New Year's Eve Bash with Rancid
December 31, 2015
We've had some extravagant NYEs; Times Square in New York, a local pub in London, and the Casino in Catalina Island to name a few. For the most part however, Lizzy and I partake in modest new year's eves; we have a nice dinner, we play some board games, watch the countdown on TV, and set off some non-flammable grocery store confetti poppers.
This year was different. Tim Armstrong, Lars Frederikson, Matt Freeman, and Branden Steineckert aka Rancid aka my favorite band were coming to town to do a New Year's Eve Show. I ordered our tickets months in advance and the day finally came.
We still had a nice dinner. This year we got some great Thai food a few blocks from our house. Getting dinner meant sacrificing the opportunity to watch the Interrupters, a fairly new ska, punk band that we both enjoy listening to, but Thai food sounded a little better. We then headed up to the Shrine auditorium in Los Angeles. Off!, a hardcore band was playing when we arrived. Hardcore music isn't our cup of tea so we checked out the food trucks and did some people watching. It was a sea of band shirts, pins, patches, mohawks, Doc Martens, and tattoos. A refreshing sight of self-expression that you don't see too often in South Orange County.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones took the stage and we made sure we were close to the front. They put on a good show as usual, but my anticipation was for the headliner. Rancid playing their entire "And Out Come The Wolves" album preceding the countdown made for one of the best NYEs. From the moment I heard the few first seconds of "Maxwell Murder", I knew was losing my voice. The crowd was great, but my only gripe was with some of the VIPs that got to watch the performance on stage. At least listen to a couple of the songs before you say yes to your friend of a friend that got you up there so you don't look like such a poser mouthing lyrics you clearly don't know in your brand new shirt that you just picked up from the merch booth. Let some real fans up there, like me! But I digress.
During their set was a moment of silence for the recently passed Lemmy Kilmister, the frontman for Motorhead. A solemn time for everyone to remember their own lost loved ones. They continued playing until they finished "The Way I Feel", the final song of the album, just before the countdown. Then the clock struck 12, confetti filled the air, I kissed my beautiful wife, and more music was played.
The poster for the event had the text, "1st annual". I'm really hoping that means there will be a 2nd annual.
Read MoreWe've had some extravagant NYEs; Times Square in New York, a local pub in London, and the Casino in Catalina Island to name a few. For the most part however, Lizzy and I partake in modest new year's eves; we have a nice dinner, we play some board games, watch the countdown on TV, and set off some non-flammable grocery store confetti poppers.
This year was different. Tim Armstrong, Lars Frederikson, Matt Freeman, and Branden Steineckert aka Rancid aka my favorite band were coming to town to do a New Year's Eve Show. I ordered our tickets months in advance and the day finally came.
We still had a nice dinner. This year we got some great Thai food a few blocks from our house. Getting dinner meant sacrificing the opportunity to watch the Interrupters, a fairly new ska, punk band that we both enjoy listening to, but Thai food sounded a little better. We then headed up to the Shrine auditorium in Los Angeles. Off!, a hardcore band was playing when we arrived. Hardcore music isn't our cup of tea so we checked out the food trucks and did some people watching. It was a sea of band shirts, pins, patches, mohawks, Doc Martens, and tattoos. A refreshing sight of self-expression that you don't see too often in South Orange County.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones took the stage and we made sure we were close to the front. They put on a good show as usual, but my anticipation was for the headliner. Rancid playing their entire "And Out Come The Wolves" album preceding the countdown made for one of the best NYEs. From the moment I heard the few first seconds of "Maxwell Murder", I knew was losing my voice. The crowd was great, but my only gripe was with some of the VIPs that got to watch the performance on stage. At least listen to a couple of the songs before you say yes to your friend of a friend that got you up there so you don't look like such a poser mouthing lyrics you clearly don't know in your brand new shirt that you just picked up from the merch booth. Let some real fans up there, like me! But I digress.
During their set was a moment of silence for the recently passed Lemmy Kilmister, the frontman for Motorhead. A solemn time for everyone to remember their own lost loved ones. They continued playing until they finished "The Way I Feel", the final song of the album, just before the countdown. Then the clock struck 12, confetti filled the air, I kissed my beautiful wife, and more music was played.
The poster for the event had the text, "1st annual". I'm really hoping that means there will be a 2nd annual.
