Sunday 17 July 2022.

Sunday 17 July 2022. One of the greatest gigs i ever saw was 26 years ago today. 17 July 1996 - THE SEX PISTOLS live at Shepherds Bush Empire. I saw them five times on their Filthy Lucre reunion tour including Paris and Milan. ----------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- Saturday 16 July 2022. SOCIAL DISTORTION live at Shepherds Bush Empire. Social Distortion play the second of two shows at this venue, on their European Tour. I have seen them three times before, of which two were in America. Nov 1996 - The Garage, London. Sept 2002 - Devore , California - one of several bands supporting The Sex Pistols outdoor all-dayer. Jan 2004 - Hard Rock, Orlando, Florida. Californian punk band Social Distortion was formed in 1978 by Mike Ness(who still fronts the band) , and were inspired by the Sex Pistols and many other British punk bands as well as rock acts such as the Rolling Stones. Their several album releases have sold over three million copies worldwide. Looks like the Friday show is sold out, but the added show on Saturday will be half empty. ------------------- As expected not really a good idea to add a second show in London. Level 2 and 3 are closed, and Level 1 is half empty so maybe only 600 out of 2000 tickets sold. I bumped into my journo mate Mark from Record Collector. He was telling me about a week of gigs he went to recently in different cities in mainland Europe, including Iron Maiden, Scorpions and KISS. LOVEBREAKERS arrived on stage at 7.30pm for their 30 mins set. The band are from Birmingham, and played some good catchy pop punk tunes from their debut album. GRADE 2 arrived on stage at 8.15pm for their 40 mins set. The band are from The Isle of Wight, and play a set of fast punk tunes. They have released their second album on Hellcat Records. SOCIAL DISTORTION arrived on stage at 9.15pm for their 1 hour 40 mins set. A small crowd but still lots of moshing and crowd surfing throughout their show. The security pit team certainly earning their money tonight. The twin distorted guitars of Social Distortion sound great all through the night. Oddly, second show on the trot where the headline band included a cover of "Wicked Game". The vocals could have been a bit clearer , but overall a very good show. Full SOCIAL DISTORTION setlist played tonight... Road Zombie So Far Away Reach for the Sky Bye Bye Baby I Wasn't Born to Follow Mommy's Little Monster Sick Boys Wicked Game (Chris Isaak cover) Machine Ball and Chain Gotta Know the Rules California (Hustle and Flow) Tonight Dear Lover Born to Kill Encore: Untitled new song Don't Drag Me Down Story of My Life Ring of Fire (Merle Kilgore cover)

Posted 17th July 2022