NOFX Fall Headline Tour feat Anti-Flag – REVIEW

NOFX’s Fall Headline tour brought them to the House of Blues in Chicago. With them came Anti-Flag, Old Man Markley, and Brendan Kelly. You can check out our review after the break.

Friday’s NOFX headline show at the House of Blues in Chicago, IL was another late one, with the doors opening at 7:30 and the show starting at nine.  This could obviously be pegged as a real punk show because of the pink mohawks, excessive amount of wallet chains, and people in studded leather jackets.  The House of Blues was bursting at the seams by the time all the punks had packed themselves into the venue.  The general admission floor was full of people drinking cheap beer and trying to secretly smoke their cigarettes inside the no-smoking venue.  At that point the night was looking extremely promising, and it definitely delivered.

I guess I was the only one who didn’t know there was an opener before the actual openers, because nobody seemed surprised when Brendan Kelly from the Chicago-based punk band The Lawrence Arms came out on stage and did an amazing solo acoustic set.  This eventually made sense because The Lawrence Arms are on the label Fat Wreck Chords, which happens to be the record label owned by Fat Mike of NOFX.  Brendan did the show justice with his opening act, despite the amount of heckling he received, and the majority of the crowed loved him.

I have been surprised a few times by opening bands in my concert-going career, but I think Old Man Markley tops the list.  Any band that has a dedicated washboard player is ok in my book.  This punk / bluegrass Los Angeles band were an incredibly smart choice to have on this tour because the crowd loved them and they loved the crowd.  Old Man Markley is an 8 member band consisting of guitar, autoharp, drums, bass, washboard, banjo, fiddle, and mandolin, and they were all incredible musicians.  These guys and girls came out with the intention of making the crowd dance, and that’s exactly what they did.  I was very new to this band, but after further investigation I found out that the songs they played where their best and finest, and consisted of:  “Do Me Like You Do,” “Running Weight,” “Guts N’ Teeth,” and “In A Circle Going Round.”

The first thing that caught my eye about Anti-Flag’s backdrop was their banner that featured a large star which was created out of cracked-in-half assault rifles.  This cool looking banner coupled with their obviously political name excited the drunken crowd as they all rushed towards the crash barrier and got closer to the stage. These punkers played some songs that everybody in the house knew the lyrics to, including:  “The Press Corpse,” “Fuck Police Brutality,” “The Economy Is Suffering…Let It Die,” and “Power to the Peaceful,” which they ended with.  Between songs the guys talked about the Occupy Wall Street movement and how the similar Occupy Chicago Movement was a great cause and how everybody needed to get behind it and support the people.  Towards the end of their set Anti-Flag stated that the next song came from their favorite band.  They then proceeded to cover “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by The Clash which the crowed loved and loudly sang along to.

NOFX finally went on around 11:30 when they simply pushed the stage curtain apart until crew members finally parted it.  With no introduction needed, Fat Mike and his blue hair kicked off the punk rock show with their song “60%” which states, “I’m not here to entertain you,” with that “I don’t give a shit” punk rock attitude.  Before NOFX went on I met a random guy up close to the stage who drunkenly explained to me the difference between a metal show mosh pit and a punk show mosh pit.  “The difference is,” he explained, “is that in a punk pit, if you fall down, a mother fucker is actually going to help you right back onto your feet.”  This man couldn’t have been more right.  There was moshing and skanking all throughout the night, with people falling and other helping them up.  NOFX sounded amazing while they played really old stuff, newer songs, and even a cover.  “Franco Un-American,” “Herojuana,” “Muder the Government,” “Linoleum,” and “Fuck the Kids (Revisited),” were all songs that made me extremely happy to hear, as well as the cover of Rancid’s “Radio.”  NOFX played a long set so I can go on and on about what they played, and because I loved the show that much I think I will.  The crowd also skanked and moshed right along to “Seeing Double At The Triple Rock,” “Mattersville,” “Louise,” and “Rico.”  As expected this set was full of the standard punk shenanigans.  Front man Fat Mike and lead guitar player El Hefe talked about drinking; they made fun of people in the crowd, commented on people’s vintage band shirts, and even paid a random concert-goer to bring El Hefe some popcorn.  The shows encore consisted of “Door Nails,” which is a depressing song about multiple greats in the music industry that have died, many of them from drugs or suicide.  To bring the mood back NOFX played through “Bottles to the Ground,” to which they then went right into “Theme from a NOFX Album.”  Towards the end of the song it got extremely strange when as Fat Mike disappeared and what looked to be a stagehand or crew member finished the last few words of the song.  It didn’t end there however as there was still an incredible and strung out accordion solo from rhythm guitarist Eric Melvin, which seemed to last forever.  The crowd clapped and swayed right along with Eric as he left the stage only to come right back, continuing and repeating the last accordion riff of the last song.

The show finally finished up around 1:05am and the patrons of the House of Blues slowly stumbled out into the streets of Chicago.  They were drunk, happy, and pleased to have been a part of this amazing NOFX experience.

Information about the review…
Tour: NOFX Fall Headline Tour feat Anti-Flag
Bands: NOFX, Anti-Flag, Old Man Markley, and Brendan Kelly
Reviewer: Michael Nutting
[Date: October 14, 2011
Venue: House of Blues in Chicago, IL