Concert Review: T.S.O.L., Toxic Energy, Knocked Down and Blunt Force Trauma at the Brentwood Emporium (11/10/2024)

 

    For those living in the Bay Area, it is always enjoyable to see a show promoted in a city where you don’t have to deal with chaotic traffic, costly parking fees, crackheads throwing cups at you with unknown liquids and of course, douchebags breaking your car window. When I saw that Southern California punk legends T.S.O.L. were going to be playing in Brentwood at the Brentwood Emporium, I knew this was a show I did not want to miss. 

    I had previously attended a show at the Brentwood Emporium back in March of this year and really liked the venue’s setup. Plus, the venue puts on all ages shows, which is great to see since a decent number of all ages venues have gone away in Contra Costa County over the years. What I noticed right away about this crowd when I first entered the venue was that you really did have fans of all ages, so to me it sort of spoke to how punk music can connect with a extremely diverse group of people. 

    I thought the three opening bands did a solid job supporting T.S.O.L. as well as getting the crowd going from the very beginning. The first opener, Blunt Force Trauma, is a local Bay Area trio that mixes metal and punk together to come up with some crushing riffs, while also turning up the intensity to get the people moving. Definitely could hear some hardcore influences at times, along with a few slow doomy metal sounding riffs thrown into the mix to get people to bang their heads. For a young bands I thought they played tight and their singer/bassist really had strong stage presence when interacting with the audience. They’re definitely a band that I feel will benefit from having more opportunities to play live, which will allow them to better develop their sound. Overall, I was very impressed by their passion, and I could tell the crowd was enjoying the band’s set that even included a killer cover of “Bloodstains” by Agent Orange. 

Blunt Force Trauma

    The 2nd opening band was another trio called Knocked Down from Stockton, CA. This group of punk rockers had more of a pop punk sound, so right away I will address that their music was not exactly something that I personally listen to. However, I am not as judgmental as I've gotten older and decided to listen to their entire set. They seemed to be playing with a lot of exuberant energy and during their performance a young fan was frantically rocking out with his dad in front of the stage. Actually, I must admit that the members of Knocked Down seemed to really appeal to this young punk who was constantly banging his head to their songs and throwing up devil horns. Seeing kids like that having a great time listening to music in the front of the stage is a truly awesome sight, unlike seeing a drunk woman in her fifties grabbing at Wayne Hussey of The Mission’s mic stand until the venue security finally has to escort her out. 

Knocked Down

    After Knocked Down finished their set, the third band took to the stage and started setting-up. Coming all the way from Orange County, Toxic Energy brought the raw old school sounding punk rock spirit with a ton of killer angsty hardcore punk songs. The band's frontman had tremendous stage presence and knew how to whip up the crowd when delivering his vocal parts. One of the band’s guitar players even had a wireless guitar to where he would jump off stage and start playing in the pit and then quickly run back on stage. As much as a liked the band’s originals I was extremely impressed by the two covers they did of, “Neat Neat Neat,” by The Damned and, “Just What I Needed,” by The Cars. I particularly liked, “Just What I Needed,” because they took this classic song and infused their own style to give the song a more punk rock vibe. All of the members seemed to be having a killer time and the audience was very receptive to their music as well. 

Toxic Energy 

    The final band of the night which caused everyone to make a rush to the front of the stage, was the mighty T.S.O.L. that I consider to be an extremely important part of punk rock history. Their debut album, “Dance with Me,” is a truly brilliant release with its mixture of punk and deathrock. The band opened to a thunderous cheer from the audience as they tore into the first song and the pit started moving. Jack Grisham is an amazing frontman and looked like he was having a blast up on stage and wore a jacket with The Creature from the Black Lagoon on the back. Also, he is a funny dude and his comments in-between songs definitely drew out some laughter from the audience. Ron Emory’s guitar playing was a sight to behold as he jammed away at such classic riffs on song like “Sounds of Laughter," “Dance with Me” and “World War III.” The drummer and bass player did a solid job, and I respect the drummer who was having to battle issues with the monitor volume while Jack was busting his balls about it. For their encore the band played, “Code Blue,” and seeing people singing along to song about necrophilia is a glorious sight to behold. I think my only complaint is I wished they could have done a few more songs, but I thought that the set they played sounded solid from start to finish. 

T.S.O.L.

    In the end, I definitely felt as though all the bands delivered, especially when I look back at home the crowd responded throughout the night. Now, I did notice that the show ended earlier than most shows, but I can understand that since the show was all ages and Brentwood has a curfew law for minors. Then again, I respect the venue and promoter for putting on an all ages show that offered a safe and enjoyable environment for everyone in attendance. All around, the spirit of punk continues to be fueled by the desires of those looking for something that rebels against the system and can be appreciated by people of all ages.