Live Review: NOFX, The Bennies, Army of Champions

All the controversy following tonight’s headliners on this tour hasn’t dissuaded a massive turnout at the Tivoli tonight. The beers start flowing while Army of Champions open the show playing the type of rugged, driving punk rock that got Off With Their Heads signed to Epitaph.

Melbourne’s The Bennies bring the good vibes and infectious “stokedness” as main supports to the stage tonight. They show off some new stuff they’ve been working on – there’s a new EP called Heavy Disco in the works – and encourage everybody to get drunk and party. The bulk of the crowd seems already with them.

It seems timely that today TMZ video has surfaced of the now-infamous stage crasher delivering one to Fat Mike’s shins followed by a protracted period of bro hugging it out. Now the manner in which NOFX kicked off (ha, geddit?) their 2014 Australian tour can be forgotten and everyone can just enjoy themselves listening to some fun, dumb punk rock, right?

Or maybe not. Perhaps NOFX are enjoying the infamy afforded them by the situation. For their part, the band are good sports about the whole affair in the particularly snotty fashion you’d expect from the Generation X icons. They seem willing to hang shit on the singer with just the right amount of sarcasm and legitimate admonishment. And frontman Mike Burkett is willing to be a good sport about the whole affair, talking through gritted teeth to say that he hasn’t had any cocaine on the whole tour, and that he’s not even in a bad mood… Just don’t touch him.

As the show progresses, fans are willing to see how serious Mike is about the warning. One dude covertly sneaks onto the stage by climbing up, and then down, the P.A., but you can practically feel the nervousness of the NOFX roadies as they usher him off the stage before he can test whether Mike has really seen the error of his ways. Another punter who manages to get onstage is mobbed by roadies who use a chokehold to lower him down to the bouncers.

Does all this extraneous stuff detract from the band’s set? Not really, judging by the volume of vintage NOFX tour T-shirts in the crowd tonight; everybody knows what they’re in for musically. They’ve had plenty of chances to hear all the band’s numbers, even as the band takes a left turn and leans heavily on their reggae/ska material like Kill All The White Man, Bob and their cover of Rancid’s Radio.

Beyond all the controversy and Internet discussion of punk rock ethics following NOFX around at the moment, the dudes still know how put on a show that a room full of drunk fans will love.