“Decades Season 2- 1980s”
Bad Religion
Saturday, June 5th, 2021
The Roxy, Hollywood, California/NoCapshows.com
Our score 4.5 out of 5 stars
Bad Religion kicked off Season 2 of their “Decades” series on June 5th from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood. Broadcast exclusively via NoCapshows.com its the first of four episodes which will feature deep cuts and rarely performed songs. Like season 1 each episode of season 2 will focus on a specific era of the bands 40+ year career. Up first was the 1980’s which pulled songs from four different releases (“How Could Hell Be Any Worse?”, “Into the Unknown”, “Suffer” and “No Control”) some of which have not been performed live in over 30 years.
Capitalizing on the success of the first four “Decades” live streams veteran punk purveyors Bad Religion are back with a brand-new set of shows which take fans deeper down the BR rabbit hole. Though the format and look of “Decades Season 2” is very similar to that of season 1 the setlists could not be any more different. Over the course of 60 minutes Vocalist Greg Graffin and company took viewers deep into the group’s massive song archives to revisit some of the bands lesser performed tracks from the groups first four studio releases. Prior to the show starting I was skeptical as to how the set was going to go as it was being touted as having completely different songs with no repeats from the subsequent performances. How were we going to watch a Bad Religion show and not hear songs like “Infected”, “Sorrow” and “21st Century Digital Boy”? Could the rarities fill in for these long-time staples which have had fans coming out on droves since their release? Well, right off the bat any fears I had about the set not living up to the standard Bad Religion always puts forth were quickly put to bed as the band ripped through tracks like “Voice of God is Government”, “Doing Time” and, “Damned to Be Free” all of which have been absent from live performances since 2008. The band even dipped in to “Against the Grain” (yes, it was technically released in 1990) to perform the Brett Gurewitz penned track “Walk Away” for its first time ever! Pretty cool from a fan’s perspective for sure. Easily my favorite performances of the night were two songs pulled from the widely panned 1983 release “Into the Unknown”. The somber “…You Give Up” set the stage nicely for the keyboard fueled “It’s Only Over When..” which came complete with a key slide that would bring Rick Wakeman to his knees and one that had me cracking up for the next few seconds. This combined with some comedic interview Segway’s really made for a good watch.
Clocking in at around 60 minutes Bad Religion’s “Decades” gives you what you want as a fan and then lets you get back to your day. With lives shows slowly starting to happen across the country and around the world there is undoubtably still some skepticism around if things will be safe. The latest virtual offering from Bad Religion alleviates those worries and offers a fun, enjoyable concert performance which you can watch any time and, from wherever you are comfortable. With three more shows coming in season 2 and the option to be able to go back and re-watch season 1 Greg, Mike, Brian, Jamie and Jay have you covered until you are ready to get back out there and see them face to face.
Set List:
1.) Voice of God is Government
2.) Politics
3.) Yesterday
4.) Delirium of Disorder
5.) Billy
6.) Sometimes It Feels Like…
7.) …You Give Up
8.) It’s Only Over When
9.) What Can You Do?
10.) Part II (The Numbers Game)
11.) Part III
12.) Part IV (The Index Fossil)
13.) Land of Competition
14.) Doing Time
15.) Damned to Be Free
16.) I Want Something More
17.) Turn on the Light
18.) When?
19.) Walk Away
20.) Sanity
21.) Faith in God
22.) Pessimistic Lines
23.) Progress
To watch Season 1 and 2 of Bad Religion “Decades” visit Nocapshows.com here