Pennywise at The Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Pennywise – The Shepherd’s Bush Empire – 16 May 2010

Support: A Wilhelm Scream and Strike Anywhere

Words by Brendan Monteiro / Photo’s by Marcus Maschwitz

There is only a few things in life that people would travel miles on end for and with each individual it differs, for me it’s simple and I have two things that spring to mind, fanta pineapple and a proper punk show. Seeing as the coca cola company doesn’t do fanta pineapple in the UK I’m basically left down to one thing and even a 6 hour drive from Truro wasn’t going to stop me from getting to see Pennywise on their final stop of this UK tour. Unbeknownst to me before arriving in London is that 2 class acts, in the form of A Wilhelm Scream and Strike Anywhere, will be supporting the Californian legends. However my biggest thoughts of this show was on how the band would perform without Jim Lindberg and what type of effect it would have if any on the fans. Furthermore would Zoli Téglás be as good with Pennywise behind him as he is when he’s fronting Ignite.

In true DIY style A Wilhelm scream perform a quick soundcheck before taking the crowd by suprise and rip right into Me Vs Morrissey, a musical slap in the face of sorts and the perfect weapon from their arson to get this crowd alive. A Wilhelm Scream play fast and in your face and when they get the pit moving you have no choice but to join in. Skid Rock highlights Brian’s variations in style with a blistering finger tapping intro as the rest of the band starts filtering in behind him. A Wilhelm Scream are on fire tonight and with songs like Killing It, The King Is Dead and set closer We Built This City (On Debts And Booze) it’s a no brainer why they have the crowd in a sweaty grinning mood.

Interesting fact about their name, check out this video clip on what a wilhelm scream really is.

Next up is Strike Anywhere and much like AWS they do it true punk style, there’s no half arsed waiting for them to freshen up and hear their name before taking to the stage, instead Thomas is already two lines into Instinct before the house lights are turned out. Strike Anywhere bombard with politically fueled anthems which seem fitting for a nation unsure of it’s future. Thomas spits out “Fuck the BNP and the T Party” stoking the political fire, before summoning up another fist punching canticle that’s sung back at him. The scene up front is awe inspiring, the message is clear and tonight it seems like the true spirit of punk is alive and well.

Finally the time arises for Pennywise and I’m still in two minds about how it’s going to be. Pennywise was my introduction to punk and I have Sega’s Top Skater arcade game to thank for that as the entire soundtrack for the game consisted of Pennywise songs. So this show was always going to be a special one for me but I was still unsure. A beer is swung stage side as the band make their way on it, the contents of which are splattered all over the floor and as Zoli grabs the mic while Fletcher rings out the opening chords to Every Single Day Zoli takes a tumble.

Insignificant as this may sound but this is the point of the night where all my fears subsided and I think the feeling might be mutual for a lot of the people present. Before that fall I was pretty certain that it just wouldn’t be a proper Pennywise show without Jim Lindberg behind the mic but as soon as Zoli stood up and began the night, well, all of that just disappeared. This show just brought back so many good memories of my early days of punk rock, I remember their songs making amped back then and tonight it’s just the same.

They roll straight into My Own Country and the pit erupts into a flurry of bodies, Peaceful Day gets the whole throng jumping and when Fletcher dedicates Living for today for “the old skool fools, this is for Jason” pit starts to heave. The uncanny thing about tonight is that there is no requests from Pennywise to get things moving, no chants to amp up the crowd, it just happens and goes to show just how dynamic and their music is. Greed shortly follows suit an lead to the first circle pit of the evening, but it’s later outweighed by a bigger circle pit during Fuck Authority. The latter of which is like a giant vortex spinning and sucking people in and then spitting them out in a blur of arms and legs.

At this point I couldn’t ask for more and I am pleasantly surprised when they do a soaring rendition of Ben E. King’s Stand By Me and then an encore of Aliens and Bro Hymn (dedicated on this occasion to Ronnie James Dio). As I walk out of the Empire to start my journey home I find myself already reminiscing the evening and I think I can speak for everyone by saying that it’s amazing seeing the first real band you ever got into playing live and it’s a night that I will never forget.

Setlist: Every Single Day, My Own Country, Can’t Believe It, What If I, Peaceful Day, Same Old Story, Living For Today, Greed, Society, Waiting, Fuck Authority, Straight Ahead, Nowhere Fast, Searching, Something To Live For, Stand By Me, Home Sick, Alien, Bro Hymn.