Another great review by Nicola Fox, posted months later by the forgetful fool of an Editor…
MUSIC
It was most certainly the time to ‘Pump up the Valium’ as hundreds of NOFX fans swarmed through the doors of Brixton Academy to see the ground-breaking punks perform after a distant 4 year gap from the UK.
Although transportation to the venue was halted after closures were made to the main tube line, the outcome didn’t seem affected – it just built up more anticipation.
First band on stage were British hopefuls TAT who wowed the crowds with their punk-rock based image and intriguing style.
The band are more than set to be a huge success with their catchy yet controversial melodies such as ‘Champagne, Cocaine and Strawberries’ and the rhythmic ‘Live for Rock and Roll’ With a special hardcore appearance from Tatiana’s 90-year-old grandmother who positioned herself by the stage, the band then introduced fellow rockers, The Loved Ones.
Unfortunately for The Loved Ones, their set was let down dramatically by the poor sound quality. Whilst the Philadelphian rockers appeared to be having delightful time on stage performing tracks such as ‘Jane’ and ‘100K’, masses of NOFX fans sat down for the duration, eagerly waiting for Fat Mike and crew to surface on stage.
Once ‘The Loved Ones’ departed the stage, NOFX fans went wild and as heaving crowds began to emerge up front, they barely realised the notorious Fat Mike had already took place on stage!
Dancing lesbians plus a minuscule banner, Fat Mike then began to choke out his usual stage banter, toilet humour and crowd humiliating antics. Mike then took a brief moment before pounding out crowd favourites, ‘Dinosaurs will die’, ‘Liza and Louise’ and ‘Linoleum’ in true punk rock style.
All the rage as fans were squashed, mosh pits began to circulate and taking a step back you would see that Brixton transformed into NOFX fuelled frenzy. The hype was almost over after a 20 minute or so performance of the unpopular, ‘The Decline’ and then Fat Mike returned to his infamous ranting.
‘Eat the meek’, ‘Dying degree’ and ‘Franco un American’ got the crowds energized and they were wowed by a cover of Rancid’s track ‘Radio’.
The show concluded with several repeats of ‘I wanna be an alcoholic’ and an invigorating encore consisting of ‘Fuck the Kids’ and ‘The Brews.’
I’d say that the best thing about NOFX live is the atmosphere and Fat Mike’s riotous stage presence. Their return to the UK was most certainly worth waiting for!