Date: April 29th, 2016
Opening Bands: Mephiskapheles, Direct Hit!

NOFX released their book Hepatitis Bathtub and it’s currently a Best Seller believe it or not! I just started the book but it doesn’t disappoint in the debauchery department. The band are currently on a show/book signing tour and made their usual stop at Irving Plaza on Friday night. Mephiskapheles and Direct Hit opened the show; Mean Jeans ended their run of the tour the night before sadly.

This was my first show of the year, thanks to being a new Father back in the Fall. I was suppose to see Stick Figure at Highline Ballroom in March but then my wife and son got sick. I wasn’t going to be a piece of shit and go to a show while they weren’t feeling well. So here we are, a new show in 2016 and it’s NOFX. I last saw NOFX in August when they played the Fat Wreck 25th anniversary show in Asbury Park and I got a flat tire after the show. Fun times. Thankfully no drama this time.

Mephiskapheles opened the show and were really good! They played the obvious opening song with “Mephiskapheles;” I never get tired of hearing that one being played first. They mostly played songs from their first two albums and one or two songs off their new self-titled EP. It’s always great to hear “Center Of..,” “Saba” and “Doomsday.” I listened to “Doomsday” on repeat since the 90s so I can listen to that song all the time. They played a new song “Satan Stole My Weed” and I dug it. I’ve been seeing Meph play close to 20 years now and they never disappoint. There has been different lineups over the (later) years but this one is particularly strong.

The next band is Fat Wreck’s Direct Hit, who have their Fat debut coming out June 24th. I heard maybe 1 or 2 songs before hand and loved those tracks. Their set was a lot of fun, even though they were kind of poking fun at the photographers in the pit. I have no idea what songs were played but they played longer than Mephiskapheles. I’m assuming they played the one song I heard online called “Forced To Sleep.” They seemed to play a little faster and edgier than on the album. They seem more melodic on their album (from what I heard) than live. I guess you can say that about some punk bands, like the Queers. Either way, their set was good and looking forward to hearing their new album. After Direct Hit, it was time for NOFX.

I’ve seen the band a lot over the years, and they always bring a smile to my face. They always make things interesting. This time around, they had Karina from Dancehall Crashers playing keys on a lot of the songs, and even Angelo Moore of Fishbone popped on stage to play for “Eat The Meek.” Having them all on stage brings me back to my first Warped Tour in 1996. It was at Action Park, and you could go on the water slides and see the tour as well. That was just awesome and wish they still had it there. When I was on one of the lines for the waterslides or cliff jumps, NOFX and Angelo were on line about to go on some slides. DHC played that tour too. Now 20 years later, everybody is on stage playing with NOFX. Very cool to see.

The band started things off with “60%” and then quickly went into “Dinosaurs Will Die.” Some of the highlights for me included “Seeing Double at the Triple Rock,” “The Brews,” “Stickin in My Eye,” and “Franco Un-American.” The band ended with a cover of Rancid’s “Radio” and even though I wanted to stay, I left before the encore started. They played a bunch of good stuff too like “Bob,” “Linoleum,” “Bottles to the Ground” and “Kill all the White Men.” It’s remarkable how fast this show sold out, and from what I can tell, no one is getting sick of NOFX after all these years. In fact, their fanbase keeps growing and is now multi-generational. That’s got to make everyone in the band either feel great or really old. Let’s hope they keep on doing what they are doing for as long as could…or how long their bodies can handle all the drugs and rocking out they do.

All the photos will be on SkaPunkPhotos.com this week but in the meantime, here are my favorites:

Mephiskapheles

Direct Hit

NOFX