Punks News was at The Misfits, Discharge, Alkaline Trio show at The Forum in Inglewood, California 12-30-17. Special thanks to Discharge for their continued support of PNX News!! We appreciate you! First off, we like to comment on the “No cell phones policy” that The Forum enforced, as soon as you got to the venue gates. Aside from the initial “Forced to comply” feeling it gave you. It was actually refreshing to look at the crowd and not see a sea of cell phones in the audience. Rather at one point, there was a sea of lighters, during a short pre-encore. Reminiscent back to the concerts of 20 years ago. A little flash back for me, I hadn’t seen it in some time. Rarely do I attend concerts in a full sized stadiums anymore, so I was surprised to see the lighters waving. It seemed like the crowd enjoyed themselves that much more, without all the distractions of personal live feeds and “Look at me having fun” selfies. The first band to play was Discharge and they brought it in full form, as usual. Jeff Janiak (J.J.) was energetic, commanding the stage, voice on point, his banshee screams echoing through The Forum. Karl Morris’ amazing skills standing in for the legendary Rainy, and Karl Morris did him justice. Sorely missed was Tez Roberts who is indescribably good live. But you have to go to England to see that. Bones playing tight fluid riffs, the years of musicianship coming through every note. Dave “Proper” Caution on drums stopped and started perfectly on a dime. Discharge sounded great and during “Hell On Earth” I saw some veteran punks get so exited, they poured out of their seats and ran down the isle, landing against the banister railing almost daring to jump 15 feet to the floor, to rush the stage and get into the pit. From the classics, to the new stuff off their new album “End of Days” every song gave you that heart pounding rush you want. The only thing missing, of course, was that old feeling of uncertainty we all loved about the old dodgy venues, when you wondered if a riot was just about to break out at any moment! Am I the only one who misses that feeling? That sinking feeling in the bottom of your stomach when you can’t tell if the pit would explode into a full fledged brawl and everyone would kill each other, but there was nowhere to run because the cops are in full riot gear outside the venue? When you dared not ware anything less then steal toed boots, fearing you’d get your toes smashed or even your ass kicked? Those lawless days may be gone but the musicianship from these men are better then ever. My only complaint was not seeing the Discharge banner behind the band with the weeping angel picture. A venue with the capability and budget of The Forum should have at least projected the Discharge name behind them, largely and proudly, if not printed a full sized banner and hung up during thier set. They definitely deserved it. They Ain’t No Feeble Bastards! Alkaline Trio was melodic, and poppy, and from hearing songs from their first album, even a bit emo? It’s a little hard for some of the old school punks to connect with this genre, but it possibly speaks to the new generation of Misfits fans in thier teens and 20’s. You will naturally see an Alkaline Trio shirt next to a Misfits shirt at any Hot Topic. The good thing about music, there’s something for everyone. It’s all subjective. There was plenty of young blood in the audience and they seemed to enjoy Alkaline Trio and sang along to many of their songs. The Misfits performance was beyond my expectations. Saying they were fantastic doesn’t even do them justice. From the very first song, they were filled with energy, confidence and stamina. Danzig holds his crown as the king of horror punk. Jerry Only, full of energy, very animated, he really looked like he was having fun. Doyle, horror rock god, larger then life, pounding his guitar in monsterious form! The pentacle and heart of every song was the incredibly flawless drumming by Dave Lombardo of Slayer . Misfits sounded full, with back up guitarists and bass, the stage set up in arena concert proportions, with twin jack-o lantars and projected death skulls, movie macabre cinema classics shone above, like a “drive in” theater. The show was 5 star. Back stage the highlights we’re seeing pictures of the legends that performed at the Forum, from Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley . Drawings and graffiti from hundreds of artists will be accompanied by The Misfits and Discharge on the walls of the Forum. Glen Danzig was very kind, smiling and friendly, he thanked and welcomed PNX News, and Discharge, pouring Jagermiester and drinks for his guests, like a kind host “What would you like a drink?” complimenting Discharge, reminiscing on past shows and on his favorite songs and punk albums. Jerry Only, very warm with his fans, always taking time to talk, he was saying he felt like he was 17 years old again on that stage with the original lineup, the magic was back. Nice moment to see Dave Lombardo and Karl Morris simultaneously asking for pictures with each other, both fans of each other’s work. Karl mentioning several Slayer songs and albums he loves and Dave crediting Discharge, Exploited , GBH, and Broken Bones for metals evolution and sound today. Reminding us that Slayer and Metallica where very heavily influenced by all these punk bands. He went on about all his favorite punk songs, bands and albums as well. The line between fan and preforming artist was definitely blurred, as both bands were stoked to meet each other. To sum up the whole experience of The Misfits and Discharge at The Forum. One only wished it was the 1980s again and held at the Olympic Auditorium, The Palladium or The Palace with that old feeling of warranted fear and excitement, the a smell of clove cigarettes, leather, piss, cheap beer and bad behavior. But you can’t have it all, can you? The Forum was a lot more of a controlled environment. But the performance was top notch. The ability to hold the capacity of fans was obviously necessary. This is historic show sold out in under a minute. That speaks volumes to the amount of fans. It was truely a great show and a fun night.
