoid" and "Got It At The Store". Upon finishing "Got It At The Store", vocalist Leonard Graves Phillips looked to the side of the stage and appeared concerned and ran off for a moment. When the funny frontman came back, he announced that their set had been cut short and their set was over. The audience suddenly went from extremely enthusiastic to extremely confused, and began to shout "ONE MORE SONG!" The audience caused a huge stir by stomping on the floor and clapping in unison screaming for the return of The Dickies. Unfortunately, the curtains on the stage began to close around the stage, and it was ultimately the end of the band's set. The set was done by 9:22pm.

Being so large in size, The House of Blues in San Diego began to finally become packed with people arriving to see The Adicts. And exactly being as large as it is, there also managed to still be enough room to breathe and move around. For the last time in SoCal, when The Adicts' low haunting intro music began to creep into the room, the audience knew that the band was about to go on soon. People began to push, but it wasn't as severe as the LA or Anaheim shows. The pushing was rather moderate, which was all the more convenient for everyone present.

When the curtains were finally drawn and Fiddle Dan was in the middle of the stage with a humble smile, the audience completely lost it. The Adicts' grand mad party had commenced. The floor was full of fans eager to sing along to every song, to which they did, and when the confetti and glitter hit the scene, it was as if every member of the audience had suddenly been granted one million dollars. People's eyes bulged out of their faces, grins took up the people's faces, and they were all hysterically laughing, screaming, or doing a combination of both.

The band played the same set they had played the last few shows, but it was extremely beneficial for the fans and the band. It was impressive to see how the band maintained the same energy and effort into the songs played that night just as they had the previous nights. The night was just as thrilling and mesmerizing as the night before and the night before that, and even the one before that one. The Adicts truly are deserving of all the love and appreciation they receive on behalf of their fans.

The band ended their set with "How Sad" and left the stage shortly after. As always, fans demanded their encore and sought after the enchantment that The Adicts never fail to impose over us. When the band came back, the beach balls were thrown out, and the band played two more songs, dismissing themselves and the night with "Bad Boy".

The end of their Southern California journey reached its end in San Diego, and it marked the success of the band's 5 shows in the region. San Diego greatly appreciated the band's stay, and it was a cheerful hello and goodbye on their behalf. The band exemplified and conveyed their great energy and stage presence throughout all of the SoCal shows, and it was utterly mind blowing to witness. Thank you and goodbye to The Adicts for gracing us with their presence here in sunny California. All of the enchanting times that their fans had indulged in hold true to the fact that The Adicts are an enigmatic force with powerful spells that we all love to fall under each and every time.

-Stephanie M.-
Big Wheel music scene reporter

 

More photos of the show can be seen HERE

 
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