By Andrew Bansal
February 18th 2015, Amoeba Music, Hollywood CA: Fullerton, California punk veterans The Adolescents have been highly influential to rock and metal over the past three decades,specially in the Orange County region, and since their second reunion in 2001, have been going strong with live performances and three new albums of original studio material as well as an EP and a split album. They released their seventh studio album ‘La Vendetta’ in the summer of 2014, and celebrated it with a free in-store performance and signing at Amoeba Music in Hollywood yesterday. Performing in front of a completely packed house in an atmosphere unusual for a punk rock concert, The Adolsecents put forth a solid representation of their musical career, playing tunes old and new, and giving fans plenty to enjoy.
This being a free event open to public but subject to capacity, the queue of potential attendees waiting outside the store started forming as early as 3:30 in the afternoon, and elongated further through the next two hours before everyone was swiftly and peacefully led inside by the staff. The atmosphere in the queue among fans was filled with excitement as they seemed to be in high spirits. It was interesting to note that while a great divide between the million sub-genres of heavy metal clearly exists, based on this queue’s demographic there doesn’t appear to be as much of a gap between punk and metal/hard rock. The Casualties, Misfits and Adolescents back patches were matched in number by Slayer and Motorhead shirts, and the punk fans were heard talking about purchasing tickets to AC/DC and were sharing experiences from the free Paul McCartney show on Hollywood Blvd two years ago. By 6 PM, all the aisles inside the store were completely packed from left to right, and this large gathering awaited The Adolsecents’ arrival.
Just a few minutes past 6, The Adolescents promptly appeared on stage amidst huge cheers from the crowd and proceeded to play a great 35-minute set. Even though there was no moshing to be allowed or expected within the confines of the aisles for the sake of keeping Amoeba’s vast display of CDs and vinyl intact, the music brought the best out of the fans as many were heard singing along the words to some of their favorite Adolescents tunes, and were seen jumping with joy, swirling shirts around, and instigating light friendly mosh pits whenever and wherever possible.
The band proceeded through the initial portion of the set, building up to a lively second half, and one felt that the song ‘Forever Summer’ was its turning point as it truly brought the show to life with its speed and instant impact. Following that, songs like ‘Lockdown America’ were well-received, and they brought the set to an absolutely perfect ending with ‘Amoeba’. It would have been a tragedy of sorts had they not played that song at this venue. After the set, the band stayed to sign autographs for those that had purchased the new album from the store.
All in all, The Adolescents and Amoeba Music put on a highly enjoyable event, as singer Tony Cadena and his band mates showed that they still have it in them to hold fort for the OC hardcore punk scene.
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