[bomp] teenage riot

["paulk23@xxxxxxxx" <paulk23@xxxxxxxx>]

So here I am in San Jose, a sleepy Bay Area city of over a million people that still somehow feels like a suburb of San Francisco.  Theres so little to do, especially live-music wise, that the city sponsors a free summer concert series so people dont have to run off to SF every single week.

This year, the first concert featured a punk/ska band called Goldfinger.  Im not really into them, but after blowing my live music money for the year on the Rockin 50s Fest and the Ponderosa Stomp in April, Im thankful for the free entertainment.  Theres some good shows this year, too  the Tubes and El Chicano later this month and John Hiatt, the North Mississippi All-Stars, and Brenton Wood later in the summer.  However, I dont think the City of San Jose knew what they were getting into with this one.

The show opened with a perfunctory set by our local regaae/ska band, Dub FX, who are actually quite good.  After that, it was Caesars, currently big on alternative radio with their hit Jerk It Out, which is also in some commercial.  They had a strong 60s garage feel with a prominent organ sound that was actually almost Bompworthy.  I liked em, but I think the kids were bored.

The show was co-sponsored by the local alternative rock station, which means high school kids as far as the eye could see.  June 9th, school had just let out for summer, and a lot of them had just graduated.  So were talking major amounts of adrenalin AND testosterone, primed for action.  I also examined the faces of several beer-drinking individuals I saw as I wandered about, and I dont think they were all 21.  Hmm.

By the way, did you know theres an edited version of Add It Up, by the Violent Femmes, that substitutes the word screw for fuck?  How fucking lame.  Heard it on the PA before the show started.

The craziness started before the band even came on.  Kids were crowd-surfing, and quite enthusiastically  that is, they wouldnt just hoist the guy up on their shoulders, they would hold him down as low as possible to the ground before throwing him up in the air so as to achieve maximum altitude.  Most of them were wiry, average-sized to skinnybut at one point, they hoisted up a guy who had to be at least 250 or more and passed him around as the crowd screamed and the guy slapped his belly.  It was quite amusing.

Then the band came on, playing their 21st century mall-punk (not an insult, really).  A large, violent pit started IMMEDIATELY.  Those H.S. kids are made out of rubber, you know, so they were hitting each other HARD.  By the second song, a kid jumped up on stage and danced around for a while until the bouncers threw him off.  The singer was offended and made some remark about this not being a fuckin NSync concert!  Pretty soon several kids were running around the stage, leading the big fat bouncers on a merry chase before diving back into the audience.  And since it was free in the park, they couldnt really 86 them  theyd just run back around and get right back up there.  Things were getting a little tense  I hadnt seen any punches thrown but it didnt seem out of the question as the yellow-shirted bouncers grappled with the quick and elusive kids.  So two of the bouncers then planted themselves on either side of the lead singer, arms folded.  Clearly this was distracting for him as he sarcastically asked them if he should just give them guitars and have them join the band.  He pleaded with them to let the kids stage-dive, logically pointing out that there was a lot of energy, but no violence or punches thrown.  So the two bouncers shrugged, said what the hell, and retreated from the stage.

Bad idea.

Within seconds, the stage filled up with hundreds of kids, running around, stage diving, etc.  The stage was bouncing up and down dangerously.  I knew the cops werent gonna like this, and sure enough, they pulled the plug within a few minutes.

If there was a time when there might be real trouble, it was now.  A sustained chant of Fuck the Police or Bullshit might have started up.  The lead singer did say Fuck the Police, actually.  But I didnt sense that sort of negative energy from the crowd.  They were just high school kids having a good time.

At this point I went off to the Porta Potties, thinking that was it for this day.  But the singer, realizing his power, came on the mike after about 15 minutes of consultation w/ the cops and told the audience they would play some more IF they didnt get up on stage any more.  And you know what?  They listened to him, and there was no more stage-diving, although the crowd-surfing and pits continued with even more intensity.

The singer is a big PETA guy and vegan, so they did a song called Fuck Ted Nugent, and he led the crowd in chants of Fuck him! and Hes a dick!  I was happy to see that some profanity made it into the show after all.

They played some ska stuff as well, in an attempt to cool out the crowd, I thought, although it didnt work.  They did a few more tunes and finished with a pretty cool version of 99 Luftballoons, and that was it.  As a coda to the whole out-of-control event, the drummer threw 5 or 6 sticks into the audience, which of course immediately caused a minor crowd riot equivalent to a fight over a Barry Bonds home run ball.

As the singer said at one point, Weve done about 4000 shows over the last 11 years, but Im always gonna remember this one.  Indeed  so will I.

Im not running out and buying any Goldfinger records or anything, but Ill be goddamned if that wasnt the most punk-rock thing Ive seen in 25 years of live music.

The kids are alright!

Paul

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