Sometimes, facing the real-life visage of your heroes of youth can make for a tough, if not sentimental night.
Social Distortion’s Mike Ness — looking more like a lounge lizard than a destroyed-by-the-injustices-of-youth punk rocker — presented me with that challenge at the Fillmore on Friday night. Fortunately, Ness, the personage who, himself, represents the band’s mythos more than a collection of songs and musicians, pulled it off with all the aplomb, mystique and sophistication of a megastar; one to whom all the trappings of legend are old hat, and who’s evolved into a consummate showman, rather than just a figurehead.
More than 30 years after forming, Social Distortion proved that its rock validity is solid in front of a tightly packed Fillmore (no small feat) with a 90-minute set that rocked from the opening feedback of “I Was Wrong” to Ness’s final bow and stroll off the stage. The band’s lineup read like a SoCal punk rock Hall of Fame roster, including Jonny Wickersham (Youth Brigade, Cadillac Tramps, U.S. Bombs) on guitar, Brent Harding (from Mike Ness’s solo projects and The Steeplejacks) on bass and David Hidalgo, Jr. (Suicidal Tendencies, the Drips) on drums, while Ness howled in his characteristic rasp and seared front row faces with an impressive lead guitar.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
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Social Distortion headlined a two-night stand at the Fillmore Auditorium beginning Friday night. Photos by Jennifer Cohen, heyreverb.com.
The set list included an array of hits from all over the band’s history, though the meat of the music focused on the roots-heavy genre that Ness has embraced in the last decade or so more than his Orange County punk rock roots. I was surprised (and overjoyed) to hear “Hour of Darkness” towards the end of the set, and I almost held my breath for “Mommy’s Little Monster,” but no such luck. The punk classic was bracketed by mega-hits like “Prison Bound,” “Story of My Life,” “Ball and Chain,” “Through These Eyes” and many more, including at least one new song from the forthcoming new album due in January.
And, yes, Ness did appear more like an aging lounge lizard (think Tom Jones) than the skinny, pre-heroin punk rock idealist that started this seminal band decades ago. His receding hair was slicked back with shiny product and he wore a mass of unkempt and greying facial hair that encroached on the tattoos that stretch up his neck. His pants, missing the rest of a zoot suit, were hiked too high above his waist by suspenders that cut into a baggy white shirt, and he wore dancing shoes.
Aging hipster or not, Ness proved that all that is meaningless. Pastiche on the raging heart of a punk rocker is just that – decoration. The music is in the maker, and he remains one of the most enduring symbols of that passion.
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Billy Thieme is a Denver-based writer, an old-school punk and a huge follower of Denver’s vibrant local music scene. Follow Billy’s explorations at DenverThread.com, and his giglist at Gigbot.
Jennifer Cohen is a Lakewood-based freelance photographer and regular contributor to Reverb. Check out her website.
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