August 4, Los Angeles Echoplex review.

[I am the Sun]

I was absolutely amazed that I was able to get to the show. I literally ended up there due to a series of "let downs". Basically, a friend and I were bored and he called me up asking if I was doing anything. I told Him I wasn't up to anything and asked if I wanted to go to six flags. I said, sure, why not and we tried to contact people to join us but no one was around. So we were sitting around bored and I remembered that Circle Jerks were playing and I said, lets go to that. He was immediately game. So we go and pick up his friends (who were nice guys but deadbeats so I ended up paying for their tickets) We showed up to the venue a little late. Them, being "too punk" to see any other band besides Circle Jerks went out back and I assume did drugs or something. As for me, I stayed for the remainder of the Qui set. I'm totally unfamiliar with Qui's music but I liked what little I heard. David Yow was on stage and absolutely hammered, in traditional David Yow fashion. They closed their set with a cover of Frank Zappa's "Willie The Pimp" that was dedicated to the guitarist's dad, who happened to be in the audience. This version of Willie the Pimp was, naturally, much heavier and much more chaotic. Yow careened and stumbled all over the place drunkenly howling the lyrics and then jumped into the audience and proceeded to shake the guitarist's father and was kind of just running into everyone and stumbling around. What can I say, it was entertaining.  I then walked outside and proceeded to talk to various Melvins fans and Buzz for a brief moment while The Bronx played.  Then Circle Jerks came on and played a pretty damn good set. They took a few breaks to remind us all that the Melvins and The Locust were awesome and to tell us to vote etc. All in all it was entertaining, if not pretty much like every punk show I've ever seen. The Melvins then proceeded to take the stage, with special guest bassist absolutely no one,  and announced that their band was pro-everything including abortion and sex.  They said some other things I simply can't remember and then said they were going to play a song in the great punk rock tradition. Turns out that the song was Merle Haggard's Okie From Muskogee. I can't remember what order they played everything in, but I do remember them playing Set Me Straight/DCH,Hog Leg, Ballad of Dwight Fry, Hooch, and Sky Pup, which had lyrics about how punks are all the same and how they're useless, at least from the parts of the lyrics I heard. Unfortunately they weren't up too long but, as always, every minute of it was extremely enjoyable, though I thought it would've been kind of cool to have them bring out David Yow for a cover of Blockbuster,but whatever, it was still a killer set. Then The Locust came up. I really like The Locust and I have been wanting to see them for years but never have been able to catch any of their shows. Unfortunately, their live shows are no where near as exciting as their 90 pound tight jeaned groupies would want you to believe. They can play well, sure, but 90% of the time it was utterly impossible to figure out what songs they were playing. I think that if they mixed up the set more with some of their newer material, which has slow parts, then the set would have at least been varied, but no, they only played a few off of their new album.  In between songs they were met with crys of "play some music!" which they would respond to by either playing one of their songs or noise.  I don't want it to sound like I hate The Locust though, I really do think they're a great band but they should only be listened to 20 minutes at a time at most, otherwise it just gets way too stale. I do have to give them props though, because they are very talented and can pull off all their songs with ease. All in all, the show was totally worth it, even though I ended up paying for 3 times the amount of a normal ticket, but considering the purpose of the show, I can't really be upset about it. Just to recap - Qui was definitely a winner and I'll be buying their new album in september, Circle Jerks were pretty good and I'd probably see them again, The Melvins were top notch as always and pretty much proved that they don't even really need a bassist, and The Locust was entertaining for about 10 minutes.

[FartLips]

great review! fuck a bassist!

[I am the Sun]

Thanks! I seriously do think they should stop worrying about a bassist when they play live. I mean, it's an extra bonus if  they have a bassist, but if they're not playing shows because they can't get someone to fill in on bass duties that's ridiculous. They're perfectly capable of playing a full set without a bassist, they'd just need to pick their songs carefully.

[bUTTHOLEmAN]

Thanks for the review! 
Where outside was Buzz?  Is their a patio towards the back?  Or did they let you in and out?  Thanks!

[I am the Sun]

There was a little place in the back near the entrance that had designated barriers. Buzz was talking to people near the entrance. I didn't really talk to him that long. Yow was out back hanging with some people too. Considering his current condition I decided not to talk to him, as I was positive that I wasn't going to be able to make sense of a damn word he was saying.

[ijwthstd]

Okie From Muskogee
Set Me Straight/DCH
Skypup
Suicide In Progress
Second Coming
Ballad Of Dwight Fry
Hooch
Hog Leg
With Teeth   

Qui was awesome, so glad I finally saw them. Agree on The Locust. Would have probably liked them more if they were on first instead of last as I ranked them about 5th out of 5.

If anyone cares this is the Circle Jerks setlist

Letter Bomb
In Your Eyes
Stars And Stripes
I Don't
Back Against The Wall
Behind The Door
I Just Want Some Skank
Beverly Hills
Solitary Confinement  (with Dix Denney of the Weirdos)
I & I
Deny Everything
I Wanna Destroy You
Wild In The Streets
Coup D' Etat
When The Shit Hits The Fan
Red Tape
Revenge
Gimme Gimme Gimme
Depression   

[I am the Sun]

Thanks for the setlist man. Would you have any pictures of the show?

[FartLips]

or recordings?

[bUTTHOLEmAN]

There should be many recordings (video/audio) available soon.

[anaconda]

Melvins playing at their gut level as a core duo. Brilliant! This is core.

[bUTTHOLEmAN]

Melvins playing at their gut level as a core duo. Brilliant! This is core.

Heh heh heh, you said gut.

[I am the Sun]

There should be many recordings (video/audio) available soon.

That's good, I missed out on most of Qui and I've heard enough stories about Yow to get me curious about the chaos he may have caused before I showed up.

[bUTTHOLEmAN]

There should be many recordings (video/audio) available soon.

That's good, I missed out on most of Qui and I've heard enough stories about Yow to get me curious about the chaos he may have caused before I showed up.

You didn't miss much; the end of the set seemed better to me.  Qui's alright, but I don't think I'll be going out of my way to see them again.

[circle one]

Qui was awesome, so glad I finally saw them.

Excellent band - not to be missed.   What impressed me most is that they played at 6:30 to a smallish crowd and still played like they were headliners.   That's the mark of a great band.  I think these guys have huge potential. 

The Melvins kicked ass.  The people I was with all preferred this show to the Senile Animal show we saw last November, although I thought last year's was better.  I was amazed how great they sounded without a bass player, but I still think they would've sounded that much better with one. 

I also dug the Circle Jerks.  I haven't heard them in about 15 years, but they really brought the rock.  Good to see that Morris is walking without a cane again, too. 

[I am the Sun]

Well, has anyone got recordings of this yet??