Lagwagon. Summit Music Hall. Denver, CO 12.11.14 Live Review and Setlist.
It’s January 14th, 1995. I am about to see Lagwagon for the first time. It’s a Saturday. I sleep in late because I don’t have anywhere to be. I roll out of bed (a mattress on the ground) sometime in the late afternoon. After a quick shower, I throw on the punk rock shirt that seems the least dirty before getting into my ’84 Honda Accord. I roll down Highway 101 to Sub Palace with Trashed cranked up as loud as my car stereo will allow. After lunch I hit one of the many liquor stores that have no qualms selling beer to underage kids. I grab a couple 6-packs of Sam Adams Boston Lager (Stone Brewing won’t exist for another year or so) and a cheap pack of smokes. Somehow I am able to pay cash, even though I am unemployed. It’s a half hour drive to Soma Live in San Diego. I park in the adjacent lot to drink and smoke before entering the all-ages club when doors open. I want to be there early to catch all the openers. It’s a Fat Wreck Chords bill. No Use For A Name, Strung Out, Good Riddance and Tilt will all take the stage before Lagwagon. It’s going to be a night to remember! The show itself is a blur of loud music, juvenile jokes, stage diving, mosh pits, asshole security guards, and Dr. Martens to the forehead. Soma doesn’t serve alcohol, so I’m stone sober by the end of the show. The beer buzz has been replaced with pure adrenaline. I buy a Good Riddance shirt on the way out. Then I’m heading north on I-5. Back to Encinitas. Blasting For God and Country. I am feeling no pain. I get home, crash out, and do nothing the next day.
It’s December 11th, 2014. I am about to see Lagwagon for the seventh time. It’s a Thursday. I get up early because I have back-to-back meetings all day. I get out of bed at 6:00am. I make sure the kid is up and the dogs are fed. After a quick shower, I put on a shirt and a pair of slacks and realize my back hurts so bad that I am having trouble putting my own socks on. I get in my GMC Yukon and drive myself to the chiropractor. We talk a little about my recent trip to Asia, work and family while he stretches, twists and cracks me in various ways. I head down I-25 to the Tech Center for my first meeting. I listen to Trashed, Hoss and Hang in between meetings. At the end of the day I come home and make sure the kid is doing her homework. I catch up on emails. I feed the kid. I wait for they wife to get home. Then I throw on a pair of jeans and the Good Riddance shirt that is now older than I was when I bought it. I pet the dogs and kiss the family before heading downtown. I park in a lot that charges more than I paid for the ticket at Soma. Then I check on set times at the box office. I just don’t have the energy for opening bands tonight. When they say Lagwagon isn’t coming on until 10pm, I walk across the street to Falling Rock. I meet some people at the bar from Kansas City and Encinitas. We talk about beer, travel and music while we share 22 oz. bottles of beer from Firestone Walker, Cascade Brewing and Russian River. Sours, IPAs and bourbon-barrel aged stouts. I am a new kind of beer snob. Time flies.
I head back to Summit Music Hall at 9:45pm. I’m just in time to see Joey and the boys take the stage. The show itself is a blur of loud music, juvenile jokes, stage diving and mosh pits. The security guards are much better than they were at Soma. I don’t get close enough to the stage to take any footwear to the head. Summit serves booze, but I go without. The set was extremely heavy on new songs, but Hang is such a solid late-career album that it hardly seems to matter. The guys have gotten older, but they haven’t lost any of the energy or talent that made them so much fun back in the day. By the end of the encore the beer buzz has once again been replaced with pure adrenaline. I decide against a shirt this time around. Moments later, I am heading west on 1-70. Back home. Back to the wife and kid and dogs. I am not blasting music because my ears are already ringing. I am feeling good, but my back still hurts and I feel a cold coming on. I get home, prep for the work day that is going to come too quick, then crash out. I get up the next morning and wonder how the guys in Lagwagon do it day in and day out. I couldn’t hang like that, but I’m sure glad they can! Good Riddance is coming to the same venue next month. I’m just hoping my aging body and t-shirt have another show in them.
Setlist:
Obsolete Absolute
Made of Broken Parts
Island of Shame
Violins
Never Stops
After You My Friend
Falling Apart
Sick
Western Settlements
Heartbreaking Music
The Cog in the Machine
Coffee and Cigarettes
Wind in Your Sail
Burning Out in Style
Alien 8
Making Friends
Razor Burn
Burden of Proof
Reign
One More Song
May 16th
