Photos by Chris Besaw
Review by Kelly Besaw
Punk rock legends, Bad Religion, made a stop at Riverworks in Buffalo, New York on Friday November 5. The band is currently on tour to celebrate their 40th anniversary. Joining them were co-headliners Alkaline Trio and opening act War on Women.
Kicking off the evening was War on Women a feminist hardcore punk band from Baltimore. The band is currently on tour to support their 2020 release Wonderful Hell. Lead singer Shawna Potter has a commanding stage presence and was clearly inspired by nineties riot grrl bands. The current lineup along with Potter, consists of Brooks Harlan (guitar), Jennifer Vito (guitar), Suzanne Werner (bass) and Dave Cavalier (drums).
Fans were still piling in as Alkaline Trio took the stage. They started off their set with “Private Eye” followed by “We’ve Had Enough.” The long-standing lineup Matt Skiba (vocals, guitar), Derek Grant (vocals, drums), and Dan Andriano (vocals, bass) had the crowd singing along as they played a variety of songs from their extensive catalog. The band was certainly a favorite of the women who were attendance as many pushed forward to get a closer look at the trio. They ended their seventeen-song set with “Radio” leaving the crowd more than ready for Bad Religion.
By the time legendary punk rockers Bad Religion took the stage, the venue was filled with fans of all ages proving that the band is timeless. They opened with “New Dark Ages,” before digging into older classics “Modern Man,” and “Recipe for Hate.” The mosh pit was intense. It was one of the biggest, craziest pits I had seen in a long time. Lead singer Greg Graffin proclaimed that he was the “inventor of west coast moshing, or as he called it slam dancing and they didn’t crowd surf or anything like that.”
The band sounded tight. Greg Graffin’s vocals were on point and Jay Bentley (bass), Brian Baker (guitar), Mike Dimkich (guitar), and Jamie Miller (drums) killed it. The band admitted that they had not played Buffalo in a long time but agreed that they should make it an annual thing. Fans were not opposed. They ended their set with “Sorrow” and “American Jesus” before taking the stage for an encore performance of “We’re Only Gonna Die.”
Setlists:
Alkaline Trio
Private Eye, We’ve Had Enough, Blackbird, Is This Thing Cursed, I Wanna Be a Warhol, Nose Over Tail, Every Thug Needs a Lady, Cringe, Clavicle, Armageddon, Mercy Me, Emma, In Vein, Continental, Warbrain, This Could Be Love, Radio
Bad Religion
New Dark Ages, Modern Man, Recipe for Hate, Los Angeles Is Burning, Fuck You, Chaos From Within, All Fantastic Images, Damned to Be Free, Man With a Mission, The Handshake, Better Off Dead, Candidate, Do What You Want, No Control, Generator, I Want to Conquer the World, 21st Century (Digital Boy), You, Infected, Sorrow, American Jesus
Encore: We’re Only Gonna Die
Leave a Reply