Adolescents/Street Dogs/The Vacancies - 8/6/06

Adolescents/Street Dogs/The Vacancies
Hairy Mary's
August 6th, 2006

First thing was that it was a dry show. This may have been a problem for some
but I remember when shows were all dry and in fact the reason they were on
Sunday was cause they didn't have a Sunday ligour licence.

At any rate, first up was the Vacancies from Cheveland. They had just put out
a record produced by Joan Jett on her Black heart label. I have to say I had
been looking forward to them since I had gotten the CD. They play a
combination of punk & roll in the tradition of the Dead Boys with at times a
hint of 80s hardcore punk. Their set was sold and direct and I'm hoping to
have another chance to see them.

Next up was the Street Dogs which is Mike from Dropkick Murphy's. By the end
of the first song, I was reminded of why I was so blown away by DM the first
time I saw them and was also a little disappointed when they played after
that. They wound the crowd up tight with their straight from Boston sing along
as Mike worked the crowd all the way through.

OK, way back in 1988, the Adolescents toured the midwest. The line-up was I .
think Ricc Agnew, Steve Soto and some other guys. I was out of my mind wanting
to see them and got word they were playing in Lawrence and Lincoln. I don't
know if I got the dates mixed up or if they were wrong in the first place but
I faked sick, left work early, drove the four hours to Lawrence, KS and when
we got there found out that they played the night before. In fact they were
playing in Lincoln that night. So we went back to KC and saw Mojo Nixon .
instead. A big ass let down. Not saying that Mojo was that bad but damn it he
wasn't the Adolescents.

I was standing out back talking to the guys from the Street Dogs about how
dumb their name was when I heard the beginnings of 'No Way'. For the next 30
minutes or so it was non-stop, thunerous trip through the blue record with a
few off OC Confidential thrown in for good measure. For a band that is over 20
years old, I have to say that they didn't miss a strike from beginning to end
and was well worth the 18 year wait. The only disappointment was they didn't
play 'Welcome to Reality' and they were cut a little short by the whole curfew
thing.