By Chris Rockson
Arriving in London for a show some ten hours later can offer a whole new world of temptation to someone like me...I mean, there's the bars to start with. London's Shepherd's Bush area is situated a mile from the Capitol's throbbing heart, towards the west, and is about as close to perfection you can get...cool bars, cool shops, diners, more shops, more bars, and the Empire.
It's the middle of summer 09, and we're supposed to be having a 'BBQ Summer' according to the news today...hello! It's raining cats & dogs when we get to the 'Bush. So, we make for the extremely well-appointed 'Walkabout Bar', right next to the Empire's Stage Door. If you ain't been in a Walkabout before, you gotta try...Aussie's are playing against England for the Ashes or something, and it's cricket people, in various states of disrepair all around.
By 7:30 we make our way, somewhat lighter headed than we were a few hours ago thanks to Castlemaine XXXX and Fosters, not to mention VB beers, to the Empire's entrance. The line outside is quite long and trickles around to the side street of the joint. There's the usual 'wanna buy a ticket for the show' hassles on the way, no thanks, we're listed!
Once inside, its a quick visit to the merch stand to get myself a nice new 'Black Kat Kustoms' tee and Liam, my son, wants to spend my month's salary of a whole bunch of stuff..gotta admire his choice of music though.
The stage is already set-up for the first band of the night, The Durango Riot. They hit stage left at exactly the right time and throw out an almighty set. Hailing from Sweden, they blast out a modern blend of television and white stripes [ if you can imagine that! ] The crowd go wild for them as they work the stage. Tough gig opening for someone like Social D, or any name band for that matter, but they win over a less-than-enthusiastic crowd by the end of their set...nice work fellas!
The Durango Riot's leadman, Fred
Next up were The Bones also from Sweden, and they were playing to a filling auditorium. Blasting out a furious brand of high-energy punk rock, and blessed with an abundance of their own fans down the front, it made for a very lively set.
A couple of Jack'n'Cokes later and we're by the stage for the entrance of Social Distortion. Playing to an absolutely cram-packed house, and keeping the huge crowd entertained for over 40 minutes with country and rockabilly classics is all but forgotten, as the strains of Billie Holidays 'Strange Fruit' ring out into the air, and the lights dim...the band take the stage minus Ness.
New drummer Atom, hammers out the quick tempo'd instantly recognisable thud of 'The Creeps' and we're off...here comes Mike, unshaven and wearing his trademark black tee and workpants look, with a nice suede fedora to boot...straps on his Les Paul and straight into the first verse.
This is what a rock n roll band should look and sound like, nothing more, nothing less!!
The band look as fresh as they day they formed, although, following a gruelling schedule like they just have, I know different..but tonight, they are running on all cyinders of Mike's ol' 54 Chevy!
The crowd are loving every minute of this, and its no surprise to see Charlie Harper and some Vibrators standing next to me at the bar, nodding in appreciation of this fuckin' awesome band! The band play through what is a pretty typical Social D set-list, containing such classic anthems as 'Mommy's Little Monster', 'Ball & Chain', 'Story of My Life' - at which point the crowd explodes into the world's largest mosh-pit, and then Mike tells us all about how we wouldn't have the likes of Johnny Thunders, Johnny Cash, Sid Vicious et al, if it weren't for the marvellous Hank Williams....'put Sid Vicious and Hank Williams in a room for a fight, there's only one of them comin' out' he tells the crowd, before taking us on an 'Alone & Foresaken' cruise to country heaven...he has a point though!
By now, he has the crowd exactly where he has always had them...and things just keep getting better and better! There's an awesome mixture of people in the audience this evening, some straight forward types, rock-a-billy types, punks with mohican haircuts, teddy boys, metal fans alike, all just enjoying the sheer simplicity of this band and its output. If you've never been to see Social Distortion play live, you need to....and fast!! 'We'll be coming back here every year..' he promises, before they launch into yet another crowd pleaser from the extended back catalogue. This is the '30 Years Of Underground Rock n Roll' tour, and those years have spawned plenty of songs that the crowd appear to know each and every word to...now, THAT is cool!! For a band that have largely been overlooked by the media, Social D kick some real heavy mother fucking ass...there ain't many bands that can match this...in fact, I don't think I know of one that could!!
It's all over too soon for mine, and everybody else's liking, but after a couple of encores, the lights come on, one last chance for a drink at the bar and we're off into the cold, rainy London Summer night. One thing I hope for next time around would be a slightly longer set guys...I know you were knackered from Europe, but another four songs would have been awesome!! Only kiddin', that was easily the best concert I've seen in a very long time....see for yourselves below.
See y'all at the next shows!
Check out Social Distortion RIGHT HERE
