Adolescents Live Review

The great kinfolk bands of all time: Carter Family, Staples Singers, Bee Gees and ... Adolescents?

The latest incarnation of the classic Orange County punk collective includes a father-son pairing in guitarists Frank Agnew and Frank Agnew Jr.

A punk forefather passes the torch to a 20-year-old who could find few better teachers. The band's 1981 debut is a fast, brash, political punk classic that inspired bands from the Misfits to T.S.O.L. The band has since released just four studio albums and each member has jumped all over the twisted family tree of Southern California punk that spawned Agent Orange and Social Distortion.

However, they reformed for a national tour - the longest of their career - that opened in Denver for a small but reverential crowd. The fans were also in a family way. More than one mother was spotted singing along with Tony Reflex and watching over a brood of mohawked pre-teen.

There was plenty of gray hair in the crowd roughly 300 strong (my sprinkling included), but also plenty of kids in T.S.O.L. shirts who paid attention in punk history 101.

The Street Dogs set the mood with a set of politically conscious singalong punk, including a Descendents cover. Clearly, the Boston band understood the significance of opening for their idols.

Donning mostly T-shirts and jeans, The Descendents took the stage looking more like dressed-down soccer dads than punk heroes, but if you play the part well enough, you don't have to look the part.

The band blazed through roughly 20 songs in a 45-minute set heavy on their melodic skatepunk classics, such as "No Way," "Creatures" and a blistering version of "Rip It Up" with a frenzied mosh pit.

They also played some solid new songs from last year's O.C. Confidential, including the chipper, tongue-in-cheek "California Son" and "Monsanto Daydream." The latter, a long (for a punk song) rambling diatribe about agricultural chemical giant Monsanto, shows the band remains politically intense, albeit with less tight songwriting.

The sound mix was muddy and poor, with barely discernable vocal for much of the set, even after a front-row fan complained and Reflex tried to pass the message to an oblivious soundman.

Nonetheless, the band was clearly excited to be back on stage screaming and wailing out punk classics. Reflex and bassist Steve Soto banter with the moshers and Reflex even takes a MySpace-ready photo of himself with a fan, using her camera.

However, age and exhaustion are clearly taking their toll. On the first night of the tour, Reflex (a 43-year-old schoolteacher) was rubbing his eyes and showing his fatigue by the end of the set.

Though the guys are no longer adolescents (you knew the analogy was coming), it was nice to see some of their punk classics live.

This story was originally published at www.hybridmagazine.com.