 \
Inland
Invasion
Blockbuster
Pavillion
|
By:
J Boogie |
Publicity
Whore set off to The Inland Invasion II: 25 Years
of Punk Rock without any press credentials, tickets, or
any real journalistic objective.
"Has
it really been 25 years?"
After
scoring two tickets and getting frisked, we wandered in
and learned we'd missed T.S.O.L, The Distillers, and The
Adolescents. G.B.H, a rocking punk band from England, was
on stage playing their classic 'Rats'.
Since I was there not as a journalist, but as a typical
patron, I choose to indulge in a few $8.00 beers. I wandered
around and noticed all the different types of people at
the event: punks of old with young kids who just entered
the scene. To them, Blink-182 was punk, and the Sex Pistols
were past history. But alas - this is a new era of corporate
punk rock. Many of these kids looked like they had just
got back from Hot Topic.
Do
not feed the punks!!!
The reason I was there was to see all the bands of the old
play the main stage: X, The Buzzcocks, The Damned, and one
of my all time favorites: Bad Religion.
Hey
ma, like my Mohawk?
Although stuck in the nosebleed section in the grass, Bad
Religion once again blew me away with punk rock driven political
rock, proving why they had been around for 25 years and
that they were not going away anytime soon.
Greg
Hetson from Bad Religion
Well since I had paid to get in, I used my 'Publicity Whore
media credentials' to get into the pit for the end of the
show (i.e.-my friend from Revolt T.V) this was a chance
to witness an upclose performance by the legendary Johnny
Rotten . If you love him or fucking hate his Mtv kissing
ass you have to always remember one thing he has been there
since the pinnacle beginning of punk rock.
You
can kiss my royal English ass, Wanker!!!
We watched the closing set of Social Distortion, than the
full set of the Offspring. Offspring put on an impressive
set, playing their great blend of fun up-beat punk rock
tunes going all the way back to their first big album, 'Smash'.
The
Offspring
The Sex Pistols with original members Steve Jones and of
course Johnny Rotten got on stage playing the great tunes
of my youth. Johnny was in tip form and put on an amazing
performance and in between belittling the crowd, KROQ and
Mtv belted out some great old tunes Bodies, Problems and
of course Anarchy in the U.K. Love him, fucking hate him,
you have to admit that it is amazing he is still able and
willing to perform after all these years.
Johnny Rotten
25 years later and he is still pissed!!
As I drove to the Hilton for some after show partying I
realized this night was history in the making. As I watched
Johnny on stage it did not matter that these corporate worms
had taken over what us punks had held dear to our heart.
No it is a new age and punk rock is finally able to cash
in and get the recognition that the underground scene has
always deserved and waited 25 years to cash in on.
So
tell me what do you mindless drones think of Publicity Whore?
Speak
up!!!
for
more information on the bands at Inland Invasion II:
www.epitaph.com
www.nitrorecords.com
To
see what is going on in the world of mainstream corporate
punk rock check out:
www.kroq.com
