PHOTOS: Social Distortion And The Tossers At Riot Fest
By aaroncynic in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 10, 2011 8:20PM
To kick off Riot Fest formally for us last weekend, we caught Social Distortion and The Tossers at the Congress Theater. Unfortunately, we missed out on Reverend Payton's Big Damn Band, but from the folks we spoke with in the crowd last night, they definitely got everyone warmed up in a big way. The Tossers took the stage around 8:30 p.m. to an exceedingly excited crowd hungry for some old fashioned Irish folk punk. While their set was solid, the majority of the songs came from some of the newer material. While we hate to sound like the old guy at the bar saying that the classics were way better, we would've preferred a more balanced set with some more mainstays. Classics like Aye Sir and their cover of Dirty Old Town made us feel warm and fuzzy, but overall, we think the folks who prefer newer cuts had a much better experience than we did.
While Social Distortion blew through an incredible set of hits spanning their entire three decade career, the energy emitting from the stage seemed to fall a little flat. Mike Ness and company rocked our favorite classics like Mommy's Little Monster, Atom Bomb and Ball and Chain and it felt incredible to hear the hits. But overall, their set seemed almost a little reserved. Maybe we held our expectations a little too high since we haven't seen Social Distortion in a few years.