Live Review: Descendents - O2 Ritz, Manchester
Support: Circle Jerks, Negative Approach
14th March 2024
Words: Matthew Williams
Photos: Laura Muraska-Ross
The last time I saw Descendents was back when the Reading Festival was still good in 1997, and I ended their set with a sprained ankle and sitting next to Milo in the first aid tent as he’d injured himself on stage.
Fast forward 28 years, wow, that feels odd typing that, and I headed up to Manchester to see them on a co-headlining tour with Circle Jerks. Being given a pass to go to a section upstairs overlooking the stage, felt good, and from the great vantage point I could see then bands in all their glory.
For the co-headline tour, they brought along hardcore punk band Negative Approach, with their perma scowled frontman John Brannon. There was no messing about with fanfares or intro tapes, this was straightforward, no frills punk music at its best. The quartet went from 0-100 in nanoseconds as they opened with “Hypocrite” and didn’t pause for breath. Within moments the pit kicks off, and it's short, fast and chaotic from there on in. “Can't Tell” goes down a storm and apart from a “thanks for coming down early” there’s very little interaction from Brannon.
The songs are over in a flash, and the pace is relentless with “Evacuate” and “Live Your Life” getting played, and that fuzzy low end bass sound is just awesome. With guitarist Harold Richardson stood facing the drums all night long as he plays furiously, Ron Sakowski adds his vocals with simple “1.2 – 1,2,3,4” instructions, as they manage to play even faster!!! “We’ve got a few more songs, so thanks for coming out” says Brannon as they finish off with “Tied Down” and “I’ll Survive” to end the madness and chaos that is Negative Approach.
Being sat upstairs on the balcony, I was smiling when I saw how long the setlist was for Circle Jerks. It must have been about 5 pages of A4 taped together, so I knew this was going to a fun set to watch. With 69-year-old frontman Keith Morris at the helm, he began with one of his monologues about how the tour was about friendship, and the Southern California punk rock movement. He talked about bands from the South Bay and then he introduced the sound and road crew who “make all this work for us”. Before they play, one final instruction, “we are all here to have a good time, jump around and don’t fuck with each other”.
They crash through their opening few songs, including “Letter Bomb”, “Stars and Stripes”, “Back Against the Wall” and the mental “I Just Want Some Skank” which had a sublime bass line from Zander Schloss and the crowd are loving it. “Quick question, nobody is too cool to own a pair of crocs, who owns a pair?” I genuinely wasn’t expecting that to be asked tonight!!! “We play in 6 blocks, this is the second one. And it starts with one of my favourite songs about the welfare state” as they plough into “When the Shit hits the Fan”. We get thunderous drums during “Under the Gun” before another question, “where are you going to run to?” as they start “Trapped” before my favourite song, the incredible “Coup D`Etat” which sees the energy in the crowd go up several notches.
“A bit of a disclaimer, whatever you think of us, we aren’t all about all of that shit over there” which gets huge appreciation, “we don’t have any singalongs and we thought this would be our hit, but it wasn’t, so instead of playing cold soccer stadiums, we are playing here instead for you” queue more applause from the fans, as they crack on with “Wild in the Streets”, followed by “Moral Majority”, “Don’t Care” and the impressive “Live Fast, Die Young”.
This was the first time I’d seen Circle Jerks live, and they are a joy to watch with songs like “Paid Vacation” and “Junk Mail” in between the Morris monologues. He talked about Latino American punk band The Plugz, before continuing with the raucous “I, I and I”. With Greg Hetson signalling a few more songs left to the rest of the band, they don’t waste time and head into “Leave Me Alone”, “I Don’t”, “World up My Ass” and the finale of “Wasted” to leave the room gasping for air from a breathless set.
With the venue at near capacity, the foursome that is Descendents stroll on stage with drummer Bill Stevenson appearing at our side of the stage to wave to the crowd. “Hey, what’s up everybody?” asks Milo Aukerman, “this is the first time we’ve played here. Don’t blame us because Everything Sux” and the crowd go utterly bonkers, as they open with one of my favourite songs. There’s surges all over the place, the pit is wild as they storm through “Hope”, “I Don’t want to Grow Up” and then “Victim of Me”.
It's non-stop, top notch SoCal punk rock at its finest, with Egerton and Alvarez joining in on backing vocals, with “I Wanna Be a Bear” and the excellent “Rotting Out” getting the full treatment. The security is now having to work very hard, as they crowd surfers start in earnest with “My Dad Sucks” and “`Mercian” before the stunning “Clean Sheets” as Milo asks, “How are you guys doing out there?” in the guitar break. With his water bottle strapped down next to his side, there is no let up with “Myage” and the superb “Nothing with You”.
As with Negative Approach, there’s not much crowd interaction, but when you have this many amazing songs, who cares, as this is an all-action punk rock show. With Stevenson mouthing the “1,2,- 1,2,3,4” intro we are treated to “Fat Burger” and “Silly Girl” and then another highlight of the night for me, “When I Get Old”, which was just epic and leads to Milo saying “I’m never growing up as I like being up here playing punk rock and as long as I’ve got my coffee” which leads to an eruption in the crowd as they play ”Coffee Mug”.
The pace is high, and the band are feeding off the crowds’ energy, with “On Paper” and the bass driven “Van”. Milo pauses, “I know you wanna hear something a bit more punk, so here’s a song with punk in the title” as they begin “I’m not a Punk”. Milo sits down at the front of the stage to start “Thank You” before he walks along the barrier and puts the mic into the crowd for them to sing, as he narrowly avoids being kicked in the head by an over keen crowd surfer. The pace is then ramped up even further with “Weinerschnitzel” and “Bikeage”.
The classic “I’m the One” comes next followed by the madness of “I like Food”, “Coolidge” with Milo ending the song saying “Manchester, these guys aren’t cool, but you are cool, thanks for coming out”. The audience are in full voice with “Good Good Things” as Milo disappears down to the barrier again passing the mic around the fans, and “Feel This” adds to the frenzy before Egerton begins and ends the craziness that is “Suburban Home”. “Thanks guys, this is the last song” as they end with “Smile”.
Walking back onto stage to rapturous applause, Egerton says “glutton for punishment” as they ramp it up once again. “This is off Hypercaffium Spazzinate, it’s about chemicals and dedicated to Bill” as they end with “Fighting Myself”, Nightage” and “Get The Time” to wrap up an extraordinarily magical night of punk rock music that will live long in the memory.
Photo Credits: Laura Muraska-Ross
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