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Click here for photos of sights at 2013 Riot Fest
Chicago’s plethora of venues and underground music birthed the Riot Fest there in 2005, with punk acts from DIY to major label playing all across the city. In 2011 it spread to Philadelphia as the one-day Riot Fest East (QRO photos), but it was last year that saw the Fest graduate to the big-time with one big, central location in Humboldt Park, along with one-day satellite events in Brooklyn, Dallas, and Toronto. And in 2013 the festival has gone even bigger, with a two-day event in Toronto beforehand (QRO photos) and another two days in Denver the weekend afterwards – along with a massive three-day fest in the Chi-Town, Friday to Sunday, September 13th to 15th.
Being a weekday, Friday at Riot Fest started later than the subsequent two days, with the first band on a 4:00 PM, but unfortunately that meant that all the punks trying to catch the Division Street bus to Humboldt Park were not only all trying to catch it at the same time, but also at right around rush hour. Each bus was packed to the gills by/before the Ashland stop, much to the consternation of anyone trying to board it later on down the line – at one further point, an old woman cursed out what was likely the umpteenth full bus that passed her stop by, even motioning to kiss her ass…
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Click here for QRO’s review of Andrew W.K. three days earlier at Hawthorne Theater in Portland, OR
Click here for QRO’s review of Andrew W.K. playing I Get Wet live at Forum in London, U.K. on April 12th, 2012
Click here for photos of Andrew W.K. at Santos Party House in New York, NY on November 16th, 2011
Click here for photos of Andrew W.K. at Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza in New York, NY on March 16th, 2010
Click here for photos of Andrew W.K. at 2010 Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN
So you might have missed early punks like The Flatliners or Smoking Popes, or only heard Riot Fest’s random hip-hop act, Saul Williams, doing spoken word, from the other side of the entrance – but the party only really started with the ultimate party-starter, Andrew W.K. Unlike other dates on his ‘Party Messiah Tour’ (QRO live review), W.K. had a full band behind him, making for a fuller party experience at the distant Rise Stage. Admittedly, everything works back to partying, every song, every comment (the sun might have still been out – albeit setting right in the eyes of many fans – but, “If you party, every day is night!”), but that’s what you wanted from Andrew W.K. (who also head bangs like no one else this side of the “Bohemian Rhapsody” opening sequence to the Wayne’s World movie…).
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Click here for photos of Bad Religion on 2009 Vans Warped Tour in Uniondale, NY in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
While Riot Fest was decidedly a punk rock festival (no hipster ‘chillwave’ here…), its punk roamed from mainstream to DIY, and from old to new to in between. For instance, do you remember Yellowcard? Well, apparently a lot of people do, because they had a big crowd for their set, who sang along to their closer (which was likely their one big hit from back whenever). More understandable in their longer longevity is Bad Religion – even if they’ve basically made the same agit-punk record over and over again, it’s a good record; it’s easy to have a favorite Bad Religion album, even if it’s hard to keep up with the group. At Riot Fest the group did songs from their latest, this year’s True North (including the title track), and even if you didn’t know the songs or understood Greg Gaffin’s literate lyrics, they sounded like pieces you did know – and they likely played one or two songs that you actually did know (for your correspondent, early piece “I Wanna Conquer the World” and still-relevant “21st Century Digital Boy”). Gaffin even remarked on the age of some the acts playing the festival, “Lot of eighties bands tonight – oh wait, we’re from the eighties!…”
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Click here for all of QRO’s coverage of GWAR in QRO’s ‘Spotlight On : GWAR’ feature
But the best band whose songs you didn’t know at Riot Fest was easily GWAR. The mock-horror stage show, replete with demon costumes and buckets of fake blood, would stand out anywhere, and didn’t fail to do so in Chicago. What other group starts out with a beheading, and only a few songs in does the singer declare, “Let’s get some blood & death in here!” (with which the photographers in the photo pit rushed out…)? Oderus Urungus (a.k.a. Dave Brockie – QRO interview) led the defiling of just about everything sacred, chopping of Queen Elizabeth’s tits, crucifying Jesus with upgraded slave Bonesplitter (joking that he’s a troll, not a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle – and that they thought they’d ditched him at a rest stop in Kansas City…), creating, then beheading a “Super Zombie Jesus”, and more. The voice of God even challenged GWAR, remarking, “But first, you must remember: I DO NOT EXIST!” Even Oderus was taken aback, “Didn’t see that coming…”
Admittedly GWAR’s music plays second fiddle to the spectacle, but they still had a few memorable ones like oldie “Bring Back the Bomb” – Oderus introducing the piece by saying, “It’s good to see that Russia is helping Syria get rid of their chemical weapons – so they can sell them new chemical weapons!” He also shot his load over the crowd during “Pre-School Prostitutes”, and had a new song about his time on the gladiatorial sex planet of Scumdogia (“It sucked, but I still got laid!”). The new piece was from Battle Maximus, out right after Riot Fest and named after late guitarist Flattus Maximus (a.k.a. Cory Smoot), to whom Oderus paid tribute, remaking that he was rocking in the intergalactic sky now…
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Click here for photos of Atmosphere at Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, CA on July 14th, 2013
Click here for photos of Atmosphere at 2012 80/35 Festival in Des Moines, IA
Click here for photos of Atmosphere at 2012 Governors Ball in New York, NY
Click here for photos of Joan Jett & The Blackhearts on Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY on July 14th, 2011
Click here for photos of Sublime with Rome at 2013 94.5 The Buzz Weenie Roast in The Woodlands, TX
Click here for photos of Sublime with Rome at The Backyard in Bee Cave, TX on August 11th, 2011
Click here for photos of Fall Out Boy at SXSW 2013 in Austin, TX
After that awesomeness, the rest of Riot Fest Day One couldn’t help but pale in comparison. Atmosphere was probably good for those at the festival who like rhymes, and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts were likely the oldest act of the entire three days – but played a set short even for a festival set (still was great to hear “Bad Reputation”, which was introduced to a whole new generation as the theme song to TV’s short-lived Freaks & Geeks – which itself introduced the world to the likes of James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, and Linda Cardellini). One had to wonder why people were excited to see Sublime with Rome – the ‘with Rome’ is because the original ‘Sublime’ name is owned by the estate of late singer/guitarist Bradley Nowell; ‘Sublime with Rome’ is basically a Sublime cover band that happens to have the bassist & drummer from Sublime, but is fronted by fan Rome Ramirez – and Sublime weren’t that great in the first place. Danzig celebrated their 25th anniversary over on the Rise Stage by not letting anyone in take photos or video (not even the festival itself…), while Fall Out Boy proved whatever you already thought about Fall Out Boy, as they closed out the first night with a surprisingly metal set (which started with them all wearing ski masks).
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Click here for photos of Stars at 2013 Osheaga Music Festival in Montreal, PQ, Canada in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Click here for photos of Stars at Arts & Crafts Field Trip Festival in Toronto, ON, Canada in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Click here for photos of Stars at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY on March 8th, 2013 in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Click here for photos of Stars at 2010 Osheaga in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Click here for photos of Stars at The Troubadour in Los Angeles, CA on June 22nd, 2010 in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Click here for QRO’s review of Stars at Terminal 5 in New York, NY on September 20th, 2008
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Click here for photos of X at 2012 Sunset Strip Music Festival in Los Angeles, CA in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Click here for photos of X at Irving Plaza in New York, NY on September 30th, 2011 in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Click here for QRO’s review of X at Roseland Theater in Portland, OR on January 1st, 2011
Click here for photos of X at 2011 Riot Fest East at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, PA in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
After the ordeals of arriving the prior day, Saturday of Riot Fest was a whole lot smoother (that’s what happens when it begins before noon on the weekend, not rush hour on a Friday…). The earlier start of the festival did mean that some acts were missed, like 11:30 AM’s KITTEN, 12:00 PM’s Mephiskapheles, and 12:30 PM’s Surfer Blood & The Dear Hunter – admittedly, Surfer Blood’s new record (QRO review) isn’t that special, but if you were around for the short-lived spike in ska interest in the nineties, you remember Mephiskapheles (who do have one of the best ‘ska’ names…). Just after those, Memphis May Fire wanted the crowd to jump while the singer screamed, and T.S.O.L.’s Jack Grisham was just happy to be alive (he told a story about having a European tour with Sublime cancelled, due to that band’s singer/guitarist Bradley Nowell’s death – of course, ‘Sublime with Rome’ played the prior day at Riot Fest…). The day only really started with Los Angeles veterans X and Canadian alt-all-stars Stars, both of whom performed well in the early afternoon sun; meanwhile, it was still too early for all the screaming from The Devil Wears Prada (but is it ever the right time for that?…).
Riot Fest has interestingly had a tradition of crossing over from punk into ska, and while that’s not been a huge leap for a few decades now (not since Operation Ivy in the late eighties/early nineties), it was still really great to the punks skank for The Selecter. Along with The Specials, The Selecter defined the two-tone ‘second wave’ of ska in the U.K. in the early eighties, and despite the many years since then, they were on fine form at Riot Fest. Especially special was frontwoman & original rude girl Pauline Black, and it was nice to see that the band still dresses up.
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Photos of Dinosaur Jr. at 2013 Riot Fest Toronto in Toronto, ON, Canada
Photos of Dinosaur Jr. at 2013 Governors Ball in New York, NY
Photos of Dinosaur Jr. at 2013 Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Spain
Photos of Dinosaur Jr. at Lee’s Palace in Toronto, ON, Canada on September 25th, 2012
Photos of Dinosaur Jr. at Music Fest NW 2012 in Portland, OR
Photos of Dinosaur Jr. at 2012 FYF Fest in Los Angeles, CA
Photos of Dinosaur Jr. at 2012 LouFest in St. Louis, MO
Photos of Dinosaur Jr. at 2012 80/35 Festival in Des Moines, IA
Photos of Dinosaur Jr. at SXSW 2012 in Austin, TX
Review of Dinosaur Jr. at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY on January 17th, 2010
Review of Dinosaur Jr. at Central Park SummerStage on August 16th, 2009
Photos of Dinosaur Jr. at SXSW 2009
Review of Dinosaur Jr. at Webster Hall in New York, NY on September 3rd, 2007
Photos of Dinosaur Jr at Irving Plaza in New York, NY on June 6th, 2007
Of all the reunions at Riot Fest and everywhere else, none has been as great as that of Dinosaur Jr. Singer/guitarist J Mascis (QRO solo album review) & singer/bassist Lou Barlow (QRO solo album review) buried the hatchet first to tour the re-releases of their old records, but have since kept it going with new albums that are just as good as the old stuff! Oh, and you can’t forget about drummer Murph – never forget about Murph, who it was especially sweet to see behind the kit at Riot Fest, as he’d been missing from some of their festival dates this summer, including Riot Fest Toronto a few weeks ago (QRO photos).
Even if Mascis isn’t the most demonstrative frontman, Barlow more than makes up for it – he rocked so hard that his bass strap slipped off his shoulder not once, but twice, first during “The Wagon”, and then again in closer & classic cover of classic Cure, “Just Like Heaven”. The fans probably weren’t as familiar with Dinosaur Jr. as they should have been – the biggest cheer was for the intro to later, post-Barlow & Murph single “Feel the Pain” (but that’s a great intro), and the crowd didn’t know to shout, “It’s still you!” during “Freak Scene”. However, everyone did love the oldest song of the set, from Barlow & Mascis’ pre-Dinosaur band, Deep Wood – “I Didn’t Go To College” (the slowest song from that fast band, it was still pretty fast).
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Click here for photos of DeVotchKa at 2012 City Arts Festival in Seattle, WA
Click here for photos of DeVotchKa at Roseland Theater in Portland, OR on March 3rd, 2011
Click here for photos of DeVotchKa at Ram’s Head in Baltimore, MD on April 29th, 2010
Click here for photos of Guided By Voices at Central Park SummerStage for 2012 CBGB Festival in New York, NY
Click here for photos of Guided By Voices at 2011 Mission Creek Festival in Iowa City, IA
After that late great, the likes of punks Glassjaw and Pennywise just couldn’t compare. Better was to hit up the clear outlier of the entire festival, DeVotchKa. Not that the band’s gypsy-latin style doesn’t work, isn’t sweet, but was far more quiet than anyone else playing Riot Fest – and what other act had violins and a tuba? They were at the farthest stage, Rise, but that was also the stage that hosted Danzig & GWAR the prior night. Still, DeVotchKa’s emotion was more powerful than most of the punks at the festival. Also bringing emotion was Guided By Voices – everyone thinks of then as a beer-swilling act, and they do do that, but they’ve also got powerful songs (should have some, considering they’ve got like 20+ albums under their belt…).
“Before we start, I want to make one thing clear, to all of you, even the t-shirt vendors & guys selling beers: We’re not Black Flag. We are FLAG!” With that, singer Keith Morris opened up a set that was still replete with nostalgia, but what nostalgia! “Depression”, “Police Story”, “Gimme Gimme Gimme”, “White Minority”, “Wasted”, “Six Pack” – all songs the vast majority of the crowd never saw live, and even if Morris ain’t Henry Rollins, and Black Flag founder Greg Ginn is suing FLAG (and Rollins) over copyright infringement, Morris (who also fronted Circle Jerks – QRO live review) had Black Flag alumni Chuck Dukowski, Bill Stevenson, and Dez Cadena with him to bring straight eighties punk. But the most missing – no “TV Party”?!? Would have been great to hear FLAG name-check all the long-gone TV shows from that song, That’s Incredible, Dallas, Hill Street Blues, even Monday Night Football…
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Review of Blondie at Sherwood Pines in Nottingham, U.K. on June 14th, 2013
Review of Blondie at O2 Academy in Liverpool, U.K. on August 1st, 2011
Photos of Blondie at Asher Levy Park in Brooklyn, NY on August 13th, 2009
If for FLAG the expectations were low, and then well exceeded, the reverse was true for Blondie. The even-older act are New Wave legends, but didn’t live up to their hype at Riot Fest – a particular problem was that they just weren’t loud enough for the outdoor festival. But Blondie was always kind of overrated.
Unlike the likes of Blondie, FLAG, GBV, or Dinosaur Jr., Rancid has never broken up – even if they’ve never matched their early nineties peak of fame (when the post-Op Ivy act also managed to briefly bring ska to the wider world’s attention). They did start with early songs “Radio” and “Roots Radicals”, thank you, but the sing-a-longs were to more recent pieces such as “Maxwell Murder”. The group still has that ska-like backbeat to their punk rock, making them a “Time Bomb” (your correspondent only just got that…). The group similarly closed with older material, Operation Ivy’s “Bombshell” and finally “Ruby SoHo”, another crowd sing-along that was also the “Last chance to dance…”
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Click here for photos of Violent Femmes two days earlier at Central Park SummerStage in New York, NY in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Click here for photos of Violent Femmes at 2013 BottleRock Festival in Napa, CA in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Even more ‘starting off with early hits’ was the Violent Femmes, who began with “Blister In the Sun”, then “Kiss Off”. They actually played their whole first, self-titled album, track-by-track, but should really have paced themselves better. How many people had planned on sticking around until “Blister”, so then left early? Well, then they missed great closer “American Music” – and who doesn’t like American music?…
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Click here for photos of Blink-182 four days later at KJEE Summer Round-Up in Santa Barbara, CA in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Click here for photos of Blink-182 at Nikon at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, NY on August 25th, 2009 in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Closing out Day Two of Riot Fest was Blink-182. For some people who came into music just ten-plus years ago, Blink-182 count as “nostalgia,” and that’s how a lot of people have been describing this reunion of Travis Barker, Tom DeLonge, and Mark Hoppus – even though the reunion began two years ago with Neighborhoods (QRO review). For older folks, they’re the post-Green Day act for teenagers, snotty punks who made fart jokes, and they still do that, even with kids of their own now. Most importantly, they still love playing, rocking the whole way through the rest of the night, with a crowd even rowdier – Hoppus asked fans to take two steps back at one point (and reminded them to help up anyone who’d fallen, “I shouldn’t have to tell you that.”). Minor injuries were reported & ambulances came in – whose only effect seemed to be to make it that much harder to get a ride, any ride, out of Humboldt Park, and the end of the night.
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Photos of Mission of Burma at NYU Strawberry Festival in New York, NY on May 10th, 2013
Photos of Mission of Burma at Beekman Beer Garden in New York, NY on August 7th, 2011
QRO’s review of Mission of Burma at Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn, NY on July 12th, 2009
QRO’s review of Mission of Burma at Music Hall in Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY on January 18th, 2008
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Photos of Peter Hook & The Light five days earlier at Paradise in Boston, MA
QRO’s review of Peter Hook & The Light one week earlier at The Fleece in Bristol, U.K.
Photos of Peter Hook & The Light at 2013 Crooked Ways Festival in Pontefract, U.K.
QRO’s review of Peter Hook & The Light at Manchester Cathedral in Manchester, U.K. on January 28th, 2013
The weather was pitch-perfect the first two days of Riot Fest – so you know that it wouldn’t last, and rain came down on Sunday morning. This left some mud on the ground, but people were relatively prepared, and only once during the day did it actually rain hard. Still, it didn’t help with turnout, especially early, so you might have missed veterans like Peter Hook & The Light doing a special Joy Division set, or Mission of Burma actually playing their old classics along with their new not-as-greats.
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Click here for photos of Peelander-Z at 2012 Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
One act that certainly didn’t let the cloudy skies get to them was Japan’s Peelander-Z, who were all you would have hoped for – costumes, craziness, crowd surfing (by the band), limbo line, and more. They would introduce their songs with cardboard signs, which did help, as even Peelander-Yellow noted, “I cannot play guitar very well; I cannot speak English very well.” That was when he was handing off axe duties to Peelander-Yellow 2; at another point, he climbed on the shoulders of Peelander-Purple to not only play guitar, but also sing from a very elongated mikestand…
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Click here for all of QRO’s coverage of Against Me! in ‘Spotlight On : Against Me!’ feature
The worst rain of the festival came during the end of Against Me! and the start of Bob Mould, but thankfully hurt neither the performances nor crowds. The continued success and love for Against Me! after singer/frontman Tom Gabel’s (QRO interview) announcement of his sex change operation into Laura Jane Grace has been quite heartening; such an act, and so public, is still hard to accept in any sphere of life, and one really would have feared the sometimes-macho punk scene wouldn’t have handled it well, but instead, it’s been smooth.
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Photos of Bob Mould at 2013 Bumbershoot in Seattle, WA
Photos of Bob Mould at 2013 Osheaga Music Festival in Montreal, PQ, Canada
QRO’s review of Bob Mould at Bowery Ballroom in New York, NY on February 26th, 2013
Photos of Bob Mould at 2012 Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX
QRO’s review of Bob Mould at Williamsburg Park in Brooklyn, NY on September 7th, 2012
Photos of Bob Mould at SXSW 2012 in Austin, TX
Photos of Bob Mould at 2011 Sasquatch! Music Festival in George, WA
QRO’s review of Bob Mould Band at Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza in New York, NY on March 13th, 2008
QRO’s review of Bob Mould solo at Highline Ballroom in New York, NY on November 2nd, 2007
Sort of akin to twenty years ago when punk rock icon Bob Mould came out as gay, and just kept on rocking. The rain was hardest during his set, and one could definitely have feared that the young Riot Fest crowd wouldn’t have respect for an elder (like at the thin, rain-soaked audience he had last month in Montreal at Osheaga Music Festival – QRO photos), but it was a strong one. Mould did basically the same set he’s been doing all year (QRO live review from earlier in 2013), starting with tracks from Sugar’s Copper Blue (which celebrated its twentieth anniversary last year with a deluxe re-release – QRO review – and full-on Copper shows – QRO live review), then from last year’s new Silver Age (QRO review), and then some Hüsker Dü (QRO spotlight on), so it wasn’t that surprising if you were a longtime fan, but it showed to the many in the crowd who probably didn’t know Mould, what all the fuss was about. He actually lived in Chicago at one point, and will be back in the Windy City in a month to record his new album.
After Against Me! and Bob Mould, it was mostly newer bands that didn’t shine. The Dismemberment Plan may have made their fans happy with their reunion & new record, Uncanney Valley, but Chris Conley of Saves the Day sounded kind of emo-pleading at the too-distant Rock Stage. Suicidal Tendencies were just speed metal, and All Time Low just screamo, but you knew that already. And AFI was just as overwrought as you expected (plus, they did a cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”?!? That’s the territory of Day Two’s Dinosaur Jr.!).
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Click here for QRO’s review of Pixies three days later at Bowery Ballroom in New York, NY
Click here for QRO’s review of Pixies at Paramount Theatre in Huntington, NY on November 5th, 2011
Click here for QRO’s review of Pixies at Moncton Casino in Moncton, NB, Canada on April 10th, 2011
Click here for QRO’s review of Pixies at Rimac Stage in San Diego, CA on September 26th, 2010
Click here for QRO’s review of Pixies at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, NY on November 23rd, 2009
Click here for photos of Pixies at Troubadour in Los Angeles, CA on November 5th, 2009 in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
A more surprising disappointment, maybe the biggest disappointment of Riot Fest, was the Pixies – though not for the reasons you’d have expected. Kim Deal left the reunited band, again, to focus on her Breeders (QRO live review), but replacement Kim Shattuck (of The Muffs) was more than capable of filling the ‘Kim slot’ on bass and for female vocals. The group, who reunited way back in 2004 at Coachella, basically starting the indie-rock reunion trend of this century/millennium, are finally putting out some new music, after touring their admittedly classic original stuff in the dirt (QRO live review), but the new stuff didn’t drag down the performance.
No, it was the volume that dragged it down – namely that it just wasn’t loud enough. There were lots of people in the large, spread-out crowd who were annoyed by the lack of volume, how it wasn’t louder than the chattering-amongst-themselves that it invited the crowd to do. It even inhibited all the singing-along that should have been happening. Thankfully, the sound was much better at their intimate club shows the following week in NYC (QRO review).
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Click here for photos of The Replacements at 2013 Riot Fest Toronto in Toronto, ON, Canada in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
And even the Pixies umpteenth reunion show couldn’t compare to the main event at Riot Fest, not just on Sunday but the entire festival – the return of The Replacements! Now, yes, this is just singer/guitarist Paul Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson (QRO solo album review) from the original band – Bob Stinson is dead, Slim Dunlap is sick, and Christopher Mars didn’t want to work with Westerberg, but this is The Replacements, the band that defined ‘college rock’ in the eighties with eight amazing albums, first four independent (QRO deluxe edition reviews), then four on major label (QRO deluxe edition review). This is the band that broke up right there in Chicago way back in 1991, with each member leaving one-by-one during final song “Hootenanny”, to be replaced by roadies (a.k.a., ‘It’s Not Over Until ‘Til the Last Roadie Plays’…). This was only their second reunion show – and the first one was the month prior at satellite fest, Riot Fest Toronto (QRO photos). This is The ‘Mats!
What’s more, this was The ‘Mats having fun. Back in the eighties, The Replacements were notorious for wild, drunken performances that could be amazing or a total screw-up (they reportedly had a gig in Portland that was so bad that they wrote the b-side “Portland”, with the closing line, “Portland… I’m sorry”). But that was a long time ago, and they’re a lot older, so would they be buttoned up? Far from it. Westerberg was in a great mood from the get-go (maybe not having Bob Stinson or Christopher Mars up on stage with him had something to do with it…), joking with the crowd and more. Early on he took out the stage clock that was telling him when it was time to end, swinging it around his head by the power cord and tossing it off stage. He more than once forgot the words to a song, even remarking, “Tarzan stink. Tarzan not care.” He picked up and ‘played’ a guitar stand at one point (“Glad this always stays in tune…”). When he asked if the crowd wanted to hear “‘Waitress [In the Sky’] or [‘Kiss Me On the] Bus’?”, he replied back, “Both? Okay!” And at one point, when he was giving replacement Replacement guitarist David Minehan crap (on drums that was the best utility player this side of Tommy Stinson, Josh Freese), he added, “We could have Bob Mould up here in a second…”
The set was all old songs (nothing from the recent benefit Songs For Slim EP – QRO review), but that’s eight-plus albums of greatness – and emphasis on the ‘plus’, because not only was there a b-side from the group’s amazing posthumous greatest hits/b-side compilation All For Nothing/Nothing For All in “Wake Up