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Austinist Review: Rancid Still Fresh
Sometimes, we just don’t feel punk enough to be at punk shows. We didn’t really grow out of punk — the whole relationship was just a brief, satisfying flirtation. We thought we loved punk, but we just could never give it what it wanted. We weren’t the right girl. And, truth be told, even when we had pink hair and a tendency to wear leopard-print mini skirts and scarred Doc Martens, we just weren’t that punk. But, our lack of street cred didn’t keep us away from the Rancid show at Emo’s last night.
Rancid is one of our lingering loves. In fact, the band is among a lot of people’s lingering loves, as demonstrated by an audience that ran the gamut from teenaged punks to middle-aged guys in guayabera shirts. We even saw a father with his two sons, all sporting matching Mohawks.
The venue was packed and hot as hell, but we barely even complained. We just waited in front of an industrial fan, fidgeting with our earplugs. Finally, after what seemed like the world’s longest soundcheck, the band took the stage with “Time Bomb.” The opening number set the tone for the evening: the band’s aggressive, high-energy, high-quality performance on-stage was echoed by a lot of aggressive, high-energy dancing and singing by the crowd.
The band ripped through highlights of their catalog including older songs like “Rats in the Hallway,” and favorites like “Fall Back Down.” Tim Armstrong joked, “We know all our songs and more.” With no upcoming releases, the tour was definitely all about the fans. The band shouldn’t have worried too much though, as the audience seemed equally pleased with everything that happened onstage — not to suggest that anything displeasing was happening onstage.
The real treat for the evening was a brief acoustic set near the middle of the show. Unplugged, Rancid did a surprisingly sweet cover of “The 11th Hour,” and hit a couple of other numbers, including the exceptional “To Have and to Have Not,” originally recorded by Billy Bragg and covered by Lars Frederiksen’s other band, Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards. The slightly slower, stripped-down versions of these songs really brought focus to the musicality of the pieces and the generally exceptional literacy of the band’s lyrics.
Sum total, Rancid definitely delivered. This wasn’t one of those insider’s shows, either. The high quality of the performance and the material should have been apparent to anyone. We only saw one person last night who wasn’t having a good time, but she was wearing earrings so large as to inhibit dancing appropriately and had that “I can’t believe I let my boyfriend drag me here,” look on her face. We even saw an extremely pregnant woman, and she was having a good time. The show was just that good.
After last night’s show sold out, Emo’s and the band added a second night, meaning that Rancid will be taking the stage again tonight. Armstrong promised a completely different set, and we’re sure he’s been in the business long enough to know better than to break a promise to a crowd of sweaty drunks. Tickets are still available from Emo’s, but we recommend jumping on those sooner rather than later.
