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SO LONG AND THANKS
Final Shows at Punk in Drublic
October 10, 2024 Review by Kevin Gomez
More than 15,000 people migrated to San Pedro to celebrate NOFX’s career, spanning four decades, and send them off in style. People traveled from Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Australia for the multi-day event, bringing excitement and sheer happiness, along with the bittersweet realization that this was all coming to an end.
THANKS FOR ALL THE PUNK
Starting Friday off, Greg Attonito of Bouncing Souls said, “By the way, if you don’t know us we come from the East Coast, fuck you!” and they launched into “EFCU!” After “Manthem” and “True Believers,” the crowd started chanting, “Olé” and the band appeased them by playing the first part of “Olé” before transitioning into their last song, “Gone.”
MxPx brought high energy as usual, with lead singer and bassist Mike Herrera high jumping while singing “Not Today” and “Tomorrow’s Another Day.” For “Stay Up All Night,” they were joined by Mest lead singer Tony Lovatto. MxPx did the fan favorite “Responsibility,” and ended as they always do with the aptly-titled “Punk Rawk Show.”
The legendary Buzzcocks played a collection of hits from their storied career. One of the founding UK punk bands, the band played “What Do I Get?” and “Senses Out of Control.”
They closed with an extended version of “Harmony in My Head.” Steve Diggle sounded fantastic behind the mic and on guitar, while Chris Remington was Flea-like on bass!
Dropkick Murphys opened with the first song I ever heard from them, “Barroom Hero.” The whole crowd became honorary Irish and sang along to “The Boys Are Back.” lead singer Ken Casey connected with the crowd.
They had to pause “Rose Tattoo” due to someone in the crowd requiring medical attention, but fortunately restarted the song from the beginning a few minutes later.
The time had come for NOFX’s third to last show. Fat Mike was dressed as his alter ego, Cokie the Clown, complete with makeup and plaid pants. They played “Backstage Passport” and even introduced a song from 1984 entitled “NOFX,” playing it live for the first and last time.
Keyboardist Karina Denike took over the female vocals for “Lori Meyers,” and the band rewarded her by playing a short cover of “Amoeba” with the lyrics changed to “Ka-ri-na!” Guitarist El Hefe played trumpet on the instrumental cover of “What Now My Love?”
After a break, the band returned to the stage for their encore, opening with sing-along, “The Brews.” They also played “Punk Guy” and closed with “Theme from a NOFX Album,” featuring guitarist Erik Melvin on accordion. Melvin continued to play after the song had ended and most of the band had left.
Eventually two crew members physically dragged him off, only to have him run back and play once more, almost as if not wanting to end because doing so would mean there were only two shows left.
Saturday began with Sam King of Get Dead announcing they were going to play the first song they ever wrote together, “Being Human.” After “Disruption,”
Bad Cop’s Dee joined them for the duet “Bartender,” sounding like a punk rock Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.
After the emotional “Pepperspray,” King gave the wise advice, “Don’t do drugs, kids. You might end up in a cool band,” before finishing with “This One’s for Johnny.”
Lagwagon’s Joe Raposo underwent bicep tendon surgery during the summer, so original bassist Jesse Buglione filled in, which brought out some deep cuts “The Kids Don’t Like It” and “Rifle.”
They also filled their set with fan favorites like “Violins,” “After You My Friend,” and “Falling Apart,” which saw fans throwing cigarettes at lead singer Joey Cape after he asked, “Who’s got a smoke for the Caper?” After “E Dagger,” Raposo replaced Buglione on bass and finished as they always do with “May 16.”
Less Than Jake opened with their anthem of sorts, “Gainesville Rock City,” and went into a new song, “The High Cost of Low Living.”
The familiar voiceover began playing on the PA and the boys jumped into “All My Best Friends are Metalheads,” leading to a huge skanking pit. They weren’t here for a long time, but definitely made sure the crowd had a good time with “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sell Outs,” “Automatic,” “The Science of Selling Yourself Short,” and “Look What Happened.”
Descendents are such legends they didn’t headline, but still included an encore. Although they have been going for just shy of five decades, surpassing even NOFX’s career and serving as one of their biggest inspirations, Descendents proved that they are far from done.
Their songs ranged from the short and ridiculous “I Like Food,” to the complex “Clean Sheets.”
With maximum throttle, Milo Auckerman belted out classic songs like “Hope,” “Everything Sux,” and “Nothing with You” were met with thunderous applause. The lyrics, “thank you for playing the way you play,” never sounded more appropriate than on NOFX’s second to last show.
NOFX posted afterwards that they made history by playing with their biggest headlining show in LA. Fat Mike opted for a classier look in a sleek black dress.
They played “Dinosaurs Are Dying” almost poking fun at themselves as they were retiring. One of their most popular songs, “Seeing Double at the Triple Rock,” saw drummer Smelly showcase his quick precision skills.
Fat Mike brought out Tony Sly’s (No Use for a Name singer who passed away in 2012) daughters to play “I’m So Sorry, Tony.” They also gave us “There’s No Fun in Fundamentalism” and “The Malachi Crunch,” each of which they haven’t played in over a decade.
The first band I caught on Sunday was Codefendants, featuring Sam King and Ceschi, backed by Venezuela’s Zeta. They opened with “Def Cons” and “Suicide by Pigs,” combining elements of outlaw punk and rap, all while wearing full black suits and ties.
They sang “Bad Business” with N8NOFACE and were joined by D.O.C. from N.W.A. on “Fast Ones.” Stacie Dee joined them on “Disaster Scenes” all three pleading their hearts out via music.
The Vandals’ Joe Escalante began the familiar bassline of “Urban Struggle” and a mosh pit exploded as the rest of the band kicked in. Josh Freese went so fast and furious on “My Girlfriend’s Dead,” Escalante and guitarist Warren Fitzgerald couldn’t keep up and actually went off the tracks.
Fitzgerald had his own time to shine on “Live Fast Diarrhea.” Freese’s double drum meltdown on “Now We Dance” is always a joy to witness.
Pennywise began with “Homeless” and “My Own Country,” then went right into “Homesick.” As they always do, the band played covers from other legendary punk bands, this time taking on NOFX’s “Bob” and Bad Religion’s “Do What You Want.”
During the breakdown for “Society,” the band paused and when they returned for the last chorus, the pit erupted into chaos and carnage. “Bro Hymn” saw Fat Mike (dressed as Cokie), Gurewitz, Dexter Holland of The Offspring, and Tim Armstrong of Rancid all joining on backing vocals.
NOFX played their last show ever under a foggy crescent moon. They were going out with a bang that led with “60%,” “Murder the Government,” and “Bob” (which took three tries). They welcomed Nate Albert, the original guitar player from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones to play “180 Degrees.”
Tim Armstrong sang backup vocals for NOFX’s take on Rancid’s “Radio.” They played classics from Punk in Drublic like “The Cause” and Perfect Government. Hefe and Melvin jokingly started playing Green Day’s Basket Case” but went into “The Longest Line.”
Their cover of Bad Religion’s “We’re Only Gonna Die,” featured Bad Religion’s Jay Bentley on bass and Brett Gurewitz on guitar. A new, unreleased song followed which detailed the band’s career and thanked fans for allowing them to do it their way for 41 years.
With voice breaking, Fat Mike told the audience, “You have no idea how much gratitude we have, no idea.” And with that, they closed with “The Decline,” featuring J.R. from Less Than Jake on saxophone. During the song’s conclusion, the band was joined by Charlie Paulson (Goldfinger), Chris (Foo Fighters) and Scott Shiflett (Face to Face), Mike Herrera (MxPx), Dexter (The Offspring), and Dave Baksh (Sum 41), among others.
What I saw on the long walk back to my car were people of all ages, from little kids to grandfathers and grandmothers, all smiles, still singing NOFX at the top of their lungs. NOFX is leaving this scene a better place than when they found it; they played by their own rules without having to “sell out” or compromise their values. They built upon the punk legends that came before them, while paving the way for all the bands that would come after them, leaving the torch for their peers who are still going and new punk bands arising every day. Like their newest and last song said, they were able to do it their way.
FESTIVAL PHOTO GALLERY
by Todd Markel Rock Images
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SID 241010 | TRACI TURNER | EDITOR
