The Scene: Many types of Punk Rock were represented Saturday night at the Gothic Theatre, starting with Melodic Rock/Punk Rock, followed by Pop Punk, then Melodic Hardcore, and ending with Skate Punk. The crowd was as varied as the lineup, there were lots of middle-agers, bros, cool kids, and even a few Screamo fans that showed up for the sold-out event. Many fans showed support for one of the biggest names in Punk Rock by wearing Pennywise t-shirts.
Opener: The Wiredogs. The Denver Punk Rock band Wiredogs started out the night, and sounded great playing a solid set. The band opened with two songs off of their 2013 release, the Resistance EP, playing all but the last track off of that album. They also played two songs off of their 2014 release The Basement Tapes, and three songs off of their January release, Kill The Artist, Hype The Trash. They ended their set with a track “The Road” that the band recorded under their former name, The Hate. The band effortlessly switched between old and new tracks and between faster Punk tracks and slower melodic Rock tracks.
Opener: Teenage Bottlerocket. The Laramie, Wyoming band Teenage Bottlerocket played next and was definitely the best part of the night. The band members often come to town for other concerts, and had many fans and friends in attendance. Co-singer and guitarist Ray Carlisle brought his very young son out for the show, Milo, whom he introduced onstage. Milo looked adorable; a young version of his father wearing a tiny leather jacket. The band is set to release their latest album, Tales From Wyoming at the end of this month, and have only released a few songs to date. However, Denver fans were lucky enough to hear several of the new tracks including: “In My Head,” “Nothing Else Matters (When I’m With You),” “They Call Me Steve,” “Haunted House,” and “I Wanna Die.”
Co-singers’ Ray Carlisle and Kody Templeman’s voices blended with each other perfectly. Drummer Brandon Carlisle filled the venue with his insanely fast beats and rolls, and bassist Miguel Chen played like a rock star. The band played with tremendous energy and the moshpit was fun and filled with kids dancing and throwing each other around. As usual Clint Carlin was dressed up in a mask, holding up a sign, and came out at the end of Teenage Bottlerocket’s set to pump up the crowd. Singer Carlisle and Chen also revved up the audience with their power stances. Carlisle aimed his guitar in the crowd as if it were a gun; his “shots” timed perfectly with twin brother Brandon’s drum strokes. Teenage Bottlerocket definitely made the show worth the price of the ticket ($35) and fans that came out for Teenage Bottlerocket left the dance floor sweaty and excited.
Opener: A Wilhelm Scream. After Teenage Bottlerocket played I went to the back to congratulate the band on a great performance and chat with some old friends and unfortunately I missed the majority of New Belford, Massachusetts Melodic Hardcore band A Wilhelm Scream. Fans in attendance used words like amazing, tremendous, and fantastic to describe the bands’ performance. Singer Nuno Pereira’s voice carried throughout the venue to Broadway and fans were all smiles after the performance.
Pennywise. Fans of the twenty-seven year old band Pennywise started to get excited between sets, crowding the bar and singing along to the Green Day song that was played over the P.A. The fans that crowded the barrier for Pennywise’s set were young, however the sole crowd surfer of the night was pushing forty. The moshpit was raging, a huge violent mass of bodies swirling around the center of the venue. Unfortunately the legendary Hermosa Beach, California band sounded distorted and static from different parts of the venue.
The band played a few tracks off of their latest release as well as some old favorites, including “Fuck Authority,” “Fight Till You Die,” “Straight Ahead,” “Perfect People,” “Same Old Story,” “Something To Change,” and, as usual, finished the show with “Bro Hymn.” The band did fit a good number of hits in the hour that they played, however their set was exactly one hour, which seemed short for the fans that were there solely for the headliner. The poor sound was not the only thing to damper the performance; the set itself fell a little flat. Having seen the band several times before, their performance did not bring the magic that the band has shown before. People leaving were jazzed on the opening acts, but not many people were singing praise for the main band.
Energy: B
Musicianship: A
Sound: C
Stage Presence: B
Set/Light Show: B
Overall: B
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