BUZZCOCKS, KICKING ARSE FOR 40 YEARS, SHOW NO SIGNS OF STOPPING AT THE OBSERVATORY
The young and old punk rockers of Orange County came out to The Observatory this past weekend to celebrate end enjoy forty years of Buzzcocks music. The Buzzcocks rolled out an amazing performance playing some of their iconic punk anthems such as “What do I Get”, “Ever Fallen in Love”, and “Orgasm Addict” — along with some of their newer songs.
The young and old punk rockers of Orange County came out to The Observatory this past weekend to celebrate end enjoy forty years of Buzzcocks music. The Buzzcocks rolled out an amazing performance playing some of their iconic punk anthems such as “What do I Get”, “Ever Fallen in Love”, and “Orgasm Addict” — along with some of their newer songs. Pete Shelley’s signature voice along with Steve Diggle’s unstoppable guitar energy had the young punks moving. The pit never seemed to stop moving as waves of punk rock ferocity boiled in and out of the circle. While the young mashed and floated, many of the older punks stood and watched from the edge. Needless to say, the salt and peppered dudes didn’t totally stray from the madness ensuing in the pit. A few of them joined in, reveling in nostalgia, and showed the young how it’s done.
Before Buzzcocks took us through a memorial evening of music, the night kicked off with Philly rock ‘n’ rollers, The Residuels. I think the band shocked the crowd a bit. Their first song started off at medium tempo; the crowd watched, there was some chatter in the background, and then guitarist/vocalist, Justin Pittney laid it all out there and let the emotion flow strong with a scream into the chorus. Suddenly, the crowd was engaged and it did not take long for the pit to start making its circle of rage. I may be getting old, but some of the people in the pit were doing some very strange moves. There were a couple of guys that were just bobbing there entire upper torso back-and-fourth with either their hands in their pockets, or holding their hands behind their back? What the fuck is that all about, it looked a bit ridiculous. Regardless, The Residuels kept things tight and moving with their heavy dose of rock ‘n’ roll.
Check out photos of Buzzcocks with The Residels at the Observatory below!
Words & Photography: Wes Marsala
Written for GrimyGoods.com, June 2, 2016
SOCIAL DISTORTION DELIVER UNFORGETTABLE HOMETOWN HEROES SHOW AT OBSERVATORY SANTA ANA
Social Distortion came out Sunday night to do the first of three nights at the Observatory in Orange county. They were celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of their self-titled album. People of all ages showed up from eight-year-olds to sixty-something-year olds. Mike Ness hit the stage wearing a Jerome’s boxing t-shirt, bearded and obviously fully tatted.
Social Distortion came out Sunday night to do the first of three nights at the Observatory in Orange county. They were celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of their self-titled album. People of all ages showed up from eight-year-olds to sixty-something-year olds. Mike Ness hit the stage wearing a Jerome’s boxing t-shirt, bearded and obviously fully tatted. The Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter played on the speaker setting the mood of the show. The crowd screamed as Ness walked on stage and strapped a Gibson Les Paul to his body. He grabbed the mic and said “It’s so great to be back on the west coast, the best coast”, and the crowd roared. With Social Distortion getting its start in Fullerton, CA — the energy was unreal for these hometown heroes.
Social Distortion kicked off with the first song off their 1990 self-titled album, “So Far Away” and they would go on to play the entire record except for one song. In between songs he was reminiscent and told a few stories about him getting sober and writing the album. As most longtime fans already know, Social D went through changes musically. The band went from punk to a more rockabilly sound. With that came criticism, which Ness was open to discuss. He let the crowd know he didn’t like the rules people were trying to instill in him and that he does not take to rules to kindly.
When he finished their album there was one song missing. The band went on to play songs from 1992’s Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell. The band blasted through memorable tracks such as “Cold Feelings” and “This Time Darlin.” They also covered the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses,” which was a nice touch.
Encore two happened and Social D had two more in them. The last two songs would be covers of Johnny Cash, the first one was “Folsom Prison Blues” and the next was, of course, “Ring of Fire” which closed out their 25th anniversary celebration (for their self-titled album).
The night was full of raw energy and the pit was going pretty hard. I even had someone hold my camera for a bit so that I could jump in. I don’t get to do that too often these days but I can’t miss a Social Distortion pit. The show was all-ages and definitely showed. From toddlers to senior citizens, it didn’t matter who was on the floor. Everyone was there for all the same reasons.
During “Ring of Fire”, Ness had some children come up on stage and he gave them a little lesson in life: to think for themselves. This little key piece of advice which surely build strong individuals out of them, and probably piss their parents and teachers off in the near future.
Superb performance.
Words & Photography: Wes Marsala
Written for GrimyGoods.com, September 15, 2015
ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT, THE BRONX AND DEAD HEAVENS DELIVER KNOCK-OUT PERFORMANCES AT THE OBSERVATORY
It was a night of pure rock n’ roll at the Observatory in Santa Ana, California last night. Three bands would play, Rocket From The Crypt, Los Angeles punk rockers, The Bronx and Dead Heavens. All three bands brought their own style of rock and each kept the crowd engaged.
It was a night of pure rock n’ roll at the Observatory in Santa Ana, California last night. Three bands would play, Rocket From The Crypt, Los Angeles punk rockers, The Bronx and Dead Heavens. All three bands brought their own style of rock and each kept the crowd engaged.
Rocket From The Crypt was the headliner of the night and they came out at about 10:30 or so in there navy blue floral Elvis-esque jumpsuits and lead singer John Reis (aka Speedo) came out and rambled on a bit explaining and apologizing for their banner being so small, especially in comparison to The Bronx’s banner. He kept going on about how The Bronx’s was so much bigger than their’s. Anyway, they started out with “Dick On A Dog” and that got the crowd going and the moshing ensued.
The Bronx came on before Rocket, and man did they get everyone involved in the show. After the second or third song singer, ferocious front-man, Matt Caughthran jumped off stage and grabbed a male audience member and started pushing people along to get the pit going. He said “I want to see all you pussies moving,” and everyone happily complied. He also put his money where his mouth was and got the pit started himself. He hopped back on stage and fell to the ground and when he got up you saw blood running down his cheek just below his eye. I don’t think he realized he cut himself till much later in the show. His white t-shirt was blood stained all over by the end of their set. This would not be the last time that Caughthran would enter the pit. Towards the end he stood in the center of the pit and sang his heart out while people moshed around him. He then climbed the back barricade and finally did a dive into the crowd where he would then get back on stage. The Bronx were pure untamed energy from start-to-finish; stunning performance.
The opener was Dead Heavens, and all I can say is that they will soon be headlining their own show.s They were pretty fantastic. When they first went on, the place was not packed and people were standing in the back seated areas. Nobody was in the pit except for a couple photographers and maybe about six others. After their first song everyone came down into the pit and people applauded and cheered after each song. It was a real fun night at the Observatory. The spectators really did get their money’s worth for a Saturday evening.
Words & Photography: Wes Marsala
Originally written for GrimyGoods.com, June 1, 2015
