Bad Religion @ 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C. [10/14/07]

Finally. After being a fan of Bad Religion for nearly 16 years, I finally caught the band live tonight at the 9:30 Club.

Thankfully, I'd seen the band's Live at the Palladium DVD last year, so I kinda knew what to expect - great songs, but a less than stellar live show. And that's pretty much what we got. The band sounded good, but if you spent more than a few seconds watching them, it was easy to think that they were just going through the motions.

However, if you turned away, and focused on enormous mosh pit that took over the floor of the 9:30 Club, it didn't really matter. All that mattered was the songs and the energy of the crowd. And what energy... I can't remember the last time I've been to a show with as many people jumping and pushing and shoving and falling around as tonight. Just a great, fun experience. I'll be sore tomorrow, but it's worth it.

Needless to say, given the pit and the number of people bumping into me at any given moment, I didn't get a whole lot of pictures, but here's the best of what I got:





As for the openers, well... First up was Gallows, who are British, and whose lead singer's between-song banter is miles better than the band's actual songs. Second was The Briggs, who I'd heard good things about, but ended up being pretty boring, and waaay too polished for a supposed up-and-coming punk band.