In my humble opinion, The Decline of Western Civilization is the greatest film ever made about youth counter-culture movements. Director Penelope Spheeris later directed Wayne’s World, another impressive depiction of youth culture that captured the much-maligned and misunderstood 80’s LA punk scene. The NYC and UK scenes were the “important” scenes. LA was overly aggressive and lacked artistic credibility in the eyes of music critics. This is where hardcore was born, which often marked the “end” of punk for many folks.
Over the years, I’ve made it a point to see as many contributors to this film as possible. I’ve seen Black Flag (with Ron Reyes on vocals, event!), Alice Bag, and Fear, and all were magic experiences. I’ve seen X countless times. For obvious reasons, The Germs and Catholic Discipline will never happen. (Although I highly recommend seeing El Vez or Phranc, both veterans of Catholic Discipline)
The Circle Jerks were the one band that, despite having so many living and active members, had always alluded me. Past reformations have been brief, and, for one reason or another, I wasn’t able to make them. 2020 was going to be my year! That booked a substantial tour, and I was ready to cross them off my list. Then COVID hit. Then COVID started to like it was going to calm down, so they booked The Fillmore. Then the Fillmore show timed out with Omicron BA.1 raging, making indoor shows less desirable for me and causing the band to re-arrange their tour schedule yet again. I expected to miss this round entirely, and then this double header of Circle Jerks & Descendents, another piece of LA punk royalty, was booked. I was thrilled. COVID numbers have started decreasing, and it was time to use some risk points.
Oakland’s Fake Fruit opened the show. Fake Fruit has been opening for a LOT of high-profile out-of-towners as of late, and it’s easy to see why they keep getting the good gigs- they are really good. They are incredibly tight. They sound like what Television *should* have sounded like, but Tom Verlaine decided noodling was more important than making music.
The Circle Jerks played second. The night before, they closed the show and Descendents played the middle slot. At first, I thought this was better, because it meant that I could leave early if I wasn’t feeling Descendents. But, really, The Circle Jerks should have closed both shows. The band pummeled straight into the most perfect 26 seconds in the history of hardcore punk, “Deny Everything.” Throughout the set, the band pummeled through classic after classic, and although the only member to really move around on stage was guitarist Greg Hetson, it was still a full-on assault of pure adrenaline and energy. They hit songs throughout their catalog, including hits like “Wild In The Streets” and “World Up My Ass.” We even got “I Want To Destroy You” off their underappreciated 90’s record Oddities, Abnormalities, and Curiosities. For those who are currently trying to remember, this is the song they did with Debbie Gibson.
Descendents closed out the show with an hour-long set of hits. And they played really well. But, it’s weird to say this about the band that created pop-punk; next to The Circle Jerks, everything felt slow. It didn’t help that they opened with “Everything Sucks” and “Hope,” probably their two most famous tracks. Milo sounded great and worked the crowd like the rock n roll veteran he is. But, and I don’t know if my old age is preventing me from doing three bands in one night after working all day anymore, but they weren’t able to push me to stay. I made it through “Weinerschnitzel,” a song that my generation learned of via Pump Up The Volume, and decided to make a night of it. Maybe I’ll give Descendents live another whirl in a few years, hopefully, paired up with a band that I’m a little less excited about.
