The Exploited made it back to the states after years of Wattie Buchan dealing with health issues.
I missed Total Chaos. I’m sure they’re nice guys, and you should always show up early and support all punk bands, but I missed em. Fight me.
DI is always so much fun. In another world Casey Royer is definitely a standup comedian. Paired with Eddie Tator from Dickies and Punk Rock Karaoke fame, they never leave a dull moment.
It started a bit “off” as the sound guys at the Novo clearly don’t mix a lot of punk rock bands. The vocals took a few songs to really sound “right” but by the time they did the band and crowd were in full action. A slightly docile crowd until the band played “Amoeba” by The Adolescents. Which many forget or don’t know – Casey co-wrote with Rikk Agnew before the Adolescents were even a band. Anyways 5 seconds into the song and half the floor was a circle pit. They also brought out the Tater bros nephew for this track on additional guitar, 3 guitars, DI sounded just as huge as Bad Religion for this one track.
They maintained the fun and festivities as they ran through their hits. Pervert Nurse, Richard Hung Himself, Johnny’s Got A Problem, Hang Ten in East Berlin, and Weapons we’re all on display. A quick and to the point set, DI knows exactly how much to bring, and how much to leave.
The Exploited. I wasn’t sure I would ever see them, with Wattie cancelling the last few years due to heart problems. Well he’s as strong as ever as they played for a full hour and a half. They played all the hits. From the early years of Cop Cars, and Dead Cities, to their later metal years of Beat The Bastards, everyone got what they wanted.
An extra special treat was when they invited the crowd onstage to help them sing “Sex and Violence”. I’d say there was close to 100 people on the stage by the time they closed it off. There was actually a circle pit – on the stage! A first for me to witness.
Oddly they didn’t end the set like that and proceeded to then play “sex and violence” again as just a 4 piece, sans the 100 backup singers. And then a few more. They just kept wanting to play – and no one would ever tell them to stop. Even better live than I was expecting, they killed it! Wattie lives to sing another day, and we have living proof “Punks Not Dead”
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