Live Review: Pennywise, Face To Face, The Menzingers

The Menzingers are one of the most exciting punk bands currently doing the rounds. Their music is passionate, soulful and best of all memorable. Not surprisingly the Scranton PA natives were just as powerful live as they are on wax. Focusing on their impressive On The Impossible Past LP, they charged through highlight after highlight including the anthemic Burn After Writing and crowd favourite The Obituaries.

Face To Face's performance was impressive from start to finish. Focusing heavily on their early albums, the quartet opened up the first pits of the night with the likes of You've Done Nothing, Pastel, You Lied and a mammoth rendition of Disconnected. We could have done without the odd call and response routine mid-set, but other than that Face To Face were surprisingly enjoyable.

The anticipation in the crowd for Pennywise was palpable and as soon as the boys came on stage and burst into Wouldn't It Be Nice, the Roundhouse exploded. Unfortunately though, the mix was so bad that it wasn't until a couple of songs that Fletcher Dragge's guitar rose through the mud. Even though there was some improvement for the likes of Same Old Story and Peaceful Day, Pennywise never achieved the sonic clarity of their support acts. Still, you can't deny the songs this band has to choose from and Society, Fuck Authority, Pennywise and Living For Today sounded as vital as they did when they were written all those years ago. Considering the wealth of material available to them, it was odd that a band celebrating its 25th anniversary choose to play three covers (TNT, Territorial Pissings and Down Under) but ignored the brilliant Unknown Road LP. Still, the crowd ate it up and with vocalist Jim Lindberg back at the helm – and the obligatory Bro Hymn closer – Pennywise conquered.