Takin' A Ride

The No Values festival put on by Golden Voice happened on Saturday June 8th, 2024. Over 30 bands on the bill over 4 stages. Many I had seen before, and many that I haven’t. I’ve never seen the Misfits, Fear, and Iggy Pop, so it was a fairly easy decision to make the trip up to Pomona.

I tried getting a photo pass to get my fancy camera in there (other people seemed to be able to do this, so I should’ve at least tried), but was denied. It really didn’t matter. I was able to get up front for at least half a dozen bands, and the people with the camera passes were really just next to me across the barrier, so it really didn’t make a difference.

We logged 12 miles walking to and from the 4 stages, seeing at least 18 bands throughout the course of the day.

Off to the next stage to see the Adolescents, a band I’ve seen many times over the decades both as the Adolescents and as ADZ, with many changes in their lineups. Ian from San Diego band Furious IV has been playing guitar for them for 10 years now and it was nice to see him on such a big stage! Like the Cro Mags, we had to leave halfway through their set because we wanted to rush to the next stage to see the Bronx. With only 30 minutes of playing time, they played a ton of their hits including “Who Is Who”, “Amoeba”, and opened up with my favorite song from them, “LA Girl”.

My wife wanted to check out the Adicts. I have to admit that I haven’t heard much from them and if I did, I don’t remember. I don’t like mimes and I don’t like clowns. But what the heck, I am open to checking out bands, so why not? Had to see them from far away because the place was filling up pretty fast. TONS of people here. And you know what? They were amazing! Band of the day for me! They were fun, had some great video graphics, great energy, and some amazing songs! I went out a couple days later and picked up a few of their albums because of this set. I definitely am going to see them next time they come around! This was the only picture I could get:

The Vandals were up next. Another band that I have a few albums from, but have never actually seen before. They were fun, opening with a punk rock version of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. Truth be told, I like their Christmas album and cover songs more than their originals, but they delivered a good set of solid punk rock.

Then it was to the next stage to see Black Flag. I guess some people can argue that I still never saw Black Flag, ha ha, but they were interesting. Let’s think about it: you have a 30 minute set. That’s IT. So do you play 20 of your best punk rock songs? Or do you spend a third of that time playing ONE slow song? Yes. That’s what they did. I timed it on my watch. They opened with a 10 minute song, half of which was an instrumental. “Can’t Decide” which is only a 5 minute song on the “My War” album, but they stretched it out to be 10 minutes. Boring! Was the singer late or something? To be fair, when he did show up, he sounded good (sounding just like Rollins, actually) and they played a bunch of their punk rock songs like “Nervous Breakdown”, “Fix Me”, and of course, “No Values” which is what this festival was named after.

Then across the grounds to go to the stage where Agent Orange was playing. They were good! They had Jello Biafra onstage for them for a song. Big crowd for them. Big crowd for everyone, actually. Seen them before, so only saw part of the set then rushed off to get up front for the Damned.

The Damned: they were a total pleasure. They played and sounded great. Which should be no surprise, as they have been continually touring and releasing albums for decades. Probably the most “pro” band there, as they had the crowd in the palm of their hand and had great presentation of their songs, while totally coming across as spontaneous. Like when Monty is playing the keyboards for the intro to “Melody Lee”, Vanian is putting on a glove. It’s halfway on and then all of a sudden BAM! It’s almost like he was going to be caught off guard, but wasn’t, blasting right into the song at the perfect moment. A roadie came on and put a clown nose on Capt Sensible while he was playing. Stuff like that. Song selection was spot on, opening with “Wait For The Blackout” in the blinding sun. And of course Monty did his special dance during “New Rose” which is always a complete blast to watch. Excellent crowd for the Damned, as security came around passing a couple cases of bottles of water through the crowd and everyone just kept passing them back to the person behind them to make sure everyone was hydrated. It was getting hot out there.

Suicidal Tendencies were already playing when the Damned ended. So we ran over there to just see a song or two. They win the award for the funniest band of the day. Get this: Mike Muir is doing a big lecture telling everyone to “Stand up for yourselves! Don’t let ANYONE tell you what to do! Think for yourself!” And then the next exact words were “Ok, now everyone get your hands in the air!” I stood up for myself and refused to do this. Great band with great songs though. I’m a fan, but this was just too funny.

Raced down across the grounds to see Fear. Another band I have never seen before and one of the reasons for me wanting to be here. They were well… ok. I mean they were great, but they literally sounded perfect. Like note for note from their albums. I’m not accusing them of backing tracks or anything like that. No, I think they just have some really top notch players in the band. Lee Ving kept talking about “beer” and how great it is. Then later mentioned how “Budweiser” is the only beer that matters. So he loses major points from this beer snob.

The Jesus Lizard was playing the next stage over, so I went to see what the buzz was about. I know people rave about them and love them and they put on a great show, but I still feel like I’m missing out on something. The sound was complete crap for them too. At least where I was standing. Way too heavy on the bass. So maybe that was it.

The next real set I saw was the Dickies. I’ve seen them dozens of times and this was, hands down, the largest crowd I’ve ever seen them play to. Thousands. I remember seeing them on the Warped Tour over 20 years ago. They were booked on one of the “lower stages” which was basically a setup in the back of the parking lot with maybe a couple dozen people there. Nice to see them get some respect here. I was still able to get up front and they played great and were, as always, a lot of fun. People of all genders and races were completely having a blast, singing along to all the songs.

Iggy Pop was up next and I wanted to get as close as I could, so I had to leave the Dickies early. Saw L7 playing on the way to the stage that Iggy was playing. I’ve seen L7 dozens of times, so I only took this one picture in passing. If I ever get the chance to talk with them again, and if they’re doing any new recordings, I would like to recommend they cover “Boys” by Death By Unga Bunga. Seems like it’d be a perfect song for them to cover.

And then there was Iggy Pop. The godfather of punk. Everyone was crammed up front already to see this legend. He was great, energetic. HUGE crowd for him, but I think a lot of it was because they wanted to see him because “it may be his last show” (which I overheard a lot of people say). Of course ANY show he did from the late ’60’s onwards could’ve been his “last show”. Still, the crowd knew all the songs, all the words, and loved it. He had a horn section, which worked on some songs, but by the end of the set, seemed a little overbearing. People around me were smoking everywhere. Even during “Lust for Life”, singing along while smoking their cigarettes. Oh the irony. I couldn’t get any good pictures of him.

Misfits: The Misfits played REALLY fast. I mean incredibly fast. Like a thrash metal band. Sound was kind of shit. Glenn was making it sound like they were winging it on the setlist asking Jerry Only “What song do you want to play next?” He goes up to him like he’s talking to him. Then goes “Ok, Vampira? Ok. Let’s do that one then.” And of course as they played it, Vampira’s graphics and videos were on the screen already. LOL. Didn’t fool me. Glenn seemed to be in a good mood though. We left early to get before the rush of the crowd leaving at the same time, but it really didn’t matter. Should’ve stayed for the whole set.

On the way back to the car, a violent but jovial old punk rocker told my wife he liked her style.