I've had to wrap up the interview with AF's Vinnie Stigma cause at 8.00 pm THE OLD FIRM CASUALS timely hit the stage of Carroponte, Milano.
This band from San Francisco, I actually hadn't heard of until today, is around since 2010 and is the more recent Oi! project by Lars Frederiksen (Rancid, The Bastards), and has debuted their first full-length record "This Means War" just a few days ago. So the European fans are blessed to be the first to have a taste of what The Old Firm Casuals new stuff is all about when delivered from a stage.
The band plays well though I have the feel the reception from Milan crowd has been a bit aloof however, the guys have few good numbers like the pissed off hardcore "This Means War", "Perry Boys" (they shot a clip for this track) or "A Gang Like Us" which sticks to your mind at the very first listen and doesn't have to pray much for you to sing along top of your voice.
A more than decent enough opening to warm up the scant crowd in the pit while many of the kids are still queuing up to enter the concert area or just chilling out, feeding themselves and having a few drinks to gear up for the two headliners of tonight show.
The theme of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" gets cranked up by the PA system to introduce AGNOSTIC FRONT.
The guys open up, and this stands as a good surprise to me, with the crossover tharsh song "The Eliminator" off 1986's "Cause Of Alarm" and the adrenaline pumps up immediately. Vinnie Stigma jumps around and singer Roger instigate the crowd to join in the show and launch themselves into a circle pit (Lars Frederiksen had just lectured the kids that many claim the invention of Circle Pit but this was actually invented in California, nowhere else).
This is a hardcore show in the NYC way. The Italian kids are there for one of the songs off AF's Epitaph period; a song that gets lots of bands covering it and this song is called "Gotta Go" off "Something's Gotta Give". Like the opening lines go "From the East Coast to the West Coast..." this anthem is about the punk community to stand strong and united and kids in response love it by large.
"Crucified" (Iron Cross' cover) and the more recent "For My Family" off "Warriors" and the new anthem "My Life, My Way" off last record out on Nuclear Blast records are all were received with the crowd singing along and just going ape.
At some point, making fun of the kids, Roger introduces the 3 Italians in the band; three Italians? well, whether Roger tries to include drummer, who has looks that show clear origin from Oceania area and can't really have roots in Italia. So we actually have Mike and Vinnie; the latter, if you look closer, shows off his roots and Napoli's blood though when he gets himself into some Italian banter he comes up only with few words off mobster jargon, capisce?
AF wraps up the show, among the ovations of the crowd, with a cover of "Blitzgrieg Bop" dedicated to the recently deceased Tommy and all the other Ramones.
Have you ever seen NOFX live? I really think you should. And it's better you hurry up since the Californian punks get older and this doesn't mean better, you know what I mean? Also this time around, just like 3 years ago at the same venue, Nofx are greeted with a resounding roar and bludgeoned all to massive effect.
The older dudes in the crowd know what to expect and the younger just feel that something is about to happen; this will inevitably lead to an increase of the anticipation.
As roughed out before Nofx gets old every time you get to see them (unless you catch the guys more than once a year) and with years passing by it seems that the in-between-song fun-pranky banter, the foursome has made quite a reputation for, takes more and more space to the actual playing and shredding and this, for those who can't understand English well, can become the most boring part of the show.
Mike mentions that this is the very first time they share the stage with Agnostic Front though Erik (drums) yells that he played was on the bill with them in 1986 (perhaps over the period he was out of Nofx).
In the Nofx fashion, following up to what Lars said, Mike calls for a Pinch Pit, causing the laughs of those
This year Nofx celebrates the 20th anniversary since the release of "Punk In Drublic", their bestselling record to date and one of everyone personal favorite -those who were kids in the 90's know what this record meant to many of them- but they don't play it its entirety here in Milan. They played already more than an album-themed show (one of these at Groezrock) and I guess they got bored with the routine.
When Nofx walks off the stage the crowd stands there impatiently waiting for more. The guys come back twice for the encores which included "Stickin In My Eye", "Kill All The White Men", "Fuck The Kids" and the opening track off the album "White thrash, two heebs and a bean".
Hopefully they'll never get worse than last night...
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