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Or: Trying Not To Be A Poser at the Descendents Show

If a poser goes to a punk show and doesn’t post it on Instagram, were they really there? I’ve certainly been guilty of this, and I know I’m not the only one, as cell phones illuminated the mosh pit at Revolution Live on Saturday night each time the Descendents launched into one of their most crucial songs—you know, the ones that have worked their way into the lexicon of alternative music through placements in skate videos and Tony Hawk video games. Even those who aren’t overtly familiar with the Southern California group’s punk oeuvre are guaranteed to have seen T-shirts with its bespectacled character logo and heard their music synced into all manner of ‘80s and ‘90s entertainment, so it’s no surprise that the group was able to command a sold-out crowd at the Fort Lauderdale venue’s expanded outdoor space.

Along with Descendents’ headlining set, the all-star bill also included fellow SoCal punks Adolescents and Circle Jerks, the latter of which ran through a set that was equally frenetic but failed to connect in the same way their headlining cohorts’ did, as it was bogged down by far too much lecturing on punk history courtesy of longtime vocalist Keith Morris. By the time the headliners arrived, the crowd was ready to leave the stage banter behind.

Descendents’ core lineup of vocalist Milo Aukerman, guitarist Stephen Egerton, bassist Karl Alvarez and drummer Bill Stevenson has remained intact for nearly 40 years across starts and stops that have included a handful of lengthy hiatuses, but the group has been consistently active for nearly 15 years now. Of course, like most punk bands of its era, the band is mostly defined by the early records in its catalog—1982’s Milo Goes To College, 1985’s I Don’t Want To Grow Up and 1995’s Everything Sucks in particular. Yet the group certainly has grown up, and even some of its newest songs received euphoric praise from the most devoted fans in attendance. Flexing a dynamic blend of surf-punk rhythm, shout-along vocals and angular, almost Gang of Four-esque guitar leads, the group ripped through a remarkably tight set, blasting through no less than 33 songs in just over an hour.

Per setlist.fm, the group has played in Florida more than 40 times in its 45+ year history, and it was clear that most attendees at the band’s gig at Revolution Live on Saturday night had already seen Descendents before—in fact, it felt like I might have been the only person there seeing the group for the first time. My fellow attendees included old punks, young punks, children of punks, and plenty of people who didn’t scan as punks at all until the music started and the crowd began to churn, but all were united in appreciating the group’s uptempo, debaucherous offerings.

There’s a unique cult of personality around old-school punk and hardcore music. While it seems the genre and its audience have come around to a much more welcoming and generally enlightened place over the past few years (see: Turnstile, Military Gun, et. al.), there will always be those vintage genre acts that inspire rabid “this isn’t for you” energy. Thankfully, Descendents do not seem to be one of those bands—with a catalog full of sing-along songs that transcend genre dividing lines and inspire the best kind of nostalgia, there’s refreshingly little gatekeeping at play where they are involved. 

After a night of jubilus appreciation for a batch of songs that mean so much to so many, I returned to the age-old question that has plagued alternative music over the decades: What is selling out, and does it even exist anymore? Ten years ago, the idea of multiple prototypical hardcore punk bands hitting the road together and playing large-ish venues may have been frowned upon. There were more than a few conversations in the crowd around me at this show about the price of admission and how attendees couldn’t believe they’d paid so much to see these bands, but it was hard to argue with the result: By the time the show wrapped up, nobody was complaining that they didn’t get their money’s worth.

Circle Jerks Setlist

Descendants Setlist


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James Biagiotti

Author James Biagiotti

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