PROPAGANDHI / PUP / BAD RELIGION LIVE REPORT
Hello, everyone, did you miss me? This has been a quiet place for a while but I really felt the need to elaborate on what turned out to be an awesome return from an already awesome vacation at home with my friends and family in Bulgaria. I spent three weeks in my homeland and for the first time ever, I was eager to return to my other home - Florida to see three of my all-time favorite bands - Propagandhi, PUP and Bad Religion within 5 days.
My biggest concern was if something happened and I miss a flight and do not return on time for the first concert on the 14th. However, my travels went even way too well and it was time to party fucking hard.
PROPAGANDHI @ The Orpheum, Tampa Sept 14th, 2019
Propagandhi has been maybe my favorite band of all-time even tho such descriptions seems naive now. But there was so much behind those Canadians that pushed my life in different directions that they kinda deserved to be on top of my list. Tampa is somewhat the band's second home because it is where their guitarist Sulynn Hago was born. Of course, this was mentioned during the show and warmly welcomed she was by the people at The Orpheum.
There were two supporting bands before the main act. The first one was called Permanent Makeup and they were very noisy. You could assume their biggest inspiration was another legendary Canadian band NoMeansNo with this wild and chaotic style of playing. FEA was the other name - an all-female Ramones-que punk band and I actually thought they were decent.
The bass player Todd The Rod is the guy who seemed to impress me the most on stage. HE WAS A FUCKING BEAST and it felt like he sweated out 5 liters of sweat. His energy could have easily powered up a mid-sized apartment building for an hour and a half. Chris Hannah, on the other hand, is why Propagandhi are the best band in the world, if I may quote the great Bill Stevenson from Descendents. His guitar playing skills are unmatched in this punk scene and somehow he makes this shredding to look like easy as a child's game.
The audience sang along a lot with classics like "A Speculative Fiction", "Fuck The Border" and "Dear Coach's Corner". The first one was the only song of "Potemkin City Limits and I can't say I was mad but I wish they played more songs from that album. Other more recent albums like "Supporting Caste" and "Failed States" were better represented and I couldn't be more happy about it.
The end of the set included old-school major hits like "The Nation-States", "Back to The Motor League" and "Anti-Manifesto" so everyone at the venue went nuts in the mosh pit. The grande finale was for "Night Letters" - a song whose lyrics resonate with me on a personal level and it felt like the perfect ending. After the show, Todd shook everyone's hand upfront and it was such a warm moment for the fans that have supported Propagandhi all these years.
PUP @ THE ORPHEUM, TAMPA Sept 17th, 2019
After a couple of days, there was another Canadian "threat" to Tampa's The Orpheum. I went back to work in the meantime but all I thought about was "Oh God, how fucking great was Propagandhi" and then I was like "Oh God, how fucking great would PUP be?".
And they not just lived up but exceeded my expectations. They really did as I consider them the best "new" band nowadays. Their three albums are tremendously good and the legends were saying their shows were frenetic as fuck.
Again, there were two supporting bands and one of them was again an all-female quartet. Potty Mouth looked cute on stage with their bubbly pop-punk and they played a pretty decent cover of The Offspring's "The Kids Aren't Alright". The Illuminati Hotties followed on stage and they had matching outfits and a very artistic approach while playing their sweet indie-pop songs. Definitely, I will need to check their full debut LP "Kiss Yr Frenemies".
When PUP started playing, it was crystal clear that this was going to be one of the greatest concerts I've ever attended. Starting off with the first two tracks from their sensational new record "Morbid Stuff", there was no way someone would just stand there still.
PUP revisited more or so evenly their three albums during their set. There were hits from the self-titled debut - "Reservoir", "Dark Days" "Back Up Against The Wall", there were deep cuts from "The Dream Is Over" - "The Coast", "My Life is Over and I Couldn't Be Happier" and my personal favorite "Familiar Patterns" and there were also a lot of songs from "Morbid Stuff" including "Scorpion Hill", "See You At Your Funeral" and "Free At Last". It was a FULL BLOWN MELTDOWN from start fo finish and moments like when the frontman Stefan Babcock crowd-surfed proved that statement.
PUP were so relentless that sometimes it was hard to take a breath in. So when they said "encores are dumb", the fans knew after the combo "If This Tour Doesn't Kill You, I Will" / "DVP" that will be it. And IT WAS GLORIOUS. PUP is the hardest working band in the world right now and I'm so excited to hear what they will do next in the fourth album.
BAD RELIGION @ JANNUS LIVE, ST. PETERSBURG Sept 18th, 2019
I didn't have much time to recover after PUP because the next day was another big day for me - seeing Bad Religion for the second time in my life. The first time was in 2016 and back then I was dating this girl who didn't really know who Bad Religion are, so going with her was a bit of a drag. She was wearing uncomfortable flat heels shoes and she also got so wasted that I had to look after her and make sure she won't pass out (eventually she did at this taco place and then in the car).
Well, now I went by myself and I finally managed to enjoy the band that has rewritten the history of punk so many times. Bad Religion have released CLASSIC albums in all 4 of the decades they've been active. Come on, tell me how many bands have accomplished that in their careers?
So for that matter, it was to be expected that Greg Graffin and co. will have a hard time choosing the songs for their setlist. The singer even joked about them having around 250 songs by now which is insane. Their newest 17th studio album "Age Of Unreason" that came out a few months ago was well represented with a few tracks including the singles "My Sanity", "Chaos From Within" and "Do The Paranoid Style".
Before I move to the rest of the set, I should mention the supporting band Emily Davis And The Murder Police. I thought they were a strange choice in general but nonetheless, they were well received. Their combo of folk and rock with punk attitude did remind me of how I discovered Jade Jackson while supporting for Social Distortion.
And now back to our program. There were a bunch of tracks from the late '80s and early '90s when Bad Religion made themselves the most important band of that punk era - "Change Of Ideas", "Automatic Man", "Anesthesia", "You Are (The Government)", "I Want to Conquer The World", "Generator", "You"... you name it. Very early classics like "Fuck Armageddon... This Is Hell" and "We're Only Gonna Die" also threw fuel to the moshpit fire among an audience that had little kids and people in their 50's and 60's. I guess it's fair to say that the love for this band is being conveyed from one generation to another and no wonder that Greg Graffin said Bad Religion will return to this same venue in St Pete the next year.
21st century Bad Religion classics were also part of the setlist. I loved hearing "Sinister Rouge", "Los Angeles Is Burning", "Fuck You", "New Dark Ages" and especially "Sorrow" from my favorite album "The Process Of Belief" (2002). Mentioning the 21st century, a certain song with those words in the title was played as well and so were other huge '90s hits like "Stranger Than Fiction" and "Infected" and "American Jesus" at the encore.
I was completely exhausted at the end. It was three shows in 5 days right after a huge traveling journey by planes, buses, and cars but ultimately, these are days I live for. And thankfully, I have many more shows coming in the next couple of months - Pennywise, Lagwagon, The Menzingers just to mention a few... Bring it on, Florida!
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