Way back in February 2020 I got to see Pennywise play a truly unforgettable show at Enmore Theatre in Sydney. Now tonight over two and half year later I’m back at same venue for the same band wondering will this show be as amazing. Tonight happens to be my Birthday so there’s already a level of excitement that I get to see Pennywise but they added bonus of Circle Jerks supporting makes this night truly iconic.
The floor of the venue was absolutely packed with Sydney punk fans. From the moment Circle Jerks took to the stage their set was relentless. The crowd were feeding off drummer Joey Castillo’s frenetic energy with almost immediately a circle pit opening up in the middle of the crowd. This was such a momentous occasion to be watching since this is the first time Circle Jerks are touring Australia. With such short songs they were able to blast through a lot in the time they had. Huge highlights Keith Morris got every one riled up with “wild in the streets” and Greg Heston shredding his way through “live fast die young”.
Next up the moment had arrived that the crowd had been waiting for. The Hermosa Beach Californian punks walked on stage kicking things of with “fight till you die”. From then on it was a setlist full of singalong fan favourites. From the crowd-surfers to stage divers and the huge non stop moshpit you could tell this was an audience who were ready to let loose. The band slowed things down a little during a covers jam playing small parts of bands like Motorhead, Blink 182 and Descendents. Before launching into their fast paced cover of “down under” signifying the special connection between the band and Australia.
As the set was nearing the end their anthem “fuck authority” had everyone with their fist in the air yelling the lyrics. The set ended in with “Bro Hymn” and with that came the anticipation of how crazy was the crowd going to go for this song. Well what I witnessed during this song eclipsed my memories of last time they played it in the Enmore. Hoards of die hard fans with pent up energy came cascading over the barrier onto the stage reminiscent of a scene from The Walking Dead. You could barely see the band anymore still playing on stage. This moment embodied the feeling of the entire night with hundreds of Sydney punk rock fans living for today.