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
MISFITS GIVE NEW AND OLD FANS AT THE OBSERVATORY A MOST MEMORABLE “STATIC AGE”
It was a high-energy show last Thursday at The Observatory. Misfits have been scheduled to play three days and play three classic albums in their entirety. Thursday night was Static Age. It was an all ages show and I would say that it was cool to see all ages actually there. There were some very young teens to people in their 40s and 50s, but there were probably more teens there which was awesome to see that this music still gets to the younger crowd when today, the market is completely saturated with a lot of bad pop/safe music.
It was a high-energy show last Thursday at The Observatory. Misfits have been scheduled to play three days and play three classic albums in their entirety. Thursday night was Static Age. It was an all ages show and I would say that it was cool to see all ages actually there. There were some very young teens to people in their 40s and 50s, but there were probably more teens there which was awesome to see that this music still gets to the younger crowd when today, the market is completely saturated with a lot of bad pop/safe music.
There was definitely a lot of youth there and it seemed as though there were some first time show-goers there. At least first time in what could potentially turn into a massive pit. I heard one kid behind me say that he was worried about getting crushed up against the barricade, while his friend soothed him and just told him to brace himself by putting his knee into the barricade so that he did not get squished. I found the moment sweet, yet comical.
The crew was setting up and then the only remaining original member of the band, Jerry Only, was helping the crew set up microphones. He had the iconic devil lock hair and he took the time to shake a couple hands of his fans and ask how they were doing. He seemed very gracious which was nice. Then showtime was about to begin and the smile from his face was gone, and it became focused and intense. Misfits kicked off the show with the first song off the album Static Age. The pit erupted and kept going until the last song was played. Of course when he played songs such as “Last Caress,” “Bullet,” and “138” the crowd got a little more crazy. Jerry and the rest of the Misfits put on one hell of a show that did not let up until the last note was played.
Getting the evening started was a group of female rockers called She Demons. They were pretty fun and played hard. They did a couple hard-rock versions of some classic bubble-gum oldies such as The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” and The Crystals’ “He’s a Rebel.” She Demons put on a very entertaining show that got the crowd nicely primed for the Misfits.
Words & Photography: Wes Marsala
Written for GrimyGoods.com, June 23, 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
