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Live from The Pinnacle | Nashville
September 3rd, 2026 Review by Traci Turner
Social Distortion brought their Born to Kill World Tour to Nashville this week as they made their way across North America on their massive trek. The boys from Fullerton had some help from fellow SoCal natives, Descendants, and from the land down under, The Chats.
In February of this year, Social Distortion teased new material via a short video on their socials. The tease led to the May release of their eighth album – their first in 15 years – titled “Born to Kill.”
They dropped the title track as the first single and announced the tour, which runs through October.
The evening kicked off with The Chats politely walking onto the stage, announcing just as politely, “We’re from Queensland, Australian and it’s very nice to be here in Nashville.” The trio then burst into a loud and fast set that did not slow down until it was over.
With Eamon “Flamin” Sandwith on vocals and bass, Matthew Boggis on drums, and Josh Hardy on guitar, they began with “Billy Backwash’s Day” and “Dead on Site” before Sandwith announced, “Here’s a song about a broken ATM called ‘Paid Late.’” The track featured an incredible shredding solo from Hardy on his Flying V Gibson.
The Chats flew through their songs at breakneck speed, making the most of their time. The early crowd was into it, enjoying “Panic Attack,” “Nazi March,” “Temperature,” and “Ticket Inspector.”
Sandwith spoke up once more to introduce the next song with, “Here’s a song about a car” before “6L GTR.” They then took us through “Ross River,” “Drinking for Two,” “Struck by Lightning,” “Identity Theft,” and “Smoko,” before a quiet, “We are The Chats. Bye,” and closing out with “Pub Feed.”
The Descendants bounded out when it was their time and frontman Milo Aukerman proclaimed, “Hey Nashville! Did you like The Chats? We’re the Descendants and we’re here to tell you how much everything sucks!” which led into “Everything Sux.”
Two things I must admit: I have never seen Descendants live, and I love a good guitar face. Stephen Egerton gave THE best guitar faces, so I admit to enjoying his performance, but seriously, the whole band was incredible. How these guys – a tad older than I – could have so much energy and put on such a fantastic show…. well, they rule.
Besides Egerton’s guitar faces, seeing Aukerman healthy and performing without a hitch was wonderful, and I was equally impressed with Karl Alvarez (bass) and Bill Stevenson (drums). They also went fast, hard, and loud, blasting through “Hope” and “I Don’t Want to Grow Up.”
The crowd – which very much felt like being back in California – included many Mike Ness lookalikes. There were fans as young as 10 and as seasoned as 60+. In fact, during “I Don’t Want to Grow Up,” a 10-year-old boy at the rail was being taught how to “dance like a punk” by a bald gentleman with a long grey beard. It was a very cool scene to watch unfold – one generation teaching another the ways of the pit.
The crowd was very into “Clean Sheets,” singing loudly and pointing back to the band with the “so are you!” The pit now had crowdsurfing going on and people were ending up in the photo pit, then running right back out to hit the big pit once again.
Descendants flew through several songs that the crowd really loved, including “I Like Food,” “Nothing With You,” and a huge reaction came for “Rotting Out.” The fans and the band seemed to be trying to match each other’s energy levels and both were insane.
“Myage,” “Victim of Me,” and “When I Get Old,” led to Egerton and Aukerman joking about taking a Weinerschnitzel order, with Aukerman asking for a coronary bypass instead. Obviously, they then played “Weinerschnitzel.”
After “No, All!” and “’Merican,” a “Fuck Donald Trump!” got cheers from the crowd. “I’m Not a Punk,” “Good Good Things,” and “Coffee Mug” were a few more crowd pleasers. Aukerman then said, “I wanna be stereotyped and classified,” then left the stage to enter the photo pit and stand on the barrier for “I’m the One.”
Descendants’ blistering set concluded with “I Wanna Be a Bear,” “Thank You,” “Bikeage,” and “Smile” and the venue let out huge whistles and cheers for them as they left the stage.
At last it was time for our boys! David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” began playing and the crowd sang along. As the gents – Jonny “2 Bags” Wickersham (guitar), Brent Harding (bass), and David Hidalgo Jr. (drums) – walked out onto the stage, the fans began yelling and hollering. Then frontman Mike Ness strode out and the roar of the audience was insane!
Kicking off with the new album’s title track, Social D sounded outstanding and was firing on all cylinders. The packed venue was already amped up, but the energy continued to shoot up.
After “Born to Kill,” Ness said his voice was giving him trouble so we may need to sing along, which had no one complaining. Everyone jumped in on “Ring of Fire” and the cover that helped make them was sung loudly and proudly from the floor.
“Untitled” brough a toned-down vibe, but in between songs, the whistles and cheers would not stop. “Tonight” was followed by “No Way Out” which made the crowdsurfing ramp up again.
While “The Creeps” went over well, things escalated for “Mommy’s Little Monster.” In addition to the fans going insane over it, I loved Wickersham’s guitar solo and got chills when he, Ness, and Harding were at the front of the stage, singing together.
Ness asked for the house lights to be turned up so he could “have a look at this crowd.” He said his voice gave out around 7 p.m., but he “could not cancel this show.” He discussed growing up loving gangsters and guitars, Bruce Lee, “Bonnie and Clyde,” and “Easy Rider.” He said he watched the two movies at 10 or 11 years old and cried at the endings (“I was a sensitive kid.”), and how he always fought for the underdogs.
He said the next song would be dedicated to Dolly Parton, which drew a huge cheer. Parton’s death last week devastated so many, and Nashville has been especially mournful. He said, “You better name that fucking airport after her!” which is a proposal from the governor at this time. Ness said he never met Parton, but felt like he knew her, “as we all do.” His song of choice, “The Way Things Were,” which featured another fantastic Wickersham solo.
After calling “Machine Gun Blues” an “old time family song,” Ness said the next song was originally written for “the White record,” but sat on the shelf 30 years. They brought it back to life for the new record, the song being “Don’t Keep Me Hanging On.”
Ness talked about the early days, back in 1979, when art “especially punk rock, was met with violent reaction.” He went on, “People told us we couldn’t do this. We don’t listen to what they tell us.” “Partners in Crime” was followed by a song he introduced with, “You definitely know this one,” and started “Ball and Chain.” After his own sweet guitar solo, Ness asked for help singing, however he did not need it for that epic ending.
After “Through These Eyes,” Ness spoke again, thanking The Chats and Descendants, making a joke that with their peers in Descendants, “We were not supposed to live this long.” Lucky for us, both singers survived their 2023 battles.
He continued to speak, discussing the early days and how “in 1987 or 1988 I wrote this, and I was 100% certain no one would like it.” He went through his history of crime, drugs, jail, and the band itself – “Hank Williams meets the Ramones, Sex Pistols meets The Stones. In the middle is Social Distortion.” He concluded with, “I was writing about my life, or the story of my life.” The actual “Story of My Life” closed their set with a raging crowd cheering them on.
After a brief moment away, they returned for an encore with “Reach for the Sky,” which once again had the three at the front of stage singing together, sounding awesome. It also featured a beautiful piano solo from touring member, David Kalish.
Alas, it was time to go and “Bad Luck” wrapped things up, adding another epic Ness guitar solo. As they have since last week, Social Distortion walked off stage to the Dolly Parton classic, “Jolene.”
Social D will traverse North America and then hit the hometown region for two sold-out shows at the Hollywood Palladium October 1st and 2nd. The October 3rd San Diego show at Gallagher Square still has tickets available. Get your tickets and see living history!
SHOW PHOTO GALLERY
by Stephanie Pepper Photography
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SID 260903 | JIMMY ALVAREZ | EDITOR
