Agent Orange

Venue: House of Blues

City: San Diego, CA

Set length: About 1.5 hours

Tonight’s Lineup:

Igor Spectre 7:15 to 7:40 PM
The Invisible Humans 7:55 to 8:20 PM
Agent Orange 8:35-9:10 PM
The Adicts 9:30-11:00 PM

Pre-show banter…
The Invisible Humans asked if I would be interested in going down to San Diego to photograph the band at The House Of Blues with a few other bands. The “few other bands” happened to be The Adicts and Agent Orange with Igor Spectre opening the show – Hell yeah! Left my house at 2PM as the band load-in was at 5:30. I got there at 5PM, signed my waivers, got my pass and was allowed in by 5:30 – easy!

I was armed with my Canon 1Ds and three lenses; Canon’s 70-200mm f/2.8, Canon’s 15mm f/2.8 fisheye, and the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8. Here we go…

Venue Review…
My first time at this venue and wasn’t sure what to expect. The crew, security and staff were all friendly, helpful and outgoing – no issues at all. Out of the four HOB locations I’ve been to (LA, Anaheim, Vegas, and now SD) I like the layout of this one the best as it just seemed easier to navigate. They don’t have parking but there is a garage across the street that is open 24 hours so, again, it was pretty easy to figure out once I had my bearings on all the One-Way streets. The best part was that the venue allowed photo-pass holders to shoot from the pit (in front of the barricade) for the first three songs of the set for each band. After that I was able to capture from other areas of the venue, including the balcony. Overall I give this venue a 2 thumbs up.

www.HouseOfBlues.com/Venues/ClubVenues/SanDiego/

Reviews, comments, and possible putdowns for Agent Orange…
My first time seeing these guys although have been listening for decades. A lot of fun and was really glad they were on this bill. Most people are probably familiar with their song Bloodstains but if you are looking to expand on some other great songs of theirs but don’t know where to begin I’ll help you out. If you have nothing of this band in your music catalog, go on down to iTunes and download their albums, starting with Living In Darkness. “But Ray, I only want a handful of songs…” Okay, make sure you purchase the following: Too Young To Die, Bored Of You, Cry for Help In A World Gone Mad, Message From The Underworld, Ausgebombt, and I Kill Spies. They have released a few interesting covers including “Somebody To Love” (Jefferson Airplane) and “Police Truck” (DK) so check those out as well. Once again, I digress from the show… They are a no-frills trio that churned out 20+ songs in a relatively short set. Check ‘em out, go see them and give some support to a classic punk band.

www.myspace.com/AgentOrange

and here is their setlist from tonight’s gig: