Descendents / Prince Daddy & The Hyena – The Glass House, Pomona, CA, Saturday 19th November 2022

Of course Descendents put on an epically-great show for the capacity crowd at the long-standing Glass House in the downtown arts district of lovely Pomona; those who know would expect nothing less and Descendents never disappoint. The band explosively churned out tune after tune for about an hour with virtually no in-between song banter to a room filled with enthusiastic fans of all ages. It was weird for me to see 800 people at a sold-out Descendents show because I had not seen the band live since sometime in the late 1980s. Back then, there would sometimes be as few as 40 people at a show in a tiny venue in some random place like La Verne. Since then, Descendents has become one of punk rock’s main draws and it has earned millions of fans worldwide. As I stood back taking it all in, it seemed a bit surreal and I was glad to see the band members enjoying the fame they deserve.

Before the opening band took the stage, I went upstairs to the merch tables. The line for Descendents merchandise ran the entire length of the long balcony and down part of the staircase. Only one guy was expertly handling it all with precision as people rapidly bought shirts, patches, the latest album, 9th & Walnut, on vinyl and Milo action figures. “Good for them” I thought to myself. “They earned that.” I only had a few dollars, so sadly I walked away empty-handed.  

Opening for Descendents was a head-scratcher of a band called Prince Daddy And The Hyena. I don’t like to write negative things about bands, but as the guy standing next to me said: “I wonder who in this band is friends with a member of Descendents so they could get on the bill.” I will call this quartet from Albany, New York “Quirk Rock” and as musicians, they play well enough, but those vocals…that irritating screech eventually drove me outside the venue. Judging from the looks on the faces of most of the people in the audience, they felt the same way. I tried to endure by focusing on what I liked. I thought: “That drummer is really good. I like those tempo changes. The lead guitarist is really good too, and the bassist is extremely okay…” and then that grating shriek would painfully penetrate my skull like a child throwing a public tantrum. But hey, maybe you might like it, so judge for yourself by looking it up on the Google thing.

After a while, I heard the crowd inside let out an audible cheer so I dashed back inside. Milo greeted the crowd with a quick wave and “Hi Pomona!” He then handed the mic to Bill Stevenson who asked: “Does this area still have Weinerschnitzels?” The audience cheered in the affirmative and Bill explained there were none were he lives in Ft. Collins, Colorado. Bill then asked: “Is there still Pup ‘N’ Taco?” People shouted no and Bill replied: “Oh, we’ll play anyway.” The band then launched right into Everything Sux. I could hear people singing along, but when the next song, Hope, began, almost everyone in the venue was singing along so loudly it seemed astonishing to me. My little secret, the band that got no respect for so many years, is now a big thing. It made me smile.

The songs kept coming hard and fast. In rapid succession, we were treated to Silly Girl, I Like Food (all 12 seconds of it), Sailor’s Choice, I’m Not A Punk, and Clean Sheets. The circle pit was large and churning wildly (at Milo‘s suggestion) with the occasional crowd surfer appearing for a few moments before submerging back into the melee. It was at this point that I realized Milo almost always sings with his eyes closed, Bill almost never stops smiling, Stephen is the most anaerobic, and Karl never missed a note in his “Bassists Against Racists” T-shirt. I noticed also that four young teenagers pressed into the corner of the barricades at stage right were having the time of their lives, and were in perpetual motion throughout the show. One of them, a girl that looked about 13-years-old, was simply ecstatic and appeared to know all the words to every song as she shouted them with glee.

Descendents played 32 songs in total, and I am not going to list them all here, but if you are curious, you can go to setlist.fm and find it all there. Crowd favorites included Clean Sheets, I Wanna Be a Bear, I’m the One, Suburban Home, Rotting Out, ‘Merican, I Don’t Wanna Grow Up and of course, Bikeage, with the audience loudly singing along to each of these choice numbers. Milo looked fatigued at times, but he never faltered. My personal favorites were the evocative Without Love and When I Get Old. During Thank You, Milo bridged the gap between performer and audience by descending (pun intended) into the photographer’s pit so people could shout into the microphone and put their sweaty hands all over him. The band left the stage after Smile, but something was wrong. The crowd was not making enough noise for a legitimate encore return.

I took the initiative by getting onstage to whip up the audience to make some NOISE! I was successful, and as I saw security rapidly approaching, I exited the stage and hoped I was not going to get thrown out. Fortunately, I received a light scolding and was allowed to enjoy Sour Grapes, a song Milo said they had not played for a while, which is an ode to not being able to pick up girls. The rest of the encore consisted of Feel This, Marriage and Get The Time. Sorry, no I’m Not a Loser tonight. Bummer. It was a truly great show and I had a fantastic time after not seeing Descendents for something like 30 years, but you know what? I liked it better decades ago when I could stand inches from the band in a tiny club with only a few dozen other people.

The latest Descendents album, 9th & Walnut is currently available from Epitaph Records along with other cool Descendents merch and information. While you are there, take the time to explore the rest of the Epitaph Records website for more quality punk rock product than you can shake a debit card at. More Descendents merchandise can be found here. Enjoy! 

Live photography courtesy of Jeff Terranova who can be found on Instagram and Flickr