Moshpits of biblical proportions and the true message of punk, Rancid once again proved that they are a class act as they took to the stage at Wembley Arena! Punk royalty at it’s finest!

Moshpits of biblical proportions and the true message of punk, Rancid once again proved that they are a class act as they took to the stage at Wembley Arena! Punk royalty at it’s finest!

The atmosphere within Wembley Arena was crazy, the true spirit of punk was alive and kicking, people rocking, writhing and pogoing together, a sea of punk rockers and multicoloured mohawks all out to have a good time!! And the Arena was rammed, not an empty seat or an inch of space as far as the eye could see and it was easy to see why, because Rancid were in town!

Rancid are one of those rare bands who are a true original and the embodiment of punk and what punk stands for. A Rancid gig is a space to be who you wanna be, without judgement, an inclusive environment! And frontman Anderson, made this clear when he spoke to the crowd, telling them that everyone is welcome at a Rancid gig regardless of who they are, wherever they’ve come from, whatever their gender, sexuality or sexual orientation! If you were in, you were in! Welcome to the Rancid family! This was everything that punk was about and so much more!!

With LA punk rockers The Bronx warming up the crowd, from the onset, the atmosphere was electric! Fronted by Matt Caughthran, The Bronx played a stella thirty-minute set that went down a storm.

As Rancid took to the stage, the crowd roared in appreciation. With Tim Armstrong on Vocals, Lars Frederiksen on guitar, Matt Freeman on bass guitar and Branden Steineckert on drums, they kicked off the night with ‘Tomorrow Never Comes’, from their most recent album of the same name. A fast-paced raucous track with Armstrong’s searing vocals and Steineckert’s pounding drum sound, it was a fitting start to a night of punk rebellion and great punk music!

As the band burst into ‘Radio’ from their album ‘Let’s Go’, Armstrong jumped like he was on fire, with a face etched with emotion and an energy that you’d expect to see in someone 20 years younger, as he whipped the crowd into a frenzied moshpit of delicious chaos! A throng of thrashing dancing bodies letting their crazy out!! Rancid were a tour de force.

The audience was an eclectic mix of first generation punk rockers, the punk curious, the FOMO’s and the new punk rock generation and Armstrong wasn’t missing any it, he was down in the pit with the crowd surfers and the pogo’ers showing them that years may have passed but he’s still as punk as ever!!

What makes this show even more impressive is that it was originally meant to take place at the far smaller Brixton Academy. A venue not even half the size of the cavernous Wembley Arena. But instead of being intimidated by this, Rancid owned it!! With a throng of punk rock veterans including UK Subs vocalist Charlie Harper clearly visible at the side of the stage, it was as if Armstrong had brought all his rock star mates along for the party and what a party it was!

The hits came thick and fast, with crowd pleasing tracks such as ‘Time Bomb’, ‘Salvation’ and ‘Olympia WA’, blowing the crowd away, this was anarchy done right!

‘Maxwell Murder’, with it’s eighty seconds of snarly swaggering vocals was a balls to the wall triumph, fast, grubby and glorious. Tracks like ‘Journey to the End of the East Bay’ were catchy as hell with it’s chugging guitar and it’s catchy chorus, complimented beautifully by crowd surfers galore! Tonight was all about the punk!!

 

As Armstrong launched into ‘Fall back Down’ from Rancid’s 2003 album

‘Industructable’, the fans joined in! From the mosh pit right at the front to the fans at the very back, everyone was singing together and what a sight it was! And as the song came to an end, Armstrong, always one to shun tradition, announced to the crowd that whilst they were expected to leave the stage and then return for an encore, that they were here and they weren’t going anywhere! They then continued with a storming rendition of ‘Tenderloin’, dedicated to the late great rock legend and Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister. Catchy as hell, music you could dance to and dance they did!!

When Rancid finally left the stage, they did so to ear-shattering applause after their final song of the night, ‘Ruby Soho’ from their 1995 album ‘And Out Come The Wolves’, with it’s big banging power chords, thrashing guitars and punchy chorus. It was a fitting end to one hell of a night! And as the audience left the auditorium it was clear to see that a good time had been had by all!! The years may have passed but Rancid are just as punk as ever!!

Set List:

Tomorrow Never Comes
Roots Radical
Radio
Maxwell Murder
The 11^th Hour
Journey to the End of the East Bay
Dead Bodies
Black & Blue
East Bay Night
Side Kick
Salvation
Bloodclot
Ghost of a Chance
Gunshot
Listed M.I.A
Hoover Street
I Wanna Riot
Old Friend
The Wars End
Something in the World Today
Rejected
St. Mary
Olympia WA.
Fall Back Down
Tenderloin
Time Bomb
Ruby Soho

Photos of Rancid

Photos of The Bronx

Words and Photos by Louise Phillips