Checking out Social Distortion, Descendents and The Chats in NJ and Philly / Live reviews

 

Mike Ness of Social Distortion. (All photos by Lew Dewalt)

By Lew Dewalt

On Saturday, September 5th, I made my third trip to the Stone Pony Outdoor Stage in Asbury Park, NJ. Prior visits were for the 2016 Punk Rock Bowling weekend and the 2022 Punk in Drublic final NOFX tour. This time around, it was the Social Distortion "Born to Kill" Tour with the Descendents and The Chats opening up for them.

After a visit to the Asbury Ale House and the boardwalk bar, Lowdive, we headed to the show. Catasauqua, PA, the punk mecca of the Lehigh Valley (do a Google search for West Catty playground punk rock shows in the '80s) was well represented by 14 of us who spent the night front stage left. The 14 included a 7-year-old son of one of the gang sporting a bright blue mohawk and singing along to the bands like he had been listening to them for 40 years like the rest of us there.

Once again, I screwed up arrival time and we missed the first few songs by The Chats (I did the same thing the week before for a free Reverend Horton Heat show that was great btw). I was really excited to see them and boy did that three-piece deliver the goods. They went nonstop for 30 minutes logging 14 songs at breakneck speed. "6L GTR," "Drinking for Two," "Struck by Lightning," "Identity Theft" and their XM radio hit, "Smoko," were all part of the setlist. Their guitar player is incredible. I don’t know how his hand doesn’t fall off as he moves it so fast strumming that guitar.

The Punk in Drublic show was the last time I saw the Descendents not as a headliner. They kept the pace with The Chats throughout their 45-minute set, ripping through 23 songs. Milo barely had time to drink from his water jug he lugs around and even made it to the barrier for a song while sharing the microphone with the fans. They always seem to be having so much fun playing for the excited crowd that included a crowd surfer wearing a lucha libre mask. Half the set was from "Everything Sucks" (which is celebrating its 30th anniversary) and "Milo Goes to College." "9th & Walnut" and "Enjoy!" songs didn’t make the cut for the shorter-than-headliner time slot.

As the sun began to set on a beautiful clear non-humid day near the beach, Social Distortion hit the stage and started the show with their title track "Born to Kill" after the Bowie "Rebel Rebel" intro. They managed to get 17 songs in during their 90-minute set. I had heard that Mike Ness was having some crackling voice issues a few shows before this and was a bit concerned for him. You couldn’t have known that based on how great his voice sounded. It has certainly been the best I have heard him since he kicked cancer’s ass. Like the opening bands before them, Social Distortion kept the energy at off-the-chart levels. By comparison, the last few times I have seen them there was a lot of chatting in between songs. Not on this tour! We even got "The Creeps (I Just Wanna Give You)" and "Mommy’s Little Monster" in back-to-back songs early in the set.

This was the best three-band show I have seen from top to bottom in many years and that includes the Punk in Drublic show in 2022. The energy from all the bands was non-stop and the crowd fed off it. Crowd surfing was nonstop and everyone probably left a little hoarse, too.

I had sooooo much fun in Asbury Park that I decided to go see the same show in Philly at The Met on Tuesday, September 8th. This time, only 10 folks from Catasauqua made it out on the school night to see two of the town’s favorite bands. A friend of mine was able to get us comp tickets for the pit area through his WWE connections. The rest of the venue is assigned seats because it is basically a theater.

You won’t believe it, but I missed the first few Chats songs again hanging out in the lobby. Unlike at the Stone Pony, I didn’t have to waste time standing in the merch line, which I left because I didn’t want to miss any songs. I was able to get my Descendents tour shirt and a signed tour poster for my music room wall in Philly. Probably going to have to remove something to hang it as I am out of wall space again. I could write the same story about this evening as the Stone Pony evening. The energy of each band was at peak levels again. Social Distortion had even higher energy levels as Ness didn’t break 2-3 strings like he did outdoors in Asbury Park that caused some slight delays and song restarts. I can’t believe I am going to say this, but this three-band show was even better than Saturday.

In between the Descendents and Social Distortion, we were able to meet up with the guy who hooked us up with the tickets. He said that every show on the tour so far had a huge crowd to see The Chats. That is great to hear for those Aussies. I am sure they have some new fans from the USA. The same guy also got a brand-new Social Distortion tattoo on his calf earlier in the day in Philly.

Needless to say, I was super happy to go see the same show a second time. The setlist for each band was basically the same, but we did get "Lude Boy" in place of "Machine Gun Blues" from Social Distortion. Ness also didn’t wear his track suit in Philly like he did at the beach. 

If this tour is rolling through your area, go out and see them. And take $900 cash with you so you can buy the autographed leather jacket and hub cap at the Social Distortion merch booth.

A few Descendents photos.

The Chats

Singing away!