Bad Religion
ABC, Glasgow
25/08/2010

Celebrating their 30th Anniversary (though you could split hairs that vocalist Greg Graffin is the only constant member and founding member Brett Gurewitz isn’t present this evening), the legendary Bad Religion return to Glasgow with the energy and intensity to match, or perhaps even surpass that of their contemporaries as well as their younger selves.

Kicking off with ‘Do What You Want’ from the group’s much-worshiped 1988 album, ‘Suffer’, and charging straight into ‘Sinister Rouge’ (from 2004′s ‘The Empire Strikes First’) the veteran US punks waste no time steering us through every stretch of their back catalogue; an impressive series of influential and often ground-breaking albums that have survived (and spawned) countless trends and sub-genres. It would obviously take too long and perhaps even be a bit redundant to reel off every song played tonight, but for lovers and followers of the band, each song seems to be just as exciting as the last, with tonight’s ABC crowd soaking up every chunky power-chord, every squealing solo and hanging on Graffin’s every word as he traverses the stage in confident strides, ever the punk preacher.

Guitarists Brian Baker and Greg Hetson – possessors of their own punk rock stripes with careers spanning legendary genre progenitors such as Minor Threat, Dag Nasty and Circle Jerks - along with bassist Jay Bentley, refuse to play up to their ages, jumping around the stage like 15 year-olds and nailing every single note. As the band pile into ‘You’ (arguably one of their best known songs following its use in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2) delivered back to back with ‘Infected’ and ‘American Jesus’, with consistent power and fluidity, it’s truly a joy to watch. And an equally strong encore featuring some pumped up singalongs in ’21st Century Digital Boy’ and ‘Sorrow’ guarantees no one leaves here dissatisfied.

Ryan Drever