Tag Archives: Rancid

Rancid, Rise Against, Riverboat Gamblers – Tower City Amphitheater – Cleveland, OH – 06/15/2009 – Concert Review

This is not a review.  I repeat, this is not a review.  OK, I am lying, the more I write about it the more it sounds like a review.  Oh well…

Let’s face it, Bonnaroo drained me.  The trip to and from along with the actual four days at the festival took everything I had out of me.  When I returned home I napped for a mere hour and then hopped in the car to go see punk rock legends Rancid with Rise Against and Riverboat Gamblers down at the Tower City Amphitheater.

I was a zombie of sorts.  Only having ingested some terrible Hardee’s in Bowling Green, KY, the arrow in my stomach was pointing to empty.  Luckily my buddy Fatty who was driving owes me big for when we went to see the Bouncing Souls and make me turn my car around on Route 8 because he forgot his ticket.

I could not tell him that I forgot my ticket because I did not have one so I just asked him to stop at Taco Bell for a snack.

I did not have a ticket because someone wonderful got me on the list for Rancid complete with a VIP pass.

We arrived to the venue with the Riverboat Gamblers already playing.  The Austin, TX punk rockers really enthralled me so I made sure to pick up their latest release on LP entitled Underneath The Owl.  I have yet to listen to it but I do know they played a few songs off their new album and it sounded good.  They are one of those bands I never really gave a chance before but will now thanks to their great performance.

Once it looked like the stage was set up for Rancid I headed backstage to get a better view of the band.  I hung out behind the scenes and peered at the from the side.  As pissed as I was that they were not headlining the show I was still pleased with their almost one hour set including classic songs such as “Ruby Soho” and “Olympia”.  They also played some new tracks from their recent release Let The Dominoes Fall… such as “Last One To Die” and “New Orleans”.

They sounded really good live and jumped around youthfully as if they were playing 15 years ago.  Many times I hear that people think Tim Armstrong might not be playing all of the songs but I was right there and it sure as hell looked like he was beating the crap out of his guitar playing to the huge crowd.  Matt Freemon was hammering his bass and killed it during “Tenderloin” and of course Lars Frederickson was doing what he does best, entertain.

Great set by one of my favorite punk bands of all time.

Rancid Setlist:
Radio
Last One To Die
Journey to the End of the East Bay
Roots Radicals
Nihilism
Olympia WA.
Salvation
Bloodclot
New Orleans
Fall Back Down
The Way I Feel
Time Bomb
Tenderloin
East Bay Night
Maxwell Murder
Ruby Soho

Rise Against took stage as the sun said goodbye to the day.  I am a fan of the first three Rise Against albums but their last two releases have not done too much for me.  I stayed afar from the stage and checked them out while I chatted with a couple of my friends who were only there to see Rancid.

Rise Against, I can say, has major stage charisma.  Lead singer Tim McIlrath was running all over the stage singing his heart out to his diehard fans.  Where the band did play a lot of newer songs I was happy to hear some older ones from their first three albums.  I was shocked the band did not play “Swing Life Away” when Tim McIlrath came to stage with an acoustic guitar in hand but I guess they have played that song enough times and perhaps it was time for them to give it a rest.

It was great to see Rise Against headline a show and you knew the band was grateful for the oppertunity as they thanked Rancid as well as named off some of the venues in Cleveland they once played before such as the Agora as well as the Tower City parking lot by the stairs where years ago they were just an intro band to the Vans Warped Tour.  Times have change indeed for Rise Against, I was just glad to hear them admit it.

It was a good night for punk rock in Cleveland thanks to the three bands that took over Tower City that night.  As if the show itself was not good enough right as Rise Against was finishing up their set fireworks started going off over the Progressive Field as the Cleveland Indians game had just finished up.

I had yet to find a setlist for Rise Against or Riverboat Gamblers but when I do I will post it here.

Rancid – “Last One To Die” MP3 Released!

I just downloaded “Last One To Die”, Rancid‘s latest release from their upcoming Let The Dominoes Fall.  You should too:

Hellcat Records

Made By Squad


Normally I would just include a link to download the MP3 but that has not been made available to me yet so just enter your email address and they will send you a link for a download of the song.  That is all you have to do, I promise.

I am pretty sure you will dig the song as much as I have too if you are a Rancid fan.  The song is catchy and maintains the Rancid standard, meaning it will not shock you and it keeps with the sound you expect to come from Tim Armstrong and crew.

It’s been over 5 years since Rancid pushed out an album.  Good things come with time and I am honestly glad they were not putting together a mess of a release just so they could offer something for their fans.  I have high expectations from this CD.  I also have a feeling that this is NOT going to be their last effort.  Some people are thinking it might be time for these punk rockers to hang up their guitars and take a seat but I really have the feeling that these guys are going to be cranking out material for years to come.

Rancid News!!!

Just checked Altpress.com on my break and found out Rancid has determined a release date for their new album titled Let The Dominoes Fall.  This is the band’s first release since 2003.  I am beyond pumped to hear them.

Altpress stated:

Legendary punk outfit Rancid have set a June 2 release date for Let The Dominoes Fall, their first studio album since 2003’s Indestructible. The band recorded the album which will be released on Hellcat/Epitaph with Epitaph Records founder and Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz at George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound Studio.

The album features 19 tracks and the first single, “Last One To Die,” will premiere April 7 in a widget available now at Rancid’s MySpace page. The 25 fans who spread the widget the most online will receive tickets to Rancid’s summer tour with Rise Against.

Let The Dominoes Fall tracklist:
1. East Bay Night
2. This Place
3. Up To No Good
4. Last One To Die
5. Disconnected
6. I Ain’t Worried
7. Damnation
8. New Orleans
9. Civilian Ways
10. The Bravest Kids
11. Skull City
12. L.A. River
13. Lulu
14. Dominoes Fall
15. Liberty and Freedom
16. You Want It, You Got It
17. Locomotive
18. That’s Just The Way It Is Now
19. The Highway

Want to hear the first release from the album?  Well check back on April 7th and I do believe the widget will change and you will be able to hear “Last One To Die”…

Hellcat Records

Made By Squad

 

New album means tour!!!  My wife and I have decided to hit up four of the shows this summer in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Hamburg, and Toronto.  Should be awesome!  For more tour info check out Rancid’s website.

Rancid & Rise Against Announce Tour Dates!!!

My summer is now complete.  Thanks to altpress.com for the heads up!

Rancid & Rise Against announce summer tour
Rancid & Rise Against announce summer tour

Rancid & Rise Against just announced their tour dates finally.  It looks as if Rise Against is headlining the tour and I can not say I am happy about that as I feel Rancid deserves to be the headliner.  I am a huge fan of both and excited to see them live.  Riverboat Gamblers will open the June dates and Billy Talent will open the July dates.  Rise Against will be in support of their fifth studio album, Appeal To Reason.

Still though…  RANCID!!!  (yes, I am a huge fan)  Their new album should be dropping soon too and I can not wait.  Rancid was working with Bad Religion‘s Brett Gurewitz and both have expressed excitement in the new release.

Rancid has this to comment about their new album and tour on their website:

2009 is sure to be an exciting year for Rancid. Our good friend and producer Brett Gurewitz has finished mixing our new record set to release around spring of this year. We’ve all been working real hard along side Brett on this record and we are all real proud of how its turning out. We’re putting together some exciting stuff with this record that we can’t wait to share with you all. As it’s release comes nearer we will get you more details on everything we’ve been working on.

They also stated:

We will also be hitting the road hard this year. As you may have heard we’ve confirmed a 2 month North American Tour with Rise Against. This will be a great opportunity to play you some of our new songs live in addition to a mix of songs spanning the entire history of Rancid. We like to play a new set every night to keep it fresh and interesting for all of us! We like to do a little something from every Rancid record giving every night a unique show from the one before.

Rise Against had this to say earlier this year in regards to touring with Rancid (found on AbsolutePunk.net):

Few things are more exciting than watching Bush finally release America as his eight year hostage, but if anything could rival that news, it’s this: We are more than pleased to announce that we will have the honor of touring the US & Canada with punk rock legends RANCID this summer. If Tim Armstrong didn’t confirm it personally backstage in LA a few weeks ago, we wouldn’t believe it either.

(Dates in bold are dates I may be attending)

Tour Dates:
6/4 Vancouver, BC Pacific Coliseum
6/6 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
6/7 Calgary, AB Calgary Corral
6/8 Saskatoon, SK Prarieland
6/11 Denver, CO Red Rocks Ampitheatre
6/12 Kansas City, MO Beaumont Club
6/13 St. Louis, MO Pops (Outdoors)
6/15 Cleveland, OH Time Warner Cable Amp
6/17 Montreal, QC Parc Jean Drapeau
6/18 Quebec City, QC Agora
6/19 Ottawa, ON Civic Centre
6/22 Cincinnati, OH PNC Pavilion
6/24 Detroit, MI Fillmore
6/26 Minneapolis, MN Myth
7/6 Seattle, WA WaMu Theatre
7/8 Reno, NV Reno Events Center
7/10 San Diego, CA Cricket Wireless Amp
7/11 Los Angeles, CA The Forum
7/13 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
7/14 Phoenix, AZ Mesa Arts Center
7/16 Dallas, TX Palladium Ballroom
7/17 Austin, TX Stubb’s
7/18 Houston, TX Verizon Wireless
7/20 Orlando, FL House of Blues
7/21 Orlando, FL House of Blues
7/23 Myrtle Beach, SC House of Blues
7/24 Baltimore, MD Ram’s Head
7/25 Philadelphia, PA Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing
7/28 Boston, MA House of Blues
7/29 Boston, MA House of Blues
7/30 Buffalo, NY Agri Center
7/31 Toronto, ON Molson Ampitheatre

More dates will be announced soon.