Digital Diversion

© 2012 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

ArnoCorps took over the Oakland Metro for a night of heroics and lore before leaving for their July audio assault of the UK. The only thing that could have made this show any balsier would have been the addition of two more bass players for true super-symmetry. Regardless, the crowd was feeling the pump … I mean look at the pectorals on those sheroes. Come on!

© 2012 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

San Francisco’s Warfield was lucky to host ska legends Madness, which sandwichedless than a handful of west coast dates between their weekend Coachella performances. When you’ve got a band that’s been around as long as Madness (35 some-odd years), things can go a few different ways: you can find yourself with one original member milking the band’s name by going through the motions, or … as in the case with Madness … you get six members from the band’s formative years busting out the music like it was written yesterday.

Taking stage looking dapper in suits and two-tone shoes and by no means showing their years, Madness jumped straight into what else? One Step Beyond. Chas Smash and Suggs McPherson may have owned the stage but Lee Thompson (aka silly sausage) didn’t let that get in the way of his own fun, at various points hitting each security guard with a blast of saxophone in the ear and later on taking a dive off the stage for some crowd surfing (sans sax). The energy was infectious; the sold-out floor was bopping along and at one point a small mosh pit actually broke out.

The stage setup was stripped down; no need for a lot of additional glitz when there are ten people on stage. Only after the third song was a giant lit Madness sign revealed on the backdrop. It made a few reappearances throughout the set but largely remained off. Aside from a few comments about the colorful neighborhood that they found themselves staying and performing in (if you’ve ever been to the Warfield, you’d know what they were talking about it) the first half of the set was about knocking out classic tune after tune.

About half way into the set, the band took a bit of a break from the music to entertain the audience with some jokes (a few which seemed to go over a good number of heads) as well as an a cappella rendition of the Beatles’ Help! (which may have been missing a few lyrics). Once properly rested and re-joined by the horn section (Brass Monkeys?), Madness spent the rest of the set knocking out the missing hits: House of Fun, Baggy Trousers, and Our House even got the balcony up and moving. Suggs introduced It Must Be Love with, “Sometimes it’s a pleasure sometimes it’s a privilege. Tonight it’s been both,” before leaving the stage and the crowd wanting more.

What could still be missing from that set? Not to be forgotten were Madness and Night Boat to Cairo which wrapped up the encore. The house lights came on to Monty Python’s Always Look On the Bright Side of Life pumping through the P.A. and some sort of Suggs/Chas parting jig. Spotted after the show … a lot of smiling faces leaving the Warfield after 90 minutes of Madness.

Setlist:

• One Step Beyond
• Embarrassment
• The Prince
• NW5
• My Girl
• The Sun and the Rain
• Take It Or Leave It
• Taller Than You Are
• I Chase The Devil aka Iron Shirt
• Clerkenwell Polka
• Shut Up
• Grey Day
• Bed & Breakfast Man
• Forever Young
• House Of Fun
• Baggy Trousers
• Our House
• It Must Be Love

–Encore–

• Tarzan’s Nuts or Swan Lake?
• Madness
• Night Boat To Cairo

© 2012 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

Rancid celebrated their 20th anniversary with a pair of sold out hometown shows at the Warfield in San Francisco, bringing along legendary Oi! pioneers Cock Sparrer for both. But with an equivalent set length and at least as many rabid fans in the crowd as Rancid, it would be hard to argue that Cock Sparrer held anything less than a co-headlining spot at this gig.

The Cock Sparrer intro music started and the crowd began to squirm before the curtains even opened. Taking the stage, Cock Sparrer busted into Riot Squad and the crowd went absolutely sideways front-to-back, not letting up a smidge throughout the 70 minute set. Celebrating their own anniversary (40 years), Cock Sparrer absolutely obliterated the stage … all smiles and oozing with energy. Not bad at all for a bunch of old guys.

[Click the photo below for the Cock Sparrer setlist and photo gallery]

Rancid took the stage promptly at 10:40, allowing sufficient time between sets for the crowd to catch its breath as well as what appeared to be half of the floor swapping out positions with those in the pit area. Starting with East Bay Night from their latest release (Let The Dominoes Fall), the band moved quickly into familiar territory with three from their breakthrough, …and Out Came the Wolves.

Armstrong wheeled across the stage, dragging his mic stand behind him before dropping it for a loyal stagehand to pick up and replace center-stage time and time again. I’ve always been surprised by how that guitar of his gets flung around for an entire set yet the band always sounds so tight.

With a 27 song setlist, Rancid didn’t waste a whole lot of time for chitchat. Besides dedicating Old Friend to a list of friends and family, the only other meaningful pause came with an abrupt end to Salvation when Lars and Tim thought that something bad was happening in the pit. After some brief advice about not bringing your keys into the pit they were right back at it. The special moment of the night was when “Skinhead” Rob Aston from Transplants joined them on stage for a few verses of Under The Red Hot Moon (which he sang on for the album version of the song).

While Rancid may not have dug as deeply into their catalog as they did when they headlined here back in September, giving a sizable chunk of stage time up for an epic performance by Cock Sparrer was a more than fair trade.

Full Setlist:

• East Bay Night
• Roots Radicals
• The Way I Feel
• Journey to the End of the East Bay
• Last One to Die
• Out of Control
• The 11th Hour
• I Wanna Riot
• Red Hot Moon
• Hooligans
• Old Friend
• Nihilism
• Adina
• Salvation
• Bloodclot
• Rejected
• St. Mary
• It’s Quite Alright
• Listed M.I.A.
• Fall Back Down
• Black & Blue
• Something in the World Today
• Maxwell Murder
• Gunshot
• Radio

–Encore–

• Time Bomb
• Ruby Soho

© 2012 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

Did you know that the Kaiser Chiefs have a new album out? Neither did I.  Well to be accurate, Start the Revolution Without Me is a re-vamped version of their 2011 release, Future Is Medieval, but it saves you from paying the price for an import and you get a “real” new track (On The Run) to boot.  Having not toured  the U.S. since 2009, it was clear from the capacity crowd at the Fillmore in San Francisco that there was some pent-up demand for the Chiefs and already an appreciation for the handful of new songs that made it into the set.

Setlist:

• Everyday I Love You Less And Less
• Never Miss A Beat
• Little Shocks
• Everything Is Average Nowadays
• Good Days Bad Days
• Modern Way
• Listen To Your Head
• Ruby
• The Angry Mob
• Na Na Na Na Naa
• Starts With Nothing
• I Predict A Riot
• Kinda Girl You Are
• Take My Temperature
• On The Run

–Encore–

• Love’s Not A Competition (But I’m Winning)
• Oh My God

Supporting acts: Transfer, Walk The Moon

© 2012 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook.