Social Distortion 11/10/10

I'll admit it, I had to go buy their greatest hits album before the show, several weeks ago.  I knew a handful of their songs and after listening to that album I realized I knew a few more and didn't know it.  Frank Turner started out the night with his loud, boisterous rock that sounded like Irish pub fighting anthems, or British pub fighting songs since he is from Winchester, England.  But, he did know how to involve the crowd which is kinda what you have to do when 98% don't know who you are.  Frank asked for a volunteer from the audience and quickly had one on stage, Roy I think his name was, to play a harmonica solo during one of his tunes.  So, Roy belted out a two, maybe three note whine and left the stage followed by Turner after a couple more songs.  Then came Lucero from Memphis.  Most of the band members looked as if they had just crawled out of the Mississippi's mud and picked up instruments.  Not that they weren't without talent, but good Lord what a rough lookin ensemble that made no bones about being experienced drinkers and frequent strip joint attendees.  Finally, Social D. took the stage.  I haven't seen moshing and crowd surfing like that since Music Midtown bid us all farewell.  Glad I opted for the balcony.  Several girls took nose-dives and one guy ended up basically doing a handstand, at which point a girl next to him took off one of his shoes and threw it on stage.  Almost immediately, a roadie darted over to grab it and threw it away in a trash can.  That's the price you pay Shoeless Joe, atsa bummer!  They were even moshing during the slower songs, of which there weren't many.  Front-man Mike Ness came on stage wearing dress slacks, shirt, and suspenders, with mirror shine black shoes.  Not what I was expecting but cool in a Punk sort of way.  After slamming through a few songs he had to roll up his sleeves to reveal his permanent long sleeves, of ink that is.  There's your Punk!  They of course included a lot of tunes from the a fore mentioned hits album including "Prison Bound," "I Was Wrong," "Mommy's Little Monster," and "Ball and Chain."  Hey Ryan, remember hearing that last one in Hawaii over and over again, kinda became our theme song for the trip.  Mike was also very interactive with us, conversing between most songs, telling us how glad he was we came and about people he didn't like, i.e. "...people that go to Creed concerts." (looking right strait at you, Trey...  We all have shows we regret, I can't believe I actually went to a Limp Bizkit concert many years ago...  YYYIIIIKES!!!)  After a slow one that drug on and on during the encore, Social D. ended the night with their famous cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" that surely re-energized the packed crowd just before midnight.