Descendents with Circle Jerks and Surfbort
Mercury Ballroom
Louisville, KY
September 15th, 2024
California punk rock/skate punk band Descendents and hardcore punk band Circle Jerks brought their co-headlining tour to Louisville, KY on September 15th to a sold out crowd! With both bands forming in the late 1970’s, they have a solid fan base of older and newer fans alike and performed a wide array of songs from their respective catalogs. Starting the evening off was New York punk rock band Surfbort. Full of a fun and exuberant energy, singer Dani Miller bounced around the stage throughout the set and really interacted with the crowd. Whether she was handing the microphone to a couple of fans at the barricade or getting out into the crowd, she and her band mates really gave their set a very inclusive feel. They got the energy flowing and were a great start to the evening. Next up was Circle Jerks, with singer Keith Morris (Black Flag/Off!) giving the crowd a bit of punk rock history before the music started, telling everyone to have some fun. He told several stories during their set, whether about Circle Jerks throughout the years, other bands they’ve known/played with, or just general punk rock history, keeping the crowd engaged and entertained! Starting out the set with “Deny Everything”, “Letterbomb”, and “In Your Eyes”, they performed a 21-song set list that included “Wild In The Streets”, “Moral Majority”, “Live Fast Die Young”, and “Wasted” and had the crowd dancing, moshing, crowd-surfing, and singing along! Before performing “Wild In The Streets”, Morris told the crowd how they recorded the song thinking it would propel the band into the spotlight and have them hanging out with bands/artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Mellencamp, and U2, which didn’t happen. “Life doesn’t always work out that way. The road is bumpy, but has led us here.” Afterwards he announced “That is your Sunday night sermon, brought to you by your new favorite religion, The Circle Jerks!”. The band was having a great time on stage, with each other and with the crowd, and seemed in high spirits. Towards the end of their set, they thanked everyone for coming out this evening and thanked Descendents and Surfbort, telling everyone to yell and scream and make some noise. Ending the set with “Question Authority”, the crowd obliged!
Ending the evening was Descendents. As the band walked out on stage, drummer Bill Stevenson walked along the front of the stage smiling at the crowd, waving and giving them a thumbs up before settling behind his drum kit. Singer Milo Aukerman, guitarist Stephen Egerton, and bassist Karl Alvarez were engaging in some friendly banter with each other and the crowd before launching into their set. Starting out with “Feel This”, they performed a 30-song set list of older and newer songs. Descendents are my all-time favorite band and it was so much fun to hear them play hit after hit while I sung my little heart out. Performing older favorites such as “Hope”, “Silly Girl”, “Clean Sheets”, “Everything Sux”, “Suburban Home”, “Myage”, “Coolidge”, “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”, and “Bikeage”, they performed newer favorites such as “When I Get Old”, “Smile”, “On Paper”, and “Victim of Me”. Although the band didn’t talk too much between songs, the crowd seemed happy to just sing along while dancing and moshing (and the occasional crowd surfer). After blowing through 26 songs, the band briefly left the stage before coming back out for an encore, much to the crowd’s delight. They ended the evening with a 4-song encore, which included 2 of my favorites- “Good Good Things” and “Get The Time” (which they ended their set with). It was a really special night of music that had the crowd singing, dancing, and full of good energy all evening!
Surfbort
Circle Jerks
Descendents
