REAL GONE GOES OUT: ALL – Islington Academy, London 28/04/14

Live shows in the UK by punk legends Descendents are a rarity and appearances by their sister band ALL even rarer.  With that in mind, this – ALL’s only UK show in 2014 and their first since forever – seemed like a visit from punk rock royalty.  Over the course of almost a quarter-century between 1988 and 2000, the on-again, off-again band recorded some great albums, with 1993’s ‘Breaking Things’ and 1998’s ‘Mass Nerder’ being just as essential in any collection as the Descendents’ seminal ‘Milo Goes To College’, and 1990’s ‘Allroy Saves’ standing as a good example of their more angular, playful and arty styles.  A support slot from UK punk stalwarts Snuff only heightened the idea that this one-off gig shouldn’t be missed.

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CHERRY POPPIN’ DADDIES – White Teeth, Black Thoughts

CPDSomething unexpected happened in the mid/late 90s.  At the peak of ska’s third wave, typified by the likes of Less Than Jake and Mustard Plug, old fashioned swing bands began to appear alongside punk and ska bands on festival bills.  Soon, despite having more in common with Tony Bennett than The Specials, some of the kids who were growing bored of the predictable nature of the ska bands took a shine to the swing crowd with their pin-striped suits and retro spatz.  Much as he’d been the poster boy for the rockabilly revival over a decade before, Brian Setzer led the wave with his sassy big band, with the likes of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Royal Crown Revue also doing sterling work with this unlikely resurgence of old big band sounds.

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Spanish dates added to Bad Religion’s upcoming Euro-tour

Two dates in Span have been added to Bad Religion’s 2014 European tour.

The legendary punks will be visiting the following venues with Against Me! in support.

June 17, 2014 Madrid, Spain Riviera
June 18, 2014 Barcelona, Spain Sala Razzmatazz

The other confirmed dates for this part of the tour are:

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