first time at paradiso and probably the coolest venue for a show, even more so for bad religion! coesfeld coming in a close second :)

support act was really good and well fitting.

not the best sounding BR show i have seen this year.

really enjoyed the set which was good a mix of the usual 2022 europe setlist. always love to hear epiphany, too bad they left out struck a nerve, but you can`t have everything ;)

all in all the setlist offered a good retrospective, but nothing too extravagant.. like the dichotomy - which rocked my face off more than once ;)

band seemed in good mood and like they were having fun.

all in all a very special show to me.

regarding your comments on general setlist variety and those anniversary shows..

general taste differs, ask 10 fans and you get 10 different picks.. most of the die hard fans would appreciate more rare songs (myself included) but you have to accept what you get and its best for your experience to try to learn to enjoy that..

but. i have to agree. i was expecting something "special" for those anniversary dates. as far as i know the setlist have been close to identical to their regular shows. aside from having to wait through 4 boring support acts before BR plays this wasnt a worthy celebration of 40+2 years. (but have to admit: suicidal tendencies were awesome!)

was also expecting to get a little bit of that roxy flavour on this tour, or some album appreciation like they did for suffer and no control.

Hey guys,

Seeing there were many of us at this show, does anybody have comments on it?

With some hindsight I thought I’d share a few of mine. As I’ve been following this band forever I give myself the right to do so :).

The show was great and it’s always fun to see this band; the energy, the complicity and everything else. The venue was packed – maybe I forgot what pre-Covid shows were!!

But I think I was hoping for a bit more. For example:
• First I don’t know what happened to 1.5h shows? A couple of years ago they were playing 32-33 songs for non-festival. But now their shows last a 10-15 minute less.
• I was expecting maybe a few ‘rarer’ songs to be played. Their setlists for the entire 2022 tour have been very conservative. It seems they’re on autopilot. Apart from a few, they played the songs they play the most (setlist.fm confirms this). Given they played some rarer songs at their Roxy’s 8 shows I was expecting a few of those to be included in their setlists. Maybe not The Profane Rights of Man, Raise your Voice nor Chronophobia, but maybe Age of Unreason, Before you Die or Spirit Shine?
• Even for back-to-back shows in the same city (e.g. Coesfeld, Wiesbaden), there were little changes. I always thought a band that changed their setlist (maybe a shuffle of 5-8 songs?) was a healthy band and that it showed some kind of respect for the fans (here Pearl Jam is unbeatable). There isn’t a new album out now at the moment so you could assume that the crowd was mostly made of old fans (and those often go to more than one show).
• I was also hoping (but this one is more of a stretch) something to celebrate Against the Grain or Generator like when they played Suffer or No Control in their entirety. Maybe more Generator since this year is their 30th and that there’s some merch being reprinted.
• Finally, I’m used now to songs that they ‘have’ to play (21st Century, American Jesus) and I understand and don’t mind those. But I’m less cool with other ‘mandatory’ songs that aren’t that great: Los Angeles is Burning (to me the worse song on TESF), Come Join Us (an ok sing-along song but a weird one lyrically to play live) and We're Only Gonna Die & Fuck Armageddon… (only one of those 2 would suffice).

Anyway – seeing a BR show remains a wonderful experience and there are songs that they can keep playing that I’ll never get tired of (Suffer, Punk Rock Song, You).

Cheers!
-Pac

I might have a ticket to spare for this show. Will know for sure on sunday.