RANCID + The Ripcordz @ Spectrum

By Lisa Sookraj - Unsystem-Addict - 08/29/2006

I had never seen Rancid live and was looking forward to it, especially after seeing NOFX a few months ago -- another band I'd wanted to see since I was 17. My buddy Drew accompanied me to see Rancid on the first of three nights they played in Montreal. Openers for the other two nights were the Slackers on the 30th and the Planet Smashers on the 31st. Other bands Rancid are playing with on the current tour include Sick Of It All, Avail, the Aquabats and H20.

The show started on time, which was surprisingly early -- shows seem to get earlier and earlier all the time these days -- and Montreal punk band Ripcordz played first. I hadn't heard them before, but found they performed well. These punks have been around since 1980 and have ten albums. Then Boston's Big D and the Kids Table came on, and they put on a great rock-it-out ska show. There was lots of energy and excitement in the music and performance, and the diverse crowd at Le Spectrum was quite into it. For anyone who's interested but hasn't heard them, Big D and the Kids Table have been called one of the best things to happen to ska in ages. If you want to know more about them I would suggest contact Josh from The Kids Are So-So as he's all about the Big D. He even got to meet him after he played in an alley this summer.

Rancid came on at around 9:30. They started their set with "Roots Radicals". They played a lot of their great album ...And Out Come The Wolves and a mix of songs off their other releases such as Indestructible and Let's Go. The band obviously put time and effort into deciding on different sets every night of the tour for their fans, as promised on their website. They also played two songs by Operation Ivy, which pleased many a-fan at the show. During the set, Tim Armstrong announced that his new solo album will be released November 7th and will also be available for free one track at a time online.

Notable songs my buddy Drew and I remember hearing:

Sound System (Operation Ivy)
Unity (Operation Ivy)
Olympia, WA
Maxwell Murder
Ruby Soho
Tenderloin
Journey to the End
Out of Control
Radio
Rats in the Hallway
The War's End
Disorder and Disarray
To Have and To Have Not (Billy Bragg cover)
Memphis
Fall Back Down

The fellows in Rancid put on a satisfying punk show that took me back to my youth, much like NOFX on their recent similar tour (smaller venues, 2-3 nights a city). They gave it their all and you couldn't tell they've been touring like crazy. They were having a good time playing and the crowd could sense that. The show could have just as easily been the first or last night of the tour in terms of the band's energy, performance, sound, choice of set list, etc. And it was clear that they really appreciated the Montreal crowd.

The moral of the story is: seeing Rancid live is an experience not to be missed. I read online that Lars Frederiksen had a seizure during the third Montreal show, and the band are postponing their dates in Toronto and Buffalo. I, like many others, wish him a speedy recovery -- as you can tell, for Rancid it isn't just about the money that this tour makes, it's about giving to as many of the kids as they can some genuine rockin' times, while they can.

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