Rise Against, Pennywise, Riverboat Gamblers – Live (December 20th, 2007)

For the past three years the coming of December meant more than just finals, Christmas and holidays. It also meant that us Edmontonians would be treated to a night of music at the Shaw Conference Centre with an impressive list of bands. This year was no different, with Rise Against and Pennywise, the third annual Jingle Bell Rock was sure to be a memorable one. However, as I walked into the venue my jaw involuntarily dropped in disappointment.

“How is this Jingle Bell Rock?” I asked myself. The first year had giant snowmen, Christmas candles and an elaborate stage setup. The second year trimmed it down but kept the theme with a glowing set of lights shining out the name of the show. This year there was nothing. It was just a regular concert; no decorations and no holiday feel, just the same stage that was there two weeks prior for Alexisonfire and every other show that hit the Shaw Conference Centre this year. Normally it would mean nothing but as this was billed as the holiday show and advertised with such flare I expected something more than just a regular show. Alas, my hopes were crushed. Luckily the music was good enough to make up for it.

The first band that hit the stage was Texas’ Riverboat Gamblers, and I had very little interest in seeing them again. They opened up for Against Me! back in March and put on an entertaining enough set, but nothing that memorable. This evening’s performance was no different. It didn’t help much that the sound set up was pretty bad for them. The bass drum went from being inaudible to blaring through the speakers overpowering everything and throughout it all the vocals were somewhat muffled and not all that distinct too. They stuck to songs from To The Confusion Of Our Enemies and had some people moving but most just stayed in the beer garden.

Next came the legendary Pennywise who ripped it hard for a full hour. Their appearance on the stage attracted all the old punks from the comfort of the beer garden and into the turmoil of the mosh pit. The band did what they always do and that is play lightning fast skate punk. The crowd sung along to them at every chance they had and they fit in more songs than I ever thought possible as they ripped through fan favorites like Fuck Authority and Bro Hymm along with Pennywise, My God, Society, Living For Today, Same Old Story, Waste Of Time, God Save The USA, My Own Country and more. They even fit in a cover of Black Flag‘s Nervous Breakdown to great reception. The band was able to show how they’ve managed to remain a staple in the punk community for so long; and no fans were disappointed.

Headlining the sold out gig was Rise Against on their second last show in support of The Sufferer & The Witness; however, the fact that the tour was promoting that album seemed like an afterthought for the band. Instead of sticking solely to the newer material, the Chicago foursome decided to mix up the set list a bit which was a good choice considering it was their third time in Edmonton this year. Opening up with Behind Closed Doors, they then jumped into the fan favorite Like The Angel – and odd choice for the second song of the night but that’s what happened all night as they played a wide selection of songs they normally don’t touch. Since this was my eighth or ninth time seeing the band – and fourth time this year – the new songs came as a great surprise. I’m talking about songs like Alive & Well, Rumors Of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated, Torches, Injection and Obstructed View. All songs that they’ve never played before. Yes, they played some of their staples songs like Survive, Give It All, State Of The Union, Prayer Of The Refugee, Ready To Fall and Dancing For Rain and they did miss some important ones like Paper Wings, Life Less Frightening, Broken English, Voices Of Camera and Heaven Knows, but the inclusion of those rarer songs more than made up for it. The only thing that would’ve made it better was if they had added another acoustic song alongsideSwing Life Away like they normally do with The Tour Song or Everchanging. Still, that’s just nitpicking and pieces of afterthought; because while the show was happening it didn’t matter that they missed a few songs due to the sheer pleasure of hearing Obstructed View live for the first time.

So no, the show didn’t have the proper feel to be billed as the Jingle Bell Rock; but that didn’t take away from the fact that it was a great show musically and a great way to cap off the year.