US PUNK VETERANS NOFX SAY GOODBYE AFTER 40 YEAR REIGN

LIVE REVIEW | NOFX | LONDON O2 BRIXTON ACADEMY 11th/12th June by Craig Harston

After over forty years, NOFX announced last year that they were calling it a day – but not before heading out on an epic final world tour! Although they originally played their final UK shows last year at the Slam Dunk sites of Temple Newsam and Hatfield, tour company Destiny couldn’t resist having them back over here for two more shows at the end of their final European tour, playing the recently re-opened Brixton Academy.

As usual assembling an epic roster of old and new punk bands from amongst their friends and peers, NOFX delivered arguably the shows of the year – nine bands, two nights and two different sets from the headliners!

NIGHT ONE

Hitting the stage first were the UK’s own Last Hounds. Getting the crowd suitably warmed up, the punk crossover band played a blistering set of new and old songs, including new single ‘Disco‘. Frontman Mike Skelcher did not stop moving around the stage and looked like he’d just wandered in after hitting the gym!

Next up were fellow UK band The Bar Stool Preachers who were equally excellent! They played a great set including ‘Choose My Friends’ and ‘Flatlined‘ with plenty of crowd interaction and a few sing-a-longs courtesy of singer T.J. McFaull, finishing strongly with their namesake song, ‘Bar Stool Preacher‘.

Hip hop/punk hybrid band Codefendants hit the stage next in their signature suits, playing a set of songs mostly from last years debut album, This Is Crime Wave (Def Cons, Suicide By Pigs, Brutiful). Both frontmen – Get Dead’s Sam King and rapper/guitarist Ceschi Ramos, worked the crowd into a frenzy with their alternating vocals and kept the energy in the room going.

Showing the younger bands how it’s done, Descendents were up next. The beer started flying as Milo Aukerman and company played an epic set from across their forty-plus years as a band. The likes of ‘Silly Girl‘, ‘Rotting Out‘, ‘I’m Not A Punk‘, ‘‘Merican‘, ‘Myage‘, ‘Bikeage‘ and ‘I Like Food’ were accompanied with Milo shouting the name of each song prior, with Milo ironically being hit with a beer during opener ‘Everything Sux‘! Considering they were the oldest band present, the Descendents displayed as much enthusiasm as their younger counterparts, finishing with the classic ‘Suburban Home‘.

But of course, everyone was here to see the main band, with NOFX hitting the stage to the Time Warp blasting out of the speakers. They played a lengthy set, mostly from promised albums Punk In Drublic (‘Leave It Alone‘, ‘The Cause‘, ‘The Brews‘, plus Karina Denike of the Dance Hall Crashers picking up the titular vocals on ‘Lori Meyers‘), Pump Up The Valuum (‘Dinosaurs Will Die‘, ‘What’s The Matter With Parents Today?‘, ‘Bottles To The Ground‘) and Wolves In Wolves Clothing (‘Seeing Double At The Triple Rock‘, ‘The Man I Killed‘, ‘Leaving Jesusland‘) but making time for many other songs from across their long career (‘72 Hookers’, ‘Six Years On Dope’, ‘Idiots Are Taking Over‘). Midway through the set, they blasted through 11 of their shorter songs, including ‘Fuck The Kids’, ‘Juice Head’, ‘I’m Telling Tim’, ‘Instant Crassic‘ and ‘See Her Pee‘ in around 5 minutes, showing they could still be absolutely relentless after all these years! Following a reggae cover of Rancid’s ‘Radio‘ (with El Hefe on vocals) and their own classic ‘Linoleum‘, NOFX took a quick “piss break” before returning to the stage for several more songs, including ‘The Moron Bros‘, ‘Franco Un-American‘ and their tribute to their late punk rock brother, Tony Sly of No Use For A Name, on ‘I’m So Sorry Tony‘.

The smart money was on them finishing the first night with ‘Theme From A NOFX Album‘ but they instead finished somewhat abruptly after an excellent rendition of ‘Kill All The White Man‘. Many people weren’t attending the second night and the majority of the crowd waited around for a few minutes somewhat confused that it had ended so suddenly!

NIGHT 2

Opening for the second night were The Last Gang, who played a great show and received a decent amount of crowd interaction for such an early time slot. Brenna Red’s razor blade vocals fully delivered on songs ‘WFTW‘, ‘Sing For Your Supper‘, new song from their forthcoming third album, Madness, and they finishing strong with ‘Blood Drunk‘.

Next up were the current fastest rising band in the UK punk scene, The Meffs. Lily and Lewis as ever delivered an entertaining set of their garage punk songs, including a back and forth with the crowd on ‘Stand Up, Speak Out‘, dedicating new song ‘Clowns‘ to the BBC following Lily’s interview with them being delayed and even getting an early circle pit going around one of the barriers present on the Brixton Academy floor. They finished with the excellent ‘Broken Britain, Broken Brains‘ from their 2022 EP.

Following The Meffs were UK punk legends Snuff. They played a great set, with plenty of great interactions with the crowd from frontman/drummer Duncan Redmonds. Their set included the likes of ‘Soul Limbo’, ‘Nick Northern’, ‘Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?‘ and new song ‘Go Easy‘. They also started something that reverberated through the rest of the evening – booing for them instead of cheering and finding it extremely funny that the biggest boos they got were for NOFX and the crowd themselves!

Readily admitting they were the elder statesmen of the evening, 80s hardcore band Circle Jerks hit the stage next. Following a roll call of the band from singer Keith Morris while they finished tuning up, including discussing how bassist Zander Schloss had once played with punk legend Joe Strummer, they played a furious set from across their career, mostly from debut album Group Sex with songs such as ‘Deny Everything’, ‘Beverly Hills’, ‘Red Tape’. Similar to the Descendents the night before, they kept the energy going, defying their advancing years. The booing for Snuff seemed to have been lost on Morris though, as he couldn’t understand it when asking the crowd to give it up for the previous band!

Due to NOFX’s recent extensive touring, Fat Mike had struggled with his voice on night one so vocal duties were shared between himself, El Hefe and Eric Melvin this time. Tonight’s show focussed on albums White Trash, Two Heebs And A Bean (‘Stickin’ In My Eye’, ‘Bob’, ‘Please Play This Song On The Radio‘) and So Long And Thanks For All The Shoes (‘It’s My Job To Keep Punk Rock Elite’, ‘Murder The Government’, ‘Eat The Meek‘), the latter with Fat Mike admitting it’s NOFX’s best album over Punk In Drublic. The vocals were shared almost evenly, with Fat Mike doing his best and Denike picking up vocals on ska punk classic ‘All Outta Angst‘.

Playing various other songs from their back catalogue, (‘Mattersville’, ‘The Separation Of Church And Skate’, ‘We Called It America’, ‘I Love You More Than I Hate Me, Green Corn‘), NOFX even took things all the way back to the 80s with a rendition of very early song ‘Six Pack Girls‘.

Following a break, the band returned to the stage to play a few more songs, finishing the night as promised with their 18 minute long punk rock masterpiece, ‘The Decline‘. This was bittersweet for many as it was likely the first time they had heard it live but the last time they’d hear NOFX live in general. It was a great night and send off for the SoCal punk legends. The camaraderie between Fat Mike, El Hefe, Eric Melvin and Smelly is still as present as ever so it’s a real shame they won’t be playing together again for much longer, and it’s going to leave a massive hole in the punk rock scene once they finally hang up their instruments later this year. Every punk in attendance went home with mixed feelings, happy after such a great show but sad that it was likely the last time they’ll get to see one of the greatest punk bands in the world.

It’s great to see Brixton Academy open again and as a venue itself it was great, very spacious with great acoustics and a sloped floor so those at the back still had a decent view of the stage.it’s great to see the venue back open. However, it was disappointing to see such a lack of respect from some in the crowd, especially with those not only vaping – but smoking cigarettes inside the venue.