The Living End California Mini-Tour
One of my favorite bands that I up until now hadn’t had a chance to see live is Australian band The Living End. They played a mini-tour of California, and I hit up Oakland and Ventura, with a last minute addition in San Diego.
The New Parish — Oakland, CA 10/2/19
I got sidetracked watching Breaking Bad with Marnie, so I didn’t end up leaving until after doors were open. Somehow I still ended up on the barricade, front row center. I was next to a girl named Jeanne who traveled from Australia for the whole 5-show California tour. She had seen them 50+ times and was basically giving me the lowdown on what they play, how to meet them, etc.
I was V stoked and told her how I’d been a fan for 13 years but never had a chance to see them live until now.
Opening this show were Ghost Town Hangmen and ONOFF. Both were great and had great energy, lotta fun.
Ghost Town Hangmen also had a double bass like The Living End does, and the bassist stood on it, and so did the frontman. Honestly I just thought their vibe matched The Living End’s very well which kinda surprised and impressed me.
The Living End was honestly perfect. I was in awe for most of the show. They took some requests and traded out a few songs from what was written on the setlist.
Don’t Lose It
Roll On
Second Solution
Til the End
Bloody Mary
Death of the American Dream
All Torn Down
Uncle Harry
Drop the Needle
E-Boogie
How Do We Know
What Would You Do
White Noise
Long Live the Weekend
End of the World
Monday
West End Riot
Raise the Alarm
They traded out “Prisoner of Society” for “Long Live the Weekend” and “Up the Junction” for “Raise the Alarm.” I was super happy about “Long Live the Weekend” since that was basically the song that got me into them in high school.
Me: “What’s ‘E-Boogie’?”
Jeanne: “Chris basically does whatever he wants and they follow.”
It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen OH MY GOD. Apparently he sometimes plays guitar with a beer bottle??? I was sad he didn’t do it this time. But Chris reposted the video I got of it, so that was cool.
Chris made a comment onstage about how he doesn’t like Shift. Lol I made a similar comment about it before they came out onstage, whoops.
Apparently Scott’s bass got broken on the plane. NOOOOO. So sad, and ridiculous that the airline (fuck American Airlines btw) broke it. That’s terrible. So he had to borrow one, and he didn’t stand on it at all. I was afraid for a minute that maybe it was because he was getting too old for it, but Jeanne told me he still does it, just not with the borrowed bass unfortunately.
Apparently it had been over two years since the last time they were in California, and since then Chris got two dogs, Andy got a dog, and Scott got four trophy chickens??? Okay lmao
Before “Uncle Harry”:
Chris: “We never play this song. No, we always play this song.”
The venue was very small and the barricade was very flimsy.
“Death of the American Dream” was GREAT but they only played the first part of the song, not the second part.
Jeanne told me they never play “Bloody Mary” so that was cool.
After the show, I was literally bent over on top of the barricade reaching to grab a setlist and I was struggling (because all I do is struggle) and then a guy who I guess works at the venue came by and grabbed it for me. Sometimes making a dumbass of myself pays off.
I waited outside with Jeanne until about 12:30 for the boys and then I decided I didn’t want to wait that long like a weirdo, so I left. Apparently they came out like a half hour or 20 minutes later. Oh well.
Jeanne went to the next show in San Luis Obispo the next day and told me to look for her in the front row on Friday in Ventura.
Majestic Ventura Theater — Ventura, CA 10/4/19
After Oakland, I headed down to Ventura to stay with my Big, Kristy. Originally she had said the dude she was kinda seeing wanted to come to the show with us, too, but he didn’t end up coming. Kristy came with me though! Baby’s first punk show!
She was a little scared, but Jeanne and I told her she’d be safe on the barricade, so we sandwiched her.
This show, The Living End was actually opening for the Dead Kennedys.
I was shocked at how few people were in line until right before doors opened. Jeanne showed up right when doors opened too. She told me she accidentally stayed in the same hotel as the boys the night before and they saw her at breakfast and gave her a drumhead, signed for her birthday and sat with her for a bit. SO COOL. I love them. Such good dudes.
The first two openers were Bad Samaritan and Ford Maddox Ford. I didn’t like either of them as much as the openers in Oakland.
Ford Maddox Ford played a cover of “People Who Died” and I spent half their set trying to figure out what song it was. I somehow remembered it from a Fang show.
Their guitar was WAY TOO LOUD and it drowned out everything else. They probably weren’t bad, but tbh I couldn’t hear or appreciate them because the levels were so off. I hate when that happens.
The Living End
They played a shorter set than the last show obviously because this one is opening rather than headlining. I still thought the sound was a little off, but Jeanne said it was better than the night before in SLO.
Roll On
Second Solution
Don’t Lose It
End of the World
Til the End
Bloody Mary
Death of the American Dream
Drop the Needle
How Do We Know
E-Boogie
Who’s Gonna Save Us
Prisoner of Society
Me on Facebook during the show: “OH MY GOD at the end of ‘Prisoner of Society’ a dude JUMPS ON TOP OF KRISTY and LAUNCHES HIMSELF ONSTAGE and it’s a pretty decent amount of space between us and the stage and security basically TACKLED both him AND CHRIS and then at the end of the song Chris is just like, ‘Don’t throw him out!’ That guy is next level. I am in shock.”
I wish I had caught that on video. He had long hair and it was just hanging from the mic after the song. I just… what the hell did I just watch. ( I guess SOMEBODY was filming, just not me.)
Ya know, I thought I’d gotten away with some pretty crazy shit at shows until I witnessed this legend.
Anyway, so we thought Kristy would be safe on the barricade and we were wrong lollll whoops. Thankfully she was surprisingly okay with it.
Chris’s shoe came untied and it distracted me lol
Dead Kennedys
The crowd got rough lol. That’s to be expected obviously, but still. I like the Dead Kennedys and they put on a good show, but I got the Living End already so the craziness was a bit annoying, but I dealt with it.
I had to hold down my spot ALL NIGHT. A girl forced her way like under my armpit. I held onto a post of the barricade and shoved her away every chance I got. She also screamed “I LOVE YOU” at the band way too much. I was annoyed.
A lot of the show was very similar to when I saw them in Berkeley last year. It was pretty much the same setlist.
A guy launched himself onstage during their set too, but he didn’t get tackled by security. He just flipped security off and ran behind the drums. I think he probably got kicked out.
After the show, Kristy, Jeanne, and I hung out for a minute in the venue and I got another picture with Skip. He told me to do something v awkward with my hands for the picture, so I did it.
Then we went outside, and I met Chris Cheney!!! And I asked for a hug.
Me: “I’ve been a fan for 13 years but didn’t see you for the first time until Wednesday!”
Chris: “Where were we Wednesday?”
Me: “Oakland.”
I didn’t hug Andy, but I got a picture of the setlist he was holding. I didn’t meet Scott at all. Oh well. I was mostly just goofy stupid happy about getting a hug and pic with Chris.
They def knew Jeanne so that was cool. She tried to convince me into coming to Australia for their New Years Eve show, but ultimately Kristy talked me into going to the San Diego show last minute, because who knows when the next chance could be?
Also Kristy told me she had a good time, so that made me happy. YAYYYY!
Brick by Brick — San Diego 10/6/19
I was not supposed to be at this show, but Kristy convinced me last minute to stay in California a little longer. Thankfully Jeanne let me crash with her in San Diego, so I got an extra night with Kristy, then took a train from Oxnard to San Diego.
I napped in Jeanne’s hotel room and then we walked to the venue, Brick by Brick, together. We saw the sun set as we walked and it was so gorgeous. California is too pretty tbh. I miss it so much.
Brick by Brick was weird. It was like behind a restaurant kinda, and we couldn’t figure out which side was the front. The front really looked like a back door, and parking was right in front of it. I was just… confused.
This show was the day of Jeanne’s actual birthday, so she got a nice birthday show. She asked if she could take a poster from the venue and they gave her a blue one, whereas the one on display was yellow.
I sat on the stage until the bands came out. I got a Red Bull because I was tired already. Obviously the nap didn’t help too much, lol whoops.
The first band was The Dodges. They were fun, I guess pop punk ish?
The second band was Wild Roses, and they were WILD. One guy had a blue (beautiful) upright bass. I was surprised at how many upright basses I’d seen this tour. So many in punk bands, who woulda known.
They had a song called “I’m Gonna Put My Foot Up Your Ass.” Also pretty sure there was one song straight up about sex.
Jeanne introduced me to a guy she had met the day before at the SoCal Hoedown. She said she really liked a lot of the bands that played it.
The Living End
Uncle Harry
Roll On
Second Solution
Til the End
Don’t Lose It
Bloody Mary
Death of the American Dream
All Torn Down
Wake Up the Vampires
E-Boogie
How Do We Know
Drop the Needle
West End Riot
End of the World
What Would You Do
Prisoner of Society
“Up the Junction” was on the setlist again, but they didn’t play it again ugh. I mean Shift isn’t my favorite album, but still, it would’ve been nice to have a different song they hadn’t played yet.
This was probably my favorite show of the tour, so I’m def glad I went.
Chris came out and gave us hugs after the show. He seemed to remember me, so that was amazing. Andy gave me a drumstick (or did security give it to me? I don’t remember) and signed it for me.
They said they’d get Scott for us, too, but I saw him run right past us to get to the van. Boo. Oh well.
Anyway, it was so great. Such a good show. Love them.
I also loved getting to talk to other fans. I don’t really know people who love The Living End so much, so it was really nice.
