Bad Religion
Date: September 28, 2008 We Keep Pushing On Having missed Bad Religion's last visit to Ottawa, in 2006, this concert marked my first time seeing the punk veterans in six years. While that previous stop in the capital was at an off-putting arena, this event was at the Capital Music Hall, which singer Greg Gaffin described as being "as intimate as it gets for a Bad Religion show." The venue definitely added to the mood, although the feeling at the front of the club went from cozy to crushing as soon as the headliners took the stage. A slightly late arrival meant that I missed the first few songs from local outfit Contrabandit, although I feel confident that what I witnessed was indicative of their sound, a fast-tempo, quickly-shifting punk attack. The band was obviously having a good time in front of a sizable early-arriving crowd; and they did a great job of setting the mood for the night with an energetic and enjoyable set. A workmanlike hustle saw the stage changed over in no more than fifteen minutes for The Bronx, a five-piece hailing from Los Angeles. Geographic confusion aside, The Bronx was an easy band to get a read on, tending to lock in to steady grooves in their catchy punk songs. Singer Matt Caughthran seemed to have a wry smile for much of the night, gently chiding the crowd through the first few songs to incite a mosh, before leaving the stage and getting things started on the floor for himself. While Caughthran's screamed vocals were all but lost in the mix, his attitude carried the set. Overall, though, I was probably more engrossed by the other member of the band to show a Black Flag tattoo, Jorma Vik, who absolutely pounded the hell out of his drums for the full forty-five minute set. The Bronx also impressed by easing up a shade on the heaviness on a couple of songs that still fit their aesthetic, showcasing some versatility near the end of a solid performance. When The Bronx had tried to get a mosh started, a handful of fans joined in while the majority spread out, leaving a wide space for the active ones to play in. Any notion of space vanished before Bad Religion took the stage, though, as a crushing mass of humanity converged on the front of the floor during the downtime and kept the pressure on until the end of the encore. The interim was to be no short period of time, either, as was made evident when the roadies taped down setlists spanning two sheets of paper. In the end, Bad Religion played twenty-eight songs; and while I was being squeezed for every one of them, I still loved every minute of it. Some early sound issues apparently kept singer Greg Gaffin from hearing himself in the stage monitors, but you couldn't tell it from the way that he ripped through an opening rush of "21st Century (Digital Boy)," "New Dark Ages," and "Suffer." It did seem that the backing vocals were a bit soft early on, as was evident when Jay Bentley delivered the Sage Francis lines from "Let Them Eat War"; but, in general, the band's harmonies were on point. The guitarists offered a contrast in demeanour, with Brian Baker being low-key but affable, while Greg Hetson took advantage of the ample stage space to perform a series of high leaps throughout the show. Drummer Brooks Wackerman rounded out the third five-man band of the evening, sounding perfect all night. The deep setlist covered Bad Religion's long career very well. The band went back more than 25 years for "Fuck Armageddon . . . This is Hell" and had room to represent the new album with songs such as "Before You Die"; and they mixed familiar tunes, such as "Stranger Than Fiction" and "No Control" with more obscure fare, such as the B-side "News from the Front." They also exercised a tendency to pair up album songs, with Against the Grain's "Anesthesia" and "Epiphany" coming before The Gray Race selections "Punk Rock Song" and "Come Join Us"; and "Requiem for Dissent" and "Honest Goodbye" coming back-to-back as part of the New Maps of Hell servings. For me, this technique resulted in the highlight of the affair, as my favourite Bad Religion album, Recipe for Hate spawned the set's triumphant closing attack, the title track and "American Jesus." When not rattling off song after song, Greg Gaffin had proven to be a likeable frontman, talking about the group's current Canadian tour ("Did you know there was a place called New Brunswick?") and encouraging the fans to sing along. The latter request was emphasized when the group, minus Greg Hetson, returned for a three-song acoustic encore, which Gaffin explained was a showcase of how the songs are written. This interlude made for an interesting change of pace, although it wasn't long before "Bored and Extremely Dangerous," which started as a solo Gaffin piece, concluded with the full band in electric action. The trio of "Generator", "Infected," and "Sorrow" then closed the long night on a great note. Bad Religion's latest stop in Ottawa was as rewarding as it was exhausting; and the two solid opening acts did their part to make for a very fun concert. Bad Religion setlist 
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