Venue: House of Blues
City: San Diego, CA
Set length: About 1.5 hours
Tonight’s Lineup:
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Igor Spectre 7:15 to 7:40 PM
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The Invisible Humans 7:55 to 8:20 PM
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Agent Orange 8:35-9:10 PM
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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 The Adicts…
When I walked into the venue, The Adicts were doing their soundcheck and I wanted to make sure to ask them if it would be cool to photograph their set. When they were done they immediately took off so I didn’t get to ask them. Within a few minutes I saw Michael… errr, I mean Kid Dee, (the drummer) sitting on the steps in the soon-to-be-filled venue so I went over and asked if it would be okay. I told him that I sort of knew Pete (guitarist) from my previous profession in the merchandising business at https://www.sandiegodowntown.com. He was really cool and took me to their dressing room so I could talk with Pete Dee for a few minutes. We chatted for a little bit and I could tell they were beat from just arriving from a gig they did the previous night in South America. Pete said they had a riot down there and it was a real crazy show. My first thought was that “there is no way these guys are going to be up for tonight’s show” with the way they looked at this moment. Man, was I wrong… They came out looking completely refreshed and put on a really fun and energetic show.
If you are not familiar with The Adicts, they are one of the few classic bands out there from the 70’s punk movement that still has all the original members. Okay, before some of you chime in and let me know that they have two additional players, yes, I am aware of this but they are additions to the band, not replacements. Anyway, they don’t really fit into the same punk mix with the likes of, say… Agnostic Front or Fear, rather they are more on the upbeat side, like CH3. They may not fit into the stereotypical hardcore punk mould but if you take a look at iTunes and pull up The Adicts albums you will see that the same people who purchased The Adicts also bought The Casualties, Subhumans, The Germs and Crass. If you don’t own anything by this band yet then I would suggest starting with The Complete Singles Collection, Sound of Music and Rollercoaster – good stuff.
If you haven’t seen them live yet then you are missing out on a fun show. Go check out their website to see when they are playing again and go support.
www.Adicts.us
Nuff said…
