Digital Diversion

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.