Review: Social Distortion at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
By Elin Berta
Friday July 8, 2011
Thursday night (July 7) saw the 02 Shepherds Bush Empire packed to the rafters as Californian punk rock legends Social Distortion arrived. After releasing their new album "Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes" in January, they have been touring Europe and the Empire was their first stop on the British leg of their tour.
However, the album has not been well received by fans, as it is quite different from earlier material. The country and blues influence (although it’s always been there) is more present than ever. However, as Mike Ness started playing new song "Machine Gun Blues", everyone seemed to know the lyrics. Inevitably, the gig was a big mixture of new and old songs – set to please both old and new fans alike.
One of the highlights was when Mike Ness started playing his famous cover of Hank Williams song "Six More Miles" (from Ness’ solo album "Under the Influence"). He started off by saying he always plays this song on days when he´s feeling down to ‘get a bit happier’, and even on days he’s happy, to get ‘even happier’. Somehow he managed to make the screaming and sweaty audience into his own massive backup-choir, dividing them into three parts and giving them directions on when to sing.
Later, Ness brought two kids up on stage with him, handed a £10 note to one of them saying “I bet you never got a tenner from a lead singer before.” As he went on telling the crowd that to keep punk rock alive we have to pass the torch on to the new generation of punk rockers, he again got an instant response of screaming and applause from the audience.
Returning for an encore, Ness called in an all-female choir on blues-inspired song California. And finally the punk rock legends wrapped it all up with their version of Johnny Cash´s "Ring of Fire", showing off their fusion of country and punk rock that is still as potent as ever.
Although they’ve been around for over three decades, Social Distortion’s energy on stage is quite impressive. And to be honest, I’m hoping Ness will keep carrying the torch for punk rock for at least another two decades.
