As a 30+ year old Punk fan, with most people my age into classic rock, I was unable to find a lot of support for going out to a punk show at this stage in my life, let alone on a Wednesday night. But when I found out about the VIP package to the 3 Bad Religion shows at Irving Plaza, I was not going to miss out, even if I had to go it alone!

Upon arriving to the first show on Wednesday 10/20/10, after seeing Off With Their Heads, and The Aggrolites (both of which did a respectable job of warming up the crowd), I noticed that the people gathering for the main event was a very diverse group, many like myself who were very conservative-looking for fans of punk. Sure, you still had the mosh pit and the mohawks, but with the band on stage being 30 years old, most of the fans had a polite, grown up nature to them that was refreshing to see at a punk show.

But then again, Bad Religion has always been a thinking-man’s punk band, and as they came on stage to a dimmed room, with only a red “cross-buster” logo lit up and Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance playing, it really did feel like both the band and the fans had grown up…
Until they BLEW UP Into “Do what you want”! Suddenly no one was old, or young, or in or out, we were all one giant ball of energy. The band sounded awesome, and Greg’s voice sounded like it did 15 years ago!
As they tore through the first few songs at lightning speed it made you realize why you love this band so much. The excitement and interaction of the crowd was palpable. At their first pause, Greg asked the crowd if they had been aware prior to purchasing tickets that they were going to be featuring the first decade of their career, to which they got massive cheers. Greg joked pointing to a guy in a Pantera shirt: “…this guy over here is like ‘Oh what the F*$K is this about!!’”.
The only boos of the show came when again (perhaps) joking, Greg mentioned that they had performed early in their career at the old CBGB’s and that NY was still their “2nd favorite” city to play. But after the boos came, the crowd roared back to cheers as they went right into “You Are (The Government)”.

Highlights of the show were “We’re Only Gonna Die”, “Delirium of Disorder”, and “I Want to Conquer the World”, which had most of the packed floor in a slam-dance frenzy. Even newer songs like “The Resist-stance”, “Devil in Stitches”, and “New Dark Ages” had the crowed singing and going wild.

This band still performs like they are young and angry despite their conservative appearance. I was glad that I went against the stereo types of my age, marital status, and employment and went to this concert. After all, breaking stereotypes is all what punk is about, no matter how old you are!

Thank you BR for one hell of an opening night in your 3-part show!