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CRETIN FAMILY

Celebrate RAMONES 50

Live from Hollywood Forever

September 1st, 2026 Review by Bruce R. Kilgour

On a beautiful Sunday evening in Hollywood, the founders of punk rock were honored with a grand 50th anniversary celebration of their historic first album. Released in April of 1976, “RAMONES” remains one of the most important and influential debut albums of all time.

Since 2005 – one year after the passing of Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone – Hollywood Forever Cemetery has been the site of an annual charity event hosted by his widow, Linda Ramone.

That same year, the eight-foot-tall bronze statue of Johnny was unveiled, and the memorial has been visited by hundreds of thousands of fans from around the world.

After a decades-long legal battle between Ms. Ramone and the late Joey Ramone’s brother Mickey Leigh, Ms. Ramone acquired 100% of Ramones Productions Inc. earlier this year, paving the way for what will hopefully be an annual tribute to the entire band and not solely to her late husband.

Sunday’s program, hosted by acting legend John Travolta, was truly a star-studded affair both on stage and off. Among celebrities I spotted in the crowd were John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Priscilla Presley, Tony Kanal (No Doubt), Slim Jim Phantom (Stray Cats), John 5, and Billy Zoom (X).

Travolta was also on-hand to present a double-feature screening of his directorial debut “Propeller One-Way Night Coach,” followed by the 1976 film “Carrie” (his first significant film role). Legendary contemporary artist Shepard Fairey (of OBEY fame) served as the special guest DJ for the early part of the evening.

The band – dubbed Cretin Family – assembled for the musical portion of the night was certainly a supergroup. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day handled lead vocals and guitar, Travis Barker of blink-182 was on drums.

CJ Ramone – who replaced Dee Dee Ramone in Ramones for the band’s final seven years – played bass and provided additional vocals, and Tim Armstrong of Rancid served as musical director in addition to playing guitar and sharing lead vocals.

The promise of “special guests” on events such as this can bring mixed results these days, but appearances by Fred Armisen, Jason Freese, The Linda Lindas, and Billy Idol certainly added to the festivities. Idol and Armisen have notably appeared at previous years’ tributes.

Cretin Family kicked off their 50-minute set with the instrumental “Durango 95,” just as the actual Ramones did for most of their post-1985 career. “Rockaway Beach” and “Cretin Hop” followed with both Armstrongs and Ramone trading vocals.

“Do Ya Wanna Dance?” got the crowd singing along, and Billie Joe stated that “the Ramones wanna see all the kids dancing,” so they played it again. “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment” was followed by two songs sung by Ramone – “The Crusher” and the Motörhead song “R.A.M.O.N.E.S.” The first special guest vocal was next with Armisen handling “Danny Says.” One of the Ramones’ biggest songs – “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” – was next, followed by “Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio?” featuring Freese on saxophone.

Los Angeles punk band The Linda Lindas took the stage next to perform a raucous “California Sun” and then appeared to ask Cretin Family if they could also sing the next song, the immensely popular “I Wanna Be Sedated,” which whipped the crowd into a huge pogo party. Next was the classic one-two punch of “Havana Affair / Commando” sung ferociously by Tim Armstrong.

Billie Joe took over lead vocals for “Oh Oh I Love Her So” followed by a faithful version of the garage rock classic “Surfin’ Bird,” then announced that “coming up next is my idol… Billy Idol!” The excitement level in the crowd went up quite a bit as they launched into “Beat on the Brat,” followed by the only non-Ramones song of the night, “Ready Steady Go,” by Idol’s pre-solo career band, Generation X.

Idol commented that this was “like the Roundhouse in 1976, that’s what this feels like!” (The London debut of Ramones was at that legendary club on July 4, 1976, with many future punk band musicians in attendance.)

Idol stayed on to sing the iconic “Blitzkrieg Bop”, with The Linda Lindas adding to the “hey ho, let’s go” chorus. After 20 songs in just under 50 minutes, the concert wrapped up with smiles and hugs all around.

Many attendees stuck around for the showing of Travolta’s new film, followed by a visit to Johnny Ramone’s statue, which had been specially decorated for the evening.

The 50th anniversary show was a major triumph for Linda Ramone, and all the talent and crew should be commended for putting on an incredible tribute to possibly the greatest punk band of all time.

SHOW PHOTO GALLERY

by John Gilhooley Photography

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