Last week, I fulfilled my ‘90’s teenage dream to see Fourth in Line, Ignite, Pulley, and Good Riddance live in one place. My dream was brought to reality courtesy of the 10th Annual Slabby Holidaze Show.
All four of the bands had variations of ‘90’s explosions, which contributed to the crowd for this show being of a “certain age” *clears throat* around mine, but it made for a fun crowd. One person told me they got into Pulley in high school, but had never seen them live. Another fan said, “Good Riddance is my favorite band. I’ve seen them more times than I can count and I haven’t seen them with a lineup this good in a long time.”
BRICK BY BRICK
San Diego, California
December 16, 2022
The holiday festivities took place at Brick by Brick, which is nestled near the San Diego coast among restaurants and highways. As the crowd funneled in from the cold coastal air, the dark venue had its lights perfectly placed on the stage as Fourth in Line played.
The crowd was settling in and grabbing drinks with slight music head bobbing and smiles on their faces while the four guys rocked out with their hardcore punk songs. Heads bobbed even more and smiles grew as front-man Chris Griffith grabbed his mic and jumped into the pit, performing from the circling crowd. He wasn’t alone in screaming lyrics and moshing around as bassist Eric Bootow and guitarist Jimmy Joyce rocked the stage singing back up. By the end of the set, the crowd was pumped and ready for the rest of the night. They played fan favorites, “Live Your Own Life”, “Distort”, and “My Thoughts.”
Ignite took the stage and the crowd cheered. Singing a great variety off their entire catalogue made every Ignite fan in the room light up. During their performance, front-man Eli Santana would jump so high, we are sure he was hiding a pair of frog legs under those black skinny jeans! His long black hair swung from side to side as he and guitarists Brett Rasmussen and Kevin Kilkenny sang their parts to “Bleeding.” Fans also sang along to “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “The Butcher in Me.”
Finishing their set was “Veteran,” which only meant it was time for Santana to jump into the swarm of fans for a crowd-surfing session to cap off their set. The crowd caught him and then… didn’t. Santana went missing for a second or two, and then like a true athlete, he popped back up without batting an eye and closed out their set.
Pulley went up, tuned their instruments for a quick moment and when front-man Scott Radinsky joined them onstage, they went right into “Cashed In,” then “Ocean,” followed by “Hooray for Me.” This not only got the crowd riled up, but the mosh pit went crazy with each note. People were having a great time as the large pit started to consume the room.
Radinsky sang to the crowd and to his bandmates just as he has thousands of times before, but with such energy, it seemed as if it was his first time. Knowing people from all over were traveling to see this show, the band asked between songs who had come from the furthest away and found someone that flew in from Japan! Pulley’s 10-song set came to an end with fan favorite “Working Class.”
The crowd waited silently with anticipation as Good Riddance took to the stage leaving room to hear the occasional “woo” from around the room.
As the band started with “Don’t Have Time” off their 2019 LP “Thoughts and Prayers,” front-man Russ Rankin jumped in, almost touching the ceiling with what looked like a punk rock karate kick, and it set the tone for the rest of the night. Their 22-song set was played with such an energy, it felt like they did not stop once; Good Riddance played “Letters From Home,” “Libertine,” and everything else with the same energy so many of us fell in love with almost three decades ago.
That incredible energy level was also noteworthy when it comes to bassist Chuck Platt. You would never guess by watching him on stage that night, but earlier in 2022, he was in a terrible accident and hospitalized for quite some time. He has since made an amazing recovery and blasted the crowd away with his performance.
“Credit to His Gender” finished off their set, or so we thought. The encore songs, “W.O.T.W.” and “Last Believer” had the last pits of the night and left the crowd cheering and high-fiving each other.
It was a great show to celebrate the holiday season. Although no holiday songs were played and almost no holiday attire was in sight, it still made for a great excuse to put on a spectacular show with these legendary punk bands.
