Social Distortion over Germany

[CodeOfHonour]

I saw them last sunday in Hamburg @ the Große Freiheit.

What a show. The opener was a punk-band from Amsterdam, very melodic stuff with lots of singalongs, not really my cup of tea.

Next were Backyard Babies from Sweden. Dirty rock'n'roll, straight in your face. Good music to watch and have an (non-alcohol) beer.

Then the moment I've been waiting for for a really long time: Social Distortion on stage,opening with "Reach for the sky" which leaded to "Highway 101". One great band. No show, no gimmicks, just music with so much feeling it sended shivers down my spine. They have so many "hits" it is just amazing. They played about 1,5 hours and three songs as encore and I was still missing "When the angels sing", "I was wrong" or "I wasn't born to follow". Anyway, a very very nice evening I will hardly forget.

Oh, equipment wise it looked like a Gibson- and Marshall-Fair with some Fenders thrown in. Lots of Pauls.

[SeventhSon]

Re: Social Distortion over Germany

"Story of my Life" [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[StukaJU87]

Re: Social Distortion over Germany

A SD show without "I Was Wrong"? Wasn't that their biggest hit? They have a cool sound. Never saw them live though.

[Jason1212]

Re: Social Distortion over Germany

Ball and Chain is there biggest song to me at least. For some reason it seems the last two times I saw them they really didnt play many songs from the last album with Dennis, which most of those are from. They may just bring bad memories for Mike.

[sully]

Re: Social Distortion over Germany

one of my most favorite bands, for sure. i really like the new record alot, too. i got to see a video for don't take me for granted (one of the best songs on the new one, imo) saturday night, and it was pretty cool.

glad you had a good time at the show.

[CodeOfHonour]

Re: Social Distortion over Germany

"Don't take me for granted" is one of my favourite tracks from the new cd. Can't wait to see the video.

Best song live was "Prison bound". Up to the first chorus it was only the piano and Mike Ness voice. Amazing.

[sully]

Re: Social Distortion over Germany

piano?!?!?! on prison bound?!?!? oh man, that would be awesome to hear!!!!

[surfdork]

Re: Social Distortion over Germany

Social D. is always cool in my book.

[Boxcar Willie 84]

Re: Social Distortion over Germany

Prison Bound rules, and so does Social Distortion.

[CodeOfHonour]

Re: Social Distortion over Germany

They had a keyboarder playing all the time, piano and organ. Totally awesome. It creates so much atmosphere.

[bsteff666]

Re: Social Distortion over Germany

One of my favorite bands ever. They are always great live.

"I Was Wrong" was a breakthrough for them...& it does appear on their live album....but they rarely play it live.

[surfdork]

Re: Social Distortion over Germany

They did a couple of sweet covers too..."Ring of Fire, and "Under My Thumb". A cool band all the way around.

[Jason1212]

Re: Social Distortion over Germany

[ QUOTE ]
They had a keyboarder playing all the time, piano and organ. Totally awesome. It creates so much atmosphere.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mike has Rolling Stones syndrome, next comes a horn section and back up singers. This is socal punk rock and really does not need any of that stuff. The Ramones may have used some keyboards here and there on their records, but they left that stuff at home once they hit the road.

[CodeOfHonour]

Re: Social Distortion over Germany

@Jason: IMHO the left their punk-roots and developed into a blues/rock/country/rockabilly-band. I like their later material better than the early stuff, so I am fine with the keyboards.

[sully]

Re: Social Distortion over Germany

you also have to remember that mike is the last original member of the band. dennis died, and john left last year or so. i think that mike has always liked other musical styles (as evidenced in their choice of cover songs over the years), and i think that after he did his two solo discs (which i liked, and saw him live in support for), he's stretched out a bit more musically. believe me, when i heard highway 101 for the first time, i remembered when mike said on the live disc "do you guys wanna hear a happy song? well, we don't know any happy songs!" and there one was!

i don't mind a little musical growth; hell, the guy's been around forever. he should be allowed to stretch out a little bit.

sully