Aug 29

Aug 29 Show Review: Circle Jerks and Descendents Bring Energetic Co-Headliner to Berkeley

Circle Jerks
Descendents
w/ Grumpster
The UC Theatre
Berkeley, CA
August 25th, 2022

Photos and Review by Jared Stossel

Some of the best punk bands in the world have some of the shortest material. Circle Jerks’ Group Sex album, released in 1980, has fourteen songs, and it barely clocks in at sixteen minutes. If you do the math, you realize that the band is able to play double the amount of songs if they perform an hour long set. Fans in attendance last Thursday surely got their money’s worth as two of punk’s most iconic names, Circle Jerks and Descendents, took the stage for a mosh-inducing co-headliner which found them sharing the stage for the first time in almost thirty-five years. This performance was the first of two nights that would find the band performing together at Berkeley’s UC Theatre.

The only opener for this show is one that I’m quite familiar with: the Bay Area’s own Grumpster. I have to note that I have a conflict of interest here, as I’m good friends with the guys in Grumpster, and have known them for the better part of five years. We recently interviewed them about their new album, Fever Dream (which is available now on Pure Noise Records), and they were truly spectacular at this show. With only thirty minutes to show the Bay Area what they’ve got, they won over the crowd only a few songs in. This is only the beginning for Grumpster, and this performance is indicative that great things are on the horizon for them.

Both Descendents and Circle Jerks have a number of common elements, other than being heavy-hitting punk acts. Both played hour long sets that clocked in nearly thirty songs, meaning that they were playing with little to no break in between tracks. Both bands came out on stage to little fanfare, feeling like a show that would be found a few miles away at the iconic 924 Gilman. Descendents vocalist Milo Aukerman took the stage, chatted with the crowd for a few minutes, and then proceeded to power their way through a powerful collection of melodic punk tracks that spanned their career. Crowdsurfers and the occasional cup of beer made its way over the barricade (and occasionally onto my head) as fans ate up every second.

The only act on this bill I hadn’t seen was Circle Jerks, although I had seen vocalist Keith Morris perform a legendaryshow with OFF! several years ago. There was even less fanfare when Circle Jerks took the stage, as the lights were still up in the venue as Morris told the audience stories about touring and signing record deals. There were several moments like this throughout the evening, where Morris kept talking. I constantly kept thinking, “ah, I don’t know how they’re gonna get through all of these songs before the curfew”. And then he would stop and they would play six or seven songs in a row, no stopping, all of which would be completed in the span of six minutes. It was an impressive feat, and they managed to subvert my expectations every time.

A show like this one doesn’t need a ton of grandiosity and fanfare. It’s punk rock at its rawest form, and it’s always more than enough to move the masses. This was a unique show, and a chance to witness two of the best acts in the genre to ever do it.

Circle Jerks Set List
Deny Everything
Letterbomb
In Your Eyes
Stars and Stripes
Back Against The Wall
Behind The Door
I Just Want Some Skank
Bevery Hills
When The Shit Hits The Fan
Under The Gun
Trapped
Coup d’état
Wild in the Streets (Garland Jeffreys cover)
Moral Majority
Don’t Care
Live Fast Die Young
Paid Vacation
Junk Mail
Parade of the Horribles
Casualty Vampire
I, I & I
Leave Me Alone
I Don’t
Beat Me Senseless
World Up My Ass
Operation
Wasted
High Price on Our Heads
Red Tape

Encore:
I Wanna Destroy You (The Soft Boys cover)
What’s Your Problem

Descendents Set List
Everything Sux
Hope
Coolidge
I Like Food
Silly Girl
Victim of Me
Sailor’s Choice
‘Merican
Nightage
Weinerschnitzel
Clean Sheets
I Wanna Be A Bear
Rotting Out
Myage
When I Get Old
On Paper
My Dad Sucks
Without Love
I’m Not A Punk
Nothing With You
Van
Coffee Mug
Bikeage
I’m The One
I Don’t Want To Grow Up
Thank You
Suburban Home
Smile