Bad Religion at First Avenue, Minneapolis (02 July 2019)

 

 

The legendary punk band Bad Religion (singer Greg Graffin, guitarist Brett Gurewitz, bassist Jay Bentley, guitarist Brian Baker, drummer Mike Dimkich) headlined First Avenue’s mainroom in Minneapolis on July 02, 2019.

American singer-songwriter Dave Hause (billed as the band Dave Hause& The Mermaid) opened the show with a 40-min set. Near the end of their set, Hause mentioned, “we usually play over there” (pointing to the 7th Street Entry), and continued, “this room is nice as sh**!”

The dancefloor was pretty packed when Hause and company launched into “Eye Aye I”, singing “Now I do what I’m told, I used to bold, I used to bold.”

For “Dirty F**ker”, they dedicated the song to “that guy sitting in the White House.”

Before Hause played The Loved Ones (a band he used to be in) song called “Jane”, he told us this story about how 11 years ago, they were touring with The Hold Steady and almost nearly died.

It’s been a decade since Bad Religion was in town (they played Vans Warped Tour 2009 in Shakopee), and it’s good to have the band back. This was only the second night of their North American tour for Age of Unreason (Epitaph Records), the band was happy to unveil their live debut of “End Of History”. They sounded great, but unfortunately, there were some unavoidable technical difficulties that started happy around “Recipe for Hate”.

The fans, which spans generational, didn’t seem to mind one bit and often sang along to almost every song (particularly loud for “21st Century (Digital Boy)” and “Do What You Want”).

Bad Religion played hard and loud throughout their set, with the exception of “Generator”, which was done as a “festival style”. The first stanza of the song was slowed down (almost acapella) and it would speed up for the next section. It actually changes the song, as the studio version hits you like a runaway freight train from the start… so hearing it slow build almost made me a totally different song.

Otherwise, no complaints here. Greg Graffin and company played all the hits, and they were really good keeping in timing with great harmony. Again, the band were really in top form. I love seeing Brian Baker, when I saw them in the 90s, he was the “newest” band member to join and he bounced all over the place in his live performance. Sure everyone in the band is a little older now, but they still pulled off some well-practiced moves!

Bad Religion saved two of their biggest hit, “Infected” and “American Jesus” (their highest charting song) for the encore. It was satisfying to hear the entire room singing back the lyrics.

Remaining tour dates: