Social D - continued

I knew the show in Athens was going to be a tough one to top, but I was still looking forward to seeing the band again. I was also extraordinarily curious to see what a punk rock show would be like in Hilton Head. If Michael J. Fox is the only man with no Elvis in him, then Hilton Head Island, SC is the only city in the United States with no punk rock in it. But I knew Mike wouldn't let me down.

Shoreline Ballroom
Hilton Head Island, SC
10/25/09

Excepting two dates as Pearl Jam's opening act (more on this later), the Hilton Head gig was the last stop on Social Distortion's tour. The Shoreline Ballroom was a curious choice, but it turned out to be kind of interesting. There's nothing really remarkable about this place, but their beer was cheaper than at most of the stuffy bars in HHI, the room was big, and the sound was pretty decent. Because everything within the city limits of Hilton Head Island is damned impossible to find, and because this particular joint makes you drive a few miles away and take a shuttle to get there, I wound up missing all of MC Rut's set, and about half of the Stranger's.

Social D hit the stage right around 10, and they got down to business right away; they once again opened the set with "The Creeps", "Another State of Mind" and "Mommy's Little Monster". I don't care that this was the same way they opened the 40 Watt show. As a matter of fact, if they open every show for the rest of their existence with these three numbers, I don't think you're going to hear too many people complaining. They played mostly the same songs that they did in Athens, shuffling around the order a bit, and they omitted "Highway 101" from this set. I spent a good bit of the 40 Watt show in the pit (most bars in Athens only charge $3 for Jameson shots, this is not good for my well being), so this time around I was content to stand near the back, sip beer and just enjoy the show. In doing so, I was able to make a lot of observations about the band.

Jonny "2 Bags" Wickersham has got the coolest job in the world. He's Mike Ness' personal lead guitar player. I've now seen him play 6 times with Social Distortion and once with Ness' solo band. I think it's reached the point where it would be weird to see Ness on stage without him. He's also a great guitar player. The only person that ever looked more at home playing Les Paul Junior was Johnny Thunders.

I've seen Social D with a few different bass players, and I think I like Brent Harding the best out of all of them. The first time I saw him play with the band was at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA in early '08. They opened the show with a three song acoustic mini-set with Harding on the upright bass. I would love to see them do more of this. He was also in Ness' solo band when I saw them last year, and he plays the upright rather well. He does a solid job of holding down the bottom end, and he's an excellent backup singer. He's a very diverse player with a background that ranges from punk to bluegrass. I cannot describe what an asset this can be to the band, particularly when it comes to recording new material. I hope he sticks around for a while.

Adam "Atom" Willard (Angels & Airwaves) is behind the drum kit for the band now. He's just a straight up basher, and he's pretty damn good at it. He almost makes me forget about Charlie Quintana. Almost. The kid is good, though, and he didn't seem out of place up there.

All in all, the band delivered another solid set. And they proved they can put on a punk rock show wherever they damn well please. Fortunately, since I wasn't in the shit, so to speak, I was able to note the entire set list, in order.

"(I Just Wanna Give You) The Creeps"
"Another State of Mind"
"Mommy's Little Monster"
"Sick Boys"
"Don't Drag Me Down"
"Ring of Fire"
"Bad Luck"
"Reach for the Sky"
"Can't Take It with You"
"Ball and Chain"
"Bakersfield"
"Nickels and Dimes"
"Sometimes I Do"
encore
"Making Believe"
"99 to Life"
"Still Alive"
"Story of My Life"

Just take a minute and read that set list. It's really quite amazing what a repertoire Mr. Ness has been able to put together through the years. All three of the new songs are pretty good, by the way. "Still Alive" is a pretty straightforward Social D tune, and my least favorite of the three. "Bakersfield" is a great song which, unsurprisingly, draws heavily from the Bakersfield sound. I cannot wait to hear the studio version of this. Jonny 2 Bags can play the chicken pickin' style with the best of them. "Can't Take It with You" is the best new Social D song I've heard since Sex, Love and Rock n' Roll. It's got a heavy soul, you could even call it gospel, feel to it, and I would bet money it's going to achieve new classic status with fans when the next record comes out.

After the Hilton Head show, the band headed to Philadelphia to open two shows for Pearl Jam at the Spectrum. I'm not really a big PJ fan, but goddammit I wish I could have seen this:



That looks like the coolest thing to happen at the Spectrum since Rocky Balboa went the distance with Apollo Creed.

Mike Ness got to wrap up the best tour I've seen him do in a long time, and then he got to play two gigs in front of an enormous audience. I got to see one of my idols play twice within the span of 48 hours, and I get to cross 'watch punk rock concert on stuffy resort island' off my list of things to do before I die. Everybody won.