Pennywise @ Irving Plaza, NYC

Live Reviews | Jun 2nd, 2008

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Opening Bands: Capital, Authority Zero, Strung Out
Date: May 31st 2008
Band Links: link

Pennywise played a sold out show at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza in New York City Saturday night and it was a blast! Opening for the band was Long Island’s Capital, Authority Zero and Strung Out. Luckily, I didn’t hit ANY New York City traffic at the bridges or on the West Side Highway so I got to the venue before the doors opened. Once inside, I parked myself by the band’s equipment on the right hand side of the venue. It’s my new spot to watch there because there’s no one in front of you, and you just have to deal with the crew moving the equipment out after every song. Plus it’s convenient for me since I can walk right into that section to the photo pit.

Capital opened up the show and I thought they sounded pretty good. I never heard of Capital before but they are on Revelation Records and have that old school hardcore/punk sound. At one point, Capital had a song about the movie Red Dawn, or in some reference to it. Then a lot of people from the crowd were screaming out “AVENGE ME!” and other quotes from the movie that had me and the band laughing. I believe they ended their set with a Dag Nasty cover and up next were Authority Zero from Arizona.

I was really looking forward to see Authority Zero on this tour. Well besides Pennywise of course. I’ve been a fan of AZ for a few years now but only saw them last year for the first time. It was at the Knitting Factory and there weren’t a whole lot of people at that show. Things have changed because of Pennywise, so I hope more people go to their shows next time they are in NYC. One thing I noticed was that Bryan, their other guitar player wasn’t with them. Is he not with the band anymore or did he just not make this tour? He recently wrote me and they are going to use one of my photos on Fender.com. So that’s why I was surprised to not see him there. The band was really awesome that night and got the place moving. Jason was jumping all over the place, never standing still for two seconds. They played songs like “Find Your Way,” “No Regrets,” “One More Minute,” and “Revolution.” From what I can remember, they didn’t play too many off their newest album “12:34.” Jason did yet another amazing rendition of “Rattlin’ Bog” and got the whole place clapping along. I’m just amazed on how fast he can sing sometimes. The band finished their set off with “Superbitch,” which is off their “A Passage in Time” album.

Strung Out were up next and clearly a lot of people were there to see them just as much as Pennywise. The place went ape shit for them, causing mayhem in the crowds. The whole place turned into a mosh pit and poor girls got trampled in the process. One girl was standing by the gate and the security gate got broken into; which caused a few dozen people to come falling down onto this one girl it seemed. I screamed “holy shit” in surprised on how rough things were getting and the security were there to help the girl up. They were nice enough to let her stand in the band equipment area and give her water for the rest of the set. Strung Out played great, and I think I’m going to check out their music now. I never really got into the band, probably because I just listened to their music when I had to review it. I always ended up giving their stuff to Paul. I like their sound because it’s a blend of punk, metal and hardcore. Since I haven’t really heard their albums, I have no clue on what songs they sang.

The band that everyone was there to see was up next. Pennywise came out and started things off with “Intro/ As Long As We Can” off their new album “Reason to Believe” on MySpace Records. For a whole month, the band was giving away their album for FREE. All you had to do was be Text Tango’s friend and they’d give you the link to download the album. I just think that’s an awesome thing to do and clearly the band wanted people to hear their new album instead of caring about record sales. It’s all about going to the concerts and buying merch these days.

Pennywise played both new and old songs, which suited me just fine since I love all their albums. Well The Fuse was a bit disappointing but I think they improved with Reason to Believe. Off their new album, they played “Western World,” “Something To Live For” and “One Reason.” I love the song “Western World,” it’s definitely one of their catchiest songs in the last few years. Off their album Straight Ahead, they played songs like “Can’t Believe It,” “My Own Country,” “Straight Ahead,” and “My Own Way.”

That middle finger photo of Jim needs a little bit of an explanation. Towards the end of the third song, I was taking pictures of singer Jim Lindberg. He started to walk over to me; he then GRABBED my camera by the lens and was grinning, and giving me the finger. I just kept pressing the shutter button and hoping I got that in focus. I thankfully got the photos and was relieved since I’ve had bands do that to me and then it wasn’t in focus or I had the wrong lens on. After that, I just kept shooting til the end of the third song. I started to walk out of the pit, and Fletcher tells me to stop and tells the other photographers to stay there as well. He then said we’re going to give the photographers or “the paparazzi” another song to shoot. He said they never do this for photographers. Jim nodded at me and was smiling. Now I’m not sure why Jim and Fletcher picked me out from the photographers, it might be that I was the only photographer wearing a punk shirt (Screeching Weasel shirt)? I don’t know, maybe it was just coincidence?

I’m also kind of insulted by Fletcher calling concert photographers “the paparazzi.” I don’t want to be considered part of that slime; it’s not like I’m following the band to their houses and selling the pictures to those assholes at TMZ. I know the band is from LA and probably have to deal with them over there; but I’m sorry, calling concert photographers that isn’t fair. What would the music world be without all those photos you see on album covers and in magazines/zines/etc? You wouldn’t have a classic punk rock album cover like The Clash’s “London Calling” album would you? Or perhaps all those punk rock photos you see from CBGBs? I just thought that was an unnecessary dig at us, that’s all. After all, I’m there to PROMOTE their show and capture them in the BEST of light, not the worst like those shithead paparazzi. Ok I’m gonna end that quick rant.

So Fletcher tells the photographers in the pit that this is a punk rock show and you should take pictures of the crowd. He pretty much said “if you turn your backs to the crowd to shoot photos of them, we’ll spit on you.” So obviously I turned my back to the band and shot the entire fourth song of the crowd. I try to shoot crowds sometimes, but my main objective for most shows is to get great shots of the bands. Or if I can, both the band and the crowd.

So after that, I head back to my area where my girlfriend is holding down the fort. I was cracking up at what happened, and loved the photo I got of Jim. Towards the middle of the set, Jason of Authority Zero came out and sang “Minor Threat” with the band. That was cool to hear, and the next song was just as cool. Jason of Strung Out came out and sang “Astro Zombies” with Pennywise. The band was really awesome that night and the crowd was INTENSE. People were getting injured and still trying to see the show, people were fighting with the security, and the whole main floor was giant mosh pit it seemed. People standing on the stage were stage diving, which is something I haven’t seen very much lately because most clubs don’t allow it. Other notable tracks of the evening include “Same Old Story,” “Perfect People,” “Fuck Authority,” and “Pennywise.” The band ended their great set with a tribute to the ones that have lost someone and that song was “Bro Hymn.” All of Pennywise’s friends and some band members of the other bands came on stage and sang along. After that, the venue lights came on and it seemed like they were done for the night. So most of the crowd left the building, I don’t know if Pennywise came back or not but it didn’t look like it. Kind of strange to not do an encore. So the crowd from the venue filled the streets and were chanting “Bro Hymn” and it was awesome! I could still hear the chants of the crowd from 2 blocks away when I was getting my car. Overall, the show was an excellent punk rock show and I can’t wait to see Pennywise on the Warped Tour again.

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