Social Distortion and Flogging Molly hit the Las Vegas big festival stage on their summer co-headlining tour at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, with winds hitting the 25 per hour mark a couple times during the night and a decidedly cool drop in temps for Vegas. The blustery weather didn’t keep the fans away, the show was Sold Out and nothing short of spectacular for the next to last date on the winding down summer tour.
The tour marks 40 years for Social D, who have toured relentlessly in the last decade to sold out shows with the absence of any new album since 2011’s Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, but the band has notoriously had some long breaks between recording and releases. Singer Mike Ness has been hinting at a new album for the last few years, with a semi-promise of a 2020 release, and says in a 2018 interview, ”I’ve put a few new songs in the set just to let people know that we're not sitting on our asses at home”.
’s Celtic punk sound filled the venue as the were first of the headliners, along with the chorusing voices of thousands of imbibing honorary Irish for the night. The band released their most recent album
Although Social Distortion tend to shy away from formal punk political statements in their shows, Ness started things off with “Don’t Drag Me Down”, stating to the crowd “Social D is an anti-racist band, if you’re here and you’re not, you can get the fuck out”, and brought a roar from the crowd. “Bad Luck" and “Machine Gun Blues” were crowd faves, and “Over You” made it to the set in Vegas, one of the new songs that Ness penned in 2018, giving fans a taste of what may be to come. The evening culminated with Social D and the Mollys and spare guests together on stage for a rousing “Sometimes I Do”, before Social Distortion finished the night with the big guns “Ring of Fire” and “Story of My Life”. A perfect finale for a great night of legendary punk bands and music on the downtown festival stage.
Social Distortion photos from Jo Anna Jackson / Stardogphotos
Flogging Molly photos from Jo Anna Jackson / Stardogphotos