Legendary punk rockers Bad Religion stopped by the Hammerstein Ballroom Friday October 29, 2021 as part of their 40th Anniversary tour. The tour was originally scheduled for last year but was postponed due to Covid-19. The supporting acts include co-headliners Alkaline Trio and openers War On Women.
War On Women is a feminist harcore-punk band from Baltimore. After being inspired by the riot grrl bands that started in the nineties, Shawna Potter and Brooks Harlan formed War On Women in 2010. Their debut album was a six-song EP titled Improvised Weapons released in 2012. Their newest album Wonderful Hell was released last year on Bridge Nine Records. The bands current lineup includes Shawna Potter (lead vocals), Brooks Harlan (guitar), Jennifer Vito (guitar), Suzanne Werner (bass) and Dave Cavalier (drums).
Alkaline Trio has been described as pop punk, punk rock, emo and harcore punk. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Matt Skiba (vocals, guitar), Dan Andriano (vocals, bass) and Derek Grant (drums, vocals). They started their eighteen song set Friday night with “Private Eye” from their 2011 album From Here to Infirmary. The crowd was amped as the trio got into some even older songs like “We’ve Had Enough” and “Nose Over Tail.” They also did a few songs from their newest album Is This Thing Cursed? released in 2018. The set ended with “Radio” from their second album Maybe I’ll Catch Fire released in 2000. The crowd was now well primed for the anticipated headliners.
Bad Religion came out and played a 22 song set that spanned their entire 40 year career from their first LP How Could Hell Be Any Worse? all the way to their latest album Age of Unreason. They started with “New Dark Ages” but quickly got into older classics like “Modern Man” and “Recipe For Hate”. As soon as they started playing I felt like it was twenty years ago and I was back at Roseland Ballroom. They sound exactly the same as did then and the mosh pit was just as rough as I remember it. You can definitely feel more energy during certain songs, especially the older ones like “I Want To Conquer The World,” and “Better Off Dead” which was the first time they played it live. I was very excited to finally see BR post covid and they did not disappoint. The band is the same, Greg Graffin (lead vocals), Jay Bentley (bass), Brian Baker (guitar), Mike Dimkich (guitar), and Jamie Miller (drums). This tour ends on November 27th in Hollywood, CA. You can see the rest of the dates here.
War On Women Setlist: YDTMHTL, Divisive Shit, White Lies, Lone Wolves, Big Words, Aqua Tofana, Predator In Chief, Silence Is the Gift, The Ash Is Not the End
Alkaline Trio Setlist: Private Eye, We’ve Had Enough, Blackbird, Is This Thing Cursed?, I Wanna Be Warhol, Nose Over Tail, Every Thug Needs A Lady, Cringe, Clavicle, Armageddon, Mercy Me, Emma, In Vein, Continental, Warbrain, Fine, This Could Be Love, Radio
Bad Religion Setlist: New Dark Ages, Modern Man, Recipe For Hate, Los Angeles Is Burning, Fuck You, Chaos From Within, Epiphany, I Want To Conquer The World, 21st Century (Digital Boy), Damned To Be Free, Man With A Mission, Murder, Better Off Dead, Candidate, Do What You Want, No Control, Generator, You, Infected, Sorrow, American Jesus Encore: We’re Only Gonna Die
