SCREECHING WEASEL 40th Anniversary Knockout with The Queers, The Dickies and Toxic Energy
Updated: 4 hours ago
The House of Blues was a full on pit o' fun and frenzy when the Screeching Weasels came to Las Vegas for a punk-o-rama night with The Queers, The Dickies, and Toxic Energy. The night brought together legends, and legions of fans and friends, and a banner night of punk rock classics.
Toxic Energy's SoCal punk rock got the night to a rollicking start, with Greg Dickson at the helm leading the revelry as they powered through a set with songs from their speed driven skate punk California Sun and Never Look Back EP's, and a couple of neat (Neat Neat) covers thrown in - by The Damned, and The Cars "Just What I Needed". The band is infectious fun - check out music HERE.
The Queers got a hero's welcome from the crowd, and came out fast and riotous with "Tamara Is A Punk" and suddenly we had pits and bodies. The Queers tongue in cheek lyrics and Ramones-esque tunes make for a wild ride of a show, and Joe Queer made fun and cuss words a central theme -a singalong "Fuck the World", "See You Later Fuckface" proving my point.
The band played a million songs in 5 seconds, had singer Stephen Brookfield from The 66ers (a side project with Joe Queer) on stage for "Holiday", and the Weasels' Ginger Panero for a speedy "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" to close it down.
More legendary pop punk with The Dickies, who were a surprise addition to the show, and played exclusively for the Vegas date. The 'clown princes of punk' gave us scream-a-long anthems and puppets, fast tunes and campy pop culture, like a bubblegum Pistols on the big stage. From "You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla)" and "Doggie Do" to "Manny, Moe, and Jack", the show was a silly happy singalong romp.
Leonard Graves Phillips and Stan Lee remain the two OG Dickies, and the band has been in existence and continuously touring for nearly 50 years, never stopping the madness. Leonard with the camp, and Lee with his full tilt buzzsaw guitar style, The Dickies became a blueprint for the SoCal pop-punk explosion.
Screeching Weasel came out swinging, "I'm Gonna Strangle You" got the crowd spinning and it was pure chaos for the next hour. This tour is their 40th Anniversary jaunt, and they made it memorable with a near 30 song set that roared through the HOB like a freight train. So many songs, so many bodies crashing into each other. Wild.
Highlights were "Hey Suburbia", "My Brain Hurts" - and I liked "Ashtray" and "I Believe in UFO's" for the mosh watching, that was nuts. After a real pit workout for the crowd, SW wrapped with a frenetic "Cool Kids" for the win.
Ben Weasel is the sole founding member of the foundational pop punk group that since 1987 defined angst pop punk, and influenced a generation of 90's punk bands. Along with Ben the lineup included the animated Gianluca "Ginger" Panero on guitar, Mike Hunchback also on guitar, Zach "Poutine" Brandner on bass and Pierre Marche on drums. The tour isn't slowing down, check out more tour dates HERE. And bring extra dough, the merch at this show is INSANE.
Screeching Weasels slideshow Jo Anna Jackson / Stardogphotos.com
THE Dickies slideshow Jo Anna Jackson / Stardogphotos.com
THE QUEERS slideshow Jo Anna Jackson / Stardogphotos.com
Toxic Energy slideshow Jo Anna Jackson / Stardogphotos.com
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