since 12/29/98
10/14/98 The Palladium, Worcester, MA: The Ducky Boys, Hepcat, Rancid
The Ducky Boys opened this show. Quite a break, opening for Rancid! I hadn't seen them since last February, before the Middle East cancelled All Ages shows. Since then, they've become rockstars. Not to the extent of Van Halen, and it may have been the atmosphere, a packed club, bouncers, and a pretty darn big stage, but they seemed to look like the headlining band. They played quite well though, with songs off "No Gettin' Out" and "Dark Days." They also lived off the Dropkick Murphys popularity, by announcing their two songs off their split 7" with the Dropkicks, which also appear on "No Gettin' Out." They did an excellent cover of "Stand By Me," which I expected to begin slow and blast off like the Pennywise version, but instead they kept it at quite a steady pace, fronted by Mark's bass. I have to see them at a small club with the local bands again.
Hepcat came up next. They played ska the way it was meant to be. The only problem was the type of crowd that Rancid attracted. Not to label anybody, I'll just explain what happened. Some unintelligent kids showed up who thought that moshing during a traditional ska band was a cool thing to do. It was hard to dance when you kept getting kicked, elbowed, or shoved. Eventually the bouncers kicked some of them out, and the others caught on. Hepcat missed Alex, but they still put on an unbelievable performance. Playing stuff from Scientific and the relatively new Hellcat release "Right on Time."
For Rancid, the place went nuts. There were easily over a thousand kids there, of all types...hardcore, rudies, skins, crusty punks, skate punks, alternative kids... (using the term crusty is not supposed to be derrogatory, only to show the difference between you and skaters). Now what makes me hate this club...I was forced to watch from the balcony. Not because I couldn't find space, but because the bouncers wouldn't allow me on the dancefloor and then moved me off the steps, because I might block somebody's view. Aside from that, Rancid were great. Too bad they didn't play anything from their s/t release. They did "Salvation," easily the best song all night and a few others off "Let's Go." Then they played their hits "Ruby Soho," "Roots, Radicals," and "Time Bomb" off "...And Out Come the Wolves." They also played some stuff off "Life Won't Wait," which I still don't have. They played much better at this club than at this summer's Warped Tour and when I saw them at Avalon a couple years ago. I really want to see them play a track off their 7" on Lookout! Records. Most people would be befuddled.